Income Targeting

No other issue touches the heart of housing trust funds more than that of serving those populations that continue to have the most difficult time securing decent, affordable housing. Due to their flexibility, housing trust funds have developed creative approaches to serving the lowest-income renters.

• More than half of the housing trust funds responding to NLIHC’s 2025 state and local housing trust fund survey indicated some targeting households that earn no more than 50% of the area median income or below and/or folks experiencing homelessness. 
• Housing trust funds can target funds by mandating they be used to serve a specific AMI category, giving more points to specific activities in the application evaluation process, and/or setting aside a portion of revenue for specific populations and/or AMI categories.  
  • The rationale for using housing trust funds to serve those with the lowest incomes is clear: they are public funds that use public revenue and should meet a public purpose. We must ensure that all our community’s residents have decent, affordable housing. Those with the lowest incomes face the most complicated challenges in finding affordable and decent housing; thus, they should be a priority. A second reason to target these households is that trust funds generate resources that would not otherwise be available for housing and have no predetermined conditions restricting their use, offering a means to address needs not being met by other programs. 

The most common argument against serving those with the lowest incomes is that available funds would serve more households if less money is required to support each unit, i.e., shallower subsidies. A second argument is that more support can be generated for the proposed housing trust fund if it promises to serve a broader range of housing needs. This may be true. However, it is also true that presenting the trust fund as part of a solution for addressing specific needs critical to the health of our communities can be compelling. 

Below are examples of housing trust funds that have set-asides to serve extremely low-income persons (30% AMI):
 

State Housing Trust Funds

Guam Housing Trust Fund 

Iowa State Housing Trust Fund 

Nebraska Homeless Assistance Trust Fund 

Olene Walker Housing Trust Fund, Utah 
 

City Housing Trust Funds

Alameda, California Affordable Housing Trust Fund 

Berkeley, California Housing Trust Fund 

Oakland, California Affordable Housing Trust Fund 

Cedar Falls, Iowa Housing Trust Fund 

Dubuque, Iowa Housing Trust Fund 

Waterloo, Iowa Housing Trust Fund 

Chicago, Illinois Low-Income Housing Trust Fund 

Louisville, Kentucky Affordable Housing Trust Fund 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Housing Trust Fund 

Seattle, Washington Housing Levy
 

County Housing Trust Funds

Maryland, Housing Opportunities Trust Fund 

Camden County, New Jersey Homeless Trust Fund 
 

Housing Trust Funds can also be structured to serve the critical housing needs of other populations or communities. See below for examples of housing trust funds that do this through set-asides.