Affordable housing report’s statistics are accurate, troubling

Published 1:30 am Sunday, February 23, 2020

This is in response to the letter to the editor that criticized statistics in the county’s affordable housing report as outdated. I went online and looked a few things up, and with everything I read the report was dead on!

At least in Marysville. The median household income in Marysville is reported at about $64,000. After taxes these families probably bring home around $4,000 a month. The median new home in Marysville runs about $400,000. With the average of 7 percent down the principle and interest alone runs to almost $1,900 a month. Add on real estate taxes and homeowner’s insurance and you are probably looking at another $400 a month, which would bring us up to about $2300. This is about 57 percent of total take home. This leaves $1,700 a month for a family to survive on. Not much!

Even without statistics it can be seen that people are struggling. How much did the Marysville School levy fail by this time around? Nearly 60 percent voted no. If homeowners and renters felt that they had enough disposable income, a much needed school levy would have passed!

David Winquist

Marysville