The difference between affordable housing and housing affordability

The term ‘housing affordability’ usually refers to the relationship between expenditure on housing (prices, mortgage payments or rents) and household incomes. The concept of 'housing affordability' is different to the concept of ‘affordable housing’, which is housing that is appropriate for the needs of a range of very low to moderate income households and priced so that these households are also able to meet other basic living costs such as food, clothing, transport, medical care and education. As a rule of thumb, housing is usually considered affordable if it costs less than 30% of gross household income