AMI: Area Median Income (AMI) is the midpoint of a region’s income distribution. It is commonly used by housing practitioners and policy makers to calculate income limits for eligibility in a variety of housing programs.

Barriers May Exist to IH: Map designation for states where legal barriers may exist to local inclusionary housing policies (particularly mandatory policies that do not allow developers to “opt out” of the program), e.g. state law limits local rent control provisions or the state is a “Dillon’s Rule” state and no statute expressly authorizes inclusionary housing measures.

Compliance Options: Options provided in the inclusionary housing program for meeting the requirement of contributing to affordable housing when new development occurs. Common options include providing the permanently affordable units on-site, direct off-site development, land dedication, and in-lieu fees.

Dillon’s Rule: In “Dillon’s Rule” states, actions by localities must be explicitly authorized by state statute and may not conflict with state law.

Home Rule: In “home rule” states, cities, municipalities, and/or counties are granted the ability to pass laws to govern themselves, within the bounds of state and federal law, by the state constitution or legislature.

IH Permitted: Map designation for states where all types of inclusionary housing policies are explicitly permitted by legislation.

IH Prohibited: Map designation for states where at least some form of local inclusionary housing policies (typically mandatory policies) are clearly prohibited for both ownership and rental housing, either by statute or by court decision.

Incentives: Many inclusionary housing programs offer planning and zoning or financial benefits (“incentives”) in order to at least partially offset the cost of providing affordable housing units in market rate buildings. Common incentives include the right to build higher density buildings, lower parking requirements, or property tax abatements.

In-Lieu Fees: The most common alternative way for developers to satisfy a city’s affordable housing requirements is to pay a fee in lieu of (instead of) on-site production. In lieu fees are generally paid into a housing trust fund and used (often along with other local funding sources) to finance affordable housing developed off site.

Inclusionary Housing Program: Any programs or policies that require or incentivize the creation of affordable housing when new development occurs, including impact or linkage fees that generate revenue for affordable housing.

Linkage/Impact Fee Program: Linkage fees (sometimes called impact fees) are an alternative to traditional inclusionary housing programs. They are called linkage fees because they attempt to link the production of market-rate real estate to the production of affordable housing. Residential linkage fees are fees that are charged to developers of new market-rate housing and used to fund the development of affordable housing. Commercial Linkage Fees (also sometimes called ‘jobs/housing linkage fees’) are fees that are charged to developers of new office or retail properties and used to fund the development of affordable housing.

Local Government: The administration of a particular town, city, county, or district.

Mandatory Program: Mandatory inclusionary housing programs require the creation of affordable housing when new development occurs; the developer has no choice about whether to provide them.

No Barriers to IH: Map designation for states that are “home rule” states and rent control is not prohibited nor are there other potential sources of risk under state law.


Voluntary Program: in voluntary inclusionary housing programs, the developer has a choice of whether to receive certain valuable incentives in exchange for providing affordable homes. While voluntary programs usually produce fewer affordable homes than mandatory programs, sometimes voluntary programs have some notable political and legal advantages.