Friday, February 1, 2008

affordable housing

affordable housing: vivienda asequible, vivienda al alcance economico, vivienda economicamente accesible

The first if the standard, and the easier and quicker term, but sometimes I wonder if low literacy listeners get it - which is when I would turn to either of the latter two, or if in a real pinch while doing simultaneous, just 'vivienda al alcance'.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines "affordable" as housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a household's monthly income. That includes the cost of utilities. Other public agencies sometimes define affordable housing as those units that are subsidized such that renters or owners do not pay more than that 30%. The number of units with those kinds of subsidies has been cut drastically in recent years. Sadly way way too many people, in the US and around the world, pay far more than 30%.

Right now I'm looking hard for some housing that's affordable, sunny, and in the Macarena neighborhood of Bogotá. Wish me luck!

3 comments:

Raul said...

Hardly anybody will use "asequible". The word is perfect in Spanish and does embrace the actual meaning of "affordable". Only problem? Nobody uses proper Spanish anymore. But the first translation is absolutely perfect. Affordable housing is "vivienda asequible".

Anonymous said...

"Vivienda de interés social" is very common.

Canales said...

Vivienda asequible, would be a very good term. But as Raúl said that term is not used anymore. Not only that, let's remember that the main target are low-income people who might struggle with this type of spanish
Instead, vivienda de interés social is a an adapted term which serves the purpose.