affordability_check
Check whether a proposed rent is above or below HUD Fair Market Rent for a bedroom size, and determine which income bands a household qualifies under based on annual income and household size.
Instructions
Affordability verdicts computed server-side from the same HUD tables as fmr_lookup and income_limits: whether a proposed rent is above or below the Fair Market Rent for a bedroom size (dollar and percent gap), and which HUD income bands a household qualifies under (extremely low 30%, very low 50% = the Section 8 voucher line, low 80% of area median). Pass rent + bedrooms, income + household_size, or all four; returns the verdicts with the underlying numbers and table year for citation. entityid is a 10-digit county FIPS or a metro CBSA code (same as fmr_lookup).
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| rent | No | Proposed monthly rent in dollars, to compare against the FMR for the given bedrooms | |
| year | No | Table year (e.g. '2026'); default is the latest | |
| income | No | Annual gross household income in dollars, to compare against the 30/50/80% area-median lines | |
| bedrooms | No | Bedroom count 0-4 (0 = efficiency/studio); required when rent is given | |
| entityid | Yes | 10-digit county entity id (county FIPS + 99999) or metro CBSA code. Derive from a ZIP via zip_crosswalk then list_counties | |
| household_size | No | Family size 1-8; required when income is given |