Ownership and home value

OK, so...

imagine that, just like there are rental units out there that are for low-income people, there were homes (condos, townhomes, or houses) that had a price that was set for low-income people.

The catch? When you sell it someday, you have to sell it to someone who is in the low-income category. Only in the event that you could not find a buyer at the low-income price after a year of trying would you be allowed to sell it to someone in a higher income bracket for a market price.

If you were a qualifying low-income individual/family, would you consider this worthwhile?

I will put my own thoughts in the comments.

Follow up to the poverty line post

Minimum wage in Ontario is $8/hour. 40 hours per week, 52 weeks a year, that amounts to 16640, which is WAY less than the poverty line for the province. Add onto that the fact that some of those folks are going to miss some hours, and that many of them live in Toronto where things are more expensive, yet the poverty line is defined for Canada in general, and I'm figuring that an increase of the minimum wage to $10/hour in Toronto would be a very very good idea. That would put the perfect min. wage worker drone at 20.8K, which is just under the poverty line, which I guess is about right.

However, the problem I see with that is that they say that you should spend no more than 30% of your income on housing. That means this min wage worker drone would be spending $520/month on housing. That can be done if you do shared housing, but living on your own it just isn't possible. And this person certainly couldn't support a spouse and children. If both parents worked minimum wage, I think they could squeak by just barely... that woud be just over a thousand for rent each month, and there are a few two bedrooms out there for that much. The kids would have to share the second bedroom, but it would just barely work.

real estate and poverty follow up

I guess I should have mentioned that I'm writing a paper on something called inclusionary zoning, which is a planning tools municipalities, states, provinces, etc. can use to require the creation of affordable housing.

That's why I've been looking at definitions of poverty, and why I was talking about buying a home that can only be sold to low-income individuals.

FYI, houses like I describe exist across the U.S. In Canada, however, they may be less practical because we don't get to deduct our mortgage payments the way Americans can.

Here's a few quotes from the application for such housing in West Sacramento.

To qualify to buy:
"To qualify for the purchase of an affordable unit Borrower must be a “low or moderate-income
household.” A household is “low-income” if the combined household income does not exceed eighty
percent (80%) of the Yolo County area median income, adjusted for household size. A household is
“moderate-income” if the combined household income does not exceed one hundred twenty percent
(120%) of the Yolo County area median income, adjusted for household size. The current Yolo
County area median income table is attached. "

To resell:
"This property may only be used as owner-occupied housing and may only be sold to another lower or
moderate-income household at the designated affordable price, as determined by the City. Details
of these restrictions, and certain limited exceptions to them, are contained in the Regulatory (For-
Sale) Agreement recorded against the property."

"These restrictions will be in effect for forty-five (45) years. If you sell the property in violation of
the restrictions, you will be required to pay the City the difference between the appraised value of
the property and the affordable housing price, as determined by the City, at the time of sale, less
your down payment and depreciated capital improvements."