"Affordable" is meaningless -- unless it's coupled with an income amount. We behave as though "affordable" means something a working class family can afford without risking everything else. That's not what it means.
Housing is "affordable" when it consumes 1/3 or less of the income of the renter or owner... So for the Olympia City Manager who makes $210,000 a year, a house is affordable at $5,800 a month. When the planners and politicians and journalists couple "affordable" with "for the family earning $XX,000 a year" and that number reflects a working class income say $40-60,000 then it will be clear that creating incentives for more "market rate" housing isn't going solve the housing crisis for working people.
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