Not fixedCommunity & EquityCONFIRMED

Nearly half of Hoover’s renters are cost-burdened

Hoover’s median home value is roughly 1.6 times Jefferson County’s, 45 percent of renter households pay 30 percent or more of income on housing, and the city has no affordable-housing program.

Where it stands

Not fixed

Hits residents

6/10

Years covered

2018–2025

Sources

3 linked

$412,200
Median home value, against $263,100 for Jefferson County: 45.3%
Share of Hoover renter households paying 30% or more of income on housing: 2.8%
Hoover’s measured poverty rate, against 13.8% for Jefferson County

What happened

Census data put Hoover’s median home value at $412,200 in the 2020-2024 five-year estimate, against $263,100 for Jefferson County and $233,300 for Alabama; median gross rent is $1,457, against $1,280 and $1,077. In 2024, 45.3 percent of Hoover’s 11,040 renter households paid 30 percent or more of income toward housing, as did 17.5 percent of owner households. Hoover’s median household income of $106,844 is more than 50 percent above the county and state figures, and its measured poverty rate is 2.8 percent against the county’s 13.8 percent. The city has added housing mainly by converting aging office parks to apartments, including 289 units at The Heights at Inverness approved 4-3 in 2024. City staff justified those on comprehensive-plan grounds rather than affordability. Residents told planners as far back as 2018 that the city needed more affordable options. No inclusionary or workforce-housing policy, and no city-run rental assistance program, was located in any source reviewed.

Timeline

Jan 25, 2018
Residents tell comprehensive-plan consultants the city needs more affordable housing options for young college graduates.
Hoover Sun (hooversun.com) ↗
May 20, 2024
Council votes 4-3 to rezone 24 acres of a vacant office park for 289 apartments.
Hoover Sun (hooversun.com) ↗
Jan 21, 2025
Mayor Brocato says leaving office buildings vacant is worse for the city than converting them to housing.
Hoover Sun (hooversun.com) ↗

Who's involved

Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission
Reviews the office-to-apartment conversions
The Stoa Group
Developer, The Heights at Inverness
Former Mayor Frank Brocato
Defended conversions as better than vacancy

The other side

City officials frame new apartments as economic development responding to office-park vacancy rather than as housing policy. No Hoover official quoted in any source reviewed has proposed or opposed an affordable-housing mandate.

Open questions

Whether Hoover has ever considered an inclusionary or workforce-housing policy on a council agenda is not established.
Whether Hoover participates in any federal housing subsidy or voucher program is not established.

Sources (3)

Last checked July 29, 2026