Tuesdays at APA: Penny Wise, Pound Fuelish:New Measures of Housing + Transportation Affordability

Penny Wise, Pound Fuelish:
New Measures of Housing + Transportation Affordability
July 20, 2010


Under the traditional definition of housing affordability, seven
out of 10 U.S. communities are considered "affordable" to the
typical household. But in almost all metro regions of the
country, when the definition of affordability includes both
housing and transportation costs, the number of communities
affordable to households earning the area median income decreases
significantly.


The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) has developed the
Housing+Transportation (H+T) Index to address this shortcoming.
The index is a publicly available database that demonstrates the
transportation costs associated with a home's location thereby
providing a more accurate measure of a community's affordability.


Peter Haas from CNT provided an overview of the H+T Index, key
findings, its public policy applications, and reported on related
federal policy initiatives.