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Housing & Transportation Affordability Index
Housing affordability discussions typically exclude the cost of transportation. The Housing and Transportation Affordability Index is a new tool that accounts for household spending on transportation, along with home prices, to estimate whether a home is truly affordable.
Developed by the Center for Neighborhood Technology in partnership with the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, the Index shows how affordability changes from neighborhood to neighborhood throughout Southern California and that the most affordable neighborhoods tend to be mixed use, compact in design, walkable, and near transit and jobs.
The CNT has also developed an online GIS website where you can view customized, interactive maps illustrating housing and transportation costs as well as the impacts of rising gas prices.
The Index study just completed for SCAG includes six community case studies:
El Monte Case StudyThe case studies examine different local government approaches to a paradox associated with dispersed growth - it appears to make housing more affordable, but often cancels any significant savings with high transportation costs. The Affordability Index Toolbox synthesizes results from the case studies and recommends potential policy "tools" that local planners, elected officials and others can use to promote affordability in their Southern California communities.
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