The Housing and Transportation Affordability Index

We all know what affordable housing is. Or do we?

Traditionally, housing is considered affordable if it accounts for 30 percent or less of a household’s monthly budget. But consumers filling up at the gas pump today understand that affordability is about more than just the mortgage payment. While housing costs are well-understood, transportation costs are often dramatically underestimated or ignored, creating an urban information gap.

To investigate this, KnowledgePlex and the Urban Markets Initiative of the Brookings Institution present an online discussion about a new way to measure true affordability of housing: the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index. Incorporating housing costs with the costs associated with that location, this analytic tool enables developers, transportation planners, and individuals to uncover the hidden price of transportation that dramatically shapes household budgets.

Dr. Peter M. Haas, of the Center for Neighborhood Technology and lead developer of the Affordability Index’s transportation cost model, and Mariia Zimmerman, vice president for policy at Reconnecting America, will discuss the development of the index, its results in the Twin Cities pilot, and the implications for its future use nationwide.

Watch the Presentation

View the discussion, archived with video and audio. (Free registration, required)