01592703

Component

This paper assesses the affordability of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rental assistance properties from the standpoint of transportation costs. HUD housing is, by definition, affordable from the standpoint of housing costs due to limits on the amounts renters are required to pay. However, there are no such limitations on transportation costs, and common sense suggests that renters in remote locations may be forced to pay more than 15 percent of income, a nominal affordability standard, for transportation costs. Using household travel models estimated with data from 15 diverse regions around the U.S., the authors estimated and summed automobile capital costs, automobile operating costs, and transit fare costs for households at more than 8,000 HUD Section 8 rental assistance properties. The mean percentage of income expended on transportation is 15 percent for households at the high end of the eligible income scale. However, in highly sprawling metropolitan areas, and in suburban areas of more compact metropolitan areas, much higher percentages of households exceed the 15 percent threshold. This suggests that locational characteristics of properties should be considered for renewal when HUD contracts expire for these properties, based on location and hence on transportation affordability.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD20 Standing Committee on Social and Economic Factors of Transportation.

01584066

16-1166

English

0000-0002-4117-3456

17p

2016

Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Maps; References; Tables

Automobile travel; Costs; Housing; Income; Metropolitan areas; Public transit; Travel demand; Urban sprawl

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Affordable housing

Finance; Highways; Policy; Public Transportation; Society

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2016 Paper #16-1166

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 12 2016 4:32PM