Housing + Transportation Affordability Toolkit
This toolkit on housing affordability that considers both housing and transportation costs in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The goal of the toolkit is to provide one central source for individuals, employers, and decision makers to reference when considering the cost of living in the region and how location plays an important role in every decision about housing and transportation. This toolkit is intended to be an informational tool that helps different audiences gain a better, more comprehensive understanding of the issues around the combined costs of housing and transportation. This toolkit may enable local jurisdictions, employers, and residents to make informed decisions about their housing and transportation choices, and is not proscriptive of the outcomes or solutions to these complex decisions.
This toolkit is divided into three parts: measures of affordability, case studies, and strategies.
Measures of Affordability
The measures of affordability discuss existing tools to incorporate transportation and housing costs when considering affordability. The studies differ in terms of strengths and weaknesses, methodology, and audiences. Despite these differences, all are based on the premise that transportation costs should should be part of the housing affordability equation. The measures include both on-line calculators and mapping tools that provide personalized cost estimates.
Case Studies
The case studies are designed to provide a more personal, tangible account of the housing and transportation costs that can be expected in various neighborhoods from across the region. Case studies were selected to provide insight into a wide range of geographic areas that have varying transportation/housing costs, land-use patterns, transit accessibility, etc.
Strategies
The strategies section seeks to provide tools, resources and guidance for various stakeholders to better cope with the issue of housing and transportation affordability. While previous scholarly research has painted a more complete view of housing affordability, these studies have not provided provided specific recommendations to a wide variety of stakeholders. Simply providing the data and knowledge demonstrating the transportation costs are a vital component of overall housing affordability is not enough; this toolkit provides provides specific assistance for various stakeholders.