Housing + Transportation Affordability: Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)
The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s (CNT) Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index calculator, http://htaindex.cnt.org, provides a full picture of an area's housing affordability by factoring in transportation costs.
Housing affordability is traditionally defined as 30% of household income, but this figure doesn't account for qualities of a neighborhood such as density, access to jobs, block size and transit access — factors that create “location efficiency.” Creating walkable, transit-friendly communities reduces the burden upon residents to own and maintain private vehicles. Residents of location efficient communities are able to access places of employment, stores and services by walking, biking and using public transit, saving time and money, as well as reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
The H+T Affordability Index is a free online mapping tool that encourages city planners and other agencies with influence over community development to think about affordability in terms of location efficiency, and supplies the maps and community data to do so. The extent to which this tool is incorporated into planning protocols is entirely up to communities themselves. Checking the tool online is free and simple. Policies can encourage or require planners to consult this tool and consider location efficiency when starting a new project. Using the H+T Affordability Index tool helps planners create a deeper understanding of their communities, and if used to its full potential, the Index can help create healthy, sustainable, location-efficient communities. There are no risks or costs associated with using this tool as it imposes no obligation on the user.
