News for February, 2012
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
CNT’s H+T Index reveals the high cost of transportation in nearly 900 regions across the country
CNT has just released the latest version of the Housing + Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index, using the most up-to-date Census data. While this is exciting news for those who have used the Index in the past, the news on affordability isn’t so bright.
Most places are unaffordable when it comes to combined housing and transportation costs. 72% of American communities are unaffordable for typical regional households when transportation costs—the second largest expense in a family budget—are considered along with housing costs. Under the traditional definition of housing affordability, where a rent or mortgage payment consumes no more than 30 percent of household income, three out of four (76 percent) US communities are considered “affordable” to the regional typical household making their area’s median income. However, under an expanded definition of affordability, where housing and transportation costs consume no more than 45 percent of income, the number of affordable communities decreases to 28 percent, resulting in a loss of 86,000 neighborhoods that are within reach for a typical family. Read more »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, H+T, Transportation and Community Development | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
CNT’s H+T Index Reveals the High Cost of Transportation in Nearly 900 Regions Across the Country
CHICAGO (Feb. 28, 2012)—A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) reveals that less than one in three American communities (28 percent) are affordable for typical regional households when transportation costs—the second largest expense in a family budget—are considered along with housing costs. The analysis also shows that it is much more difficult for the typical household to find a truly affordable place to live today than it was a decade ago, with incomes having increased roughly half as much as transportation and housing costs since 2000.
“The H+T Index makes the transportation costs of a place transparent to people and policy makers so they can make smart decisions about where they live and how they invest public dollars,” said Scott Bernstein, CNT founder and president. “At a time when gas prices rise weekly, income is flat, and public transportation funding is threatened, the H+T Index provides information that can help us control the cost of living for families and communities.”
The Housing + Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index provides the only comprehensive view of affordability by disclosing housing and transportation costs at a neighborhood level. The Index covers nearly 900 metropolitan and micropolitan areas across the country—encompassing nearly 180,000 neighborhoods and 89 percent of the US population.
Under the traditional definition of housing affordability (a rent or mortgage payment consumes no more than 30 percent of household income), three out of four US communities (76 percent) are considered “affordable” to the regional typical household making their area’s median income. However, under an expanded definition of affordability (housing and transportation costs consume no more than 45 percent of income), the number of affordable communities decreases dramatically to 28 percent, resulting in a net loss of 86,000 neighborhoods that are within reach for a typical family.
“Everyone understands ‘location, location, location’ when talking about the cost of housing, and they get that housing costs in Manhattan, Kansas, are very different than housing costs in Manhattan, New York,” said Peter Haas, CNT’s chief research scientist. “Location affects transportation costs, too. The H+T Index quantifies transportation costs by location and encourages people to consider both housing and transportation costs when looking for a home they can truly afford.”
Today’s release updates and expands the first H+T Index website, which used 2000 US Census data. The latest Index uses American Community Survey 2009 5-year estimates, covers smaller cities and towns, and provides improved measures of travel demand and household transportation costs.
CNT used the Index to rank metropolitan areas that had the highest and lowest average monthly transportation costs for a typical family earning the national median income.
Comparing Index data from 2000 to 2009 reveals that housing and transportation costs have dramatically outpaced incomes over that period, making it more difficult for the typical household to find a truly affordable place to live. Median housing costs, as reported by the US Census, have increased by nearly 37 percent nationwide, while the national median income has increased by approximately 22 percent. Average transportation costs in the geographies covered by both Indexes increased by more than 39 percent or $318 per month.
Despite the increase in transportation costs from 2000 to 2009, the Index shows that people living in location efficient neighborhoods—characterized by access to transit, jobs, and amenities—experienced a smaller increase than those living in car-dependent places. The typical family living in a location efficient neighborhood in 2000 (where transportation costs were less than 15 percent of the national median income), saw average transportation costs increase by approximately $1,400 annually. Meanwhile, families living in inefficient neighborhoods (where 2000 transportation costs were greater than 15 percent of the national median income) had average transportation costs increase by more than twice as much, or slightly over $3,900 annually. The difference amounts to a $200 per month location efficiency bonus.
“Despite the clear benefits to people’s pocketbooks when living in location efficient neighborhoods, we spent the first decade of the 21st Century developing in location inefficient places that put undue burden on household budgets, municipal coffers, and the environment,” said Bernstein. “Nearly six million households were added in the time period and areas our Index covers, but less than 1 percent of these were added in location efficient places. We have to do better.”
Since the Index was first launched, a diverse group of cities and organizations have used the Index in planning and policy purposes, ranging from federal agencies to private planning firms, and housing counselors to streetcar advocates.
“We are using the H+T Index and CNT’s work to better understand the implications our transit expansion plans will have on our mix of land uses and housing affordability,” said Harriet Tregoning, Director of the DC Office of Planning. “It’s a thoughtful index and a useful benchmark that can help many organizations and agencies make well-informed decisions.”
CONTACT:
Emily Robinson, Center for Neighborhood Technology, erobinson@cnt.org, 773-269-4043
Listen to the H+T webinar ››
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Founded in 1978, CNT is a Chicago-based think-and-do tank that works nationally to advance urban sustainability by researching, inventing and testing strategies that use resources more efficiently and equitably. Its programs focus on transportation, energy, water, community development, and climate. Visit www.cnt.org for more information.
Posted in Press Releases | 2 Comments »
Thursday, February 16th, 2012
With gas prices already setting records, Congress threatening to cut mass transit funding, and the Chicago region arguably losing its competitive edge, CNT has released a call to action that presents a new vision for building economic prosperity in the Chicago region with an analysis that identifies place-based transportation and community development investments that would reinvigorate economic growth.
Prospering in Place builds on the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s visionary GO TO 2040 plan, translating that blueprint into a detailed framework that prioritizes specific places and projects that connect people to jobs. Read more »
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Thursday, February 16th, 2012
Prospering in Place Brings CMAP’s GO TO 2040 Plan Down to Earth
CHICAGO (Feb. 16, 2012)—With gas prices already setting records, Congress threatening to cut mass transit funding, and the Chicago region arguably losing its competitive edge, the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) has released a new vision for building economic prosperity in the Chicago region with an analysis that identifies place-based transportation and community development investments that would reinvigorate economic growth. Prospering in Place builds on the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s visionary GO TO 2040 plan, translating that blueprint into a detailed framework that prioritizes specific places and projects that connect people to jobs.
“To help build our region’s economy we must target investments in the areas where they will have the most impact,” said Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Board President. “The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Prospering in Place provides a much needed blueprint for how we can invest locally, while thinking regionally.”
“Places matter. But we’ve disregarded the region’s historic, compact, transit-served neighborhoods in favor of urban sprawl, cars, and cheap gas,” said Kathryn Tholin, CEO of CNT. “The cost of this shift was less apparent in good times, but stagnant incomes, high unemployment, and historic fuel prices have exposed its failings. Moving forward, we need to live closer to where we work, take transit more often than not, and strengthen walkable neighborhoods that meet needs locally. This report shows where and how to begin.”
The report documents how past development patterns have harmed the regional economy:
- Of Chicago’s 25 top industries, the region is outperforming the nation in only five. Hallmarks of the regional economy—manufacturing, freight, logistics, finance/insurance/real estate, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals—lag behind national performance.
- Despite being the third largest urban area in the country and having the second most extensive public transportation system, the Urban Land Institute’s influential 2012 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report bypasses Chicago as a top prospect development.
- Between 2002 and 2008, the seven-county region of northeastern Illinois added a net 110,314 jobs but those within walking distance of transit fell by 5,555. Low- and moderate-income workers, already burdened by driving costs, saw jobs located near transit fall by 16 percent.
The report shows how to turn that situation around by exploiting the region’s unique assets and advantages: a robust freight rail network, the second largest passenger rail system in the country, vacant land near rail for development, and demographic demand for a vibrant urban lifestyle. The analysis prioritizes economic development opportunities based on three strategies: transit-oriented development (TOD), cargo-oriented development (COD), and job centers that need better transit.
TOD. The report prioritizes TOD opportunities from among the 343 stations located outside Chicago’s central business district. Priority locations for TOD include Berwyn (Red Line), Blue Island, Elgin, Elmwood Park, and much of the Green Line L in Chicago. To set the region back on the path to sustainability, the report calls for at least 50 percent of regional development to be captured in transit zones.
COD. The freight sector’s counterpart to TOD, cargo-oriented development (COD) brings industrial and logistics firms to communities with the freight assets to support them and the workforce to fill newly created jobs. The strategy is critical, given that all six Class I freight railroads converge here and terminate at and/or intersect with 21 rail-to-truck intermodal facilities. The report identifies three opportunities to develop CODs: Harvey’s Canadian National intermodal terminal, a proposed expansion of Englewood’s Norfolk Southern terminal, and Cicero’s BNSF terminal.
“Our region still has the rail assets to speed our economic recovery, but it has failed to direct land development to take full advantage of them,” said Ed Paesel, executive director of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, whose region is home to many COD development opportunities. “Exploiting these assets brings jobs closer to workers who need them while lowering transportation costs, boosting property taxes, and reducing infrastructure costs.”
Connecting Jobs and People. Four of the five largest employment centers outside of downtown Chicago—employing nearly 272,000 people, are ill-served by public transportation. Employment centers such as these require investment in a depreciating asset—an automobile—and expose workers to fluctuating gas prices. Priority locations for improved connections between jobs and people include developing connecting service between stations that bracket employment centers along the Jane Addams Tollway and in Lombard, Naperville and Oak Brook.
The report recommends how to implement its priority strategies:
- Designate as Priority Development Areas (PDAs)the places in the region that are ready for investment and have the ability to energize the region around GO TO 2040 goals.
- Align investments by state, regional, and local agencies with a special focus on PDAs.
- Establish a new $1 billion dollar competitive CMAP Sustainable Communities Initiative that awards capital grants to implement projects in Priority Development Areas over the next 30 years.
- Create a permanent new revenue source that can fund enhancements and expansion of the transit system.
- Make dedicated funding available to underwrite predevelopment costs, such as land assembly and environmental remediation, which are difficult to finance.
“CMAP applauds the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s efforts to shed light on the importance of effective planning that considers transit and freight as important aspects of a comprehensive, regional approach,” said Randy Blankenhorn, Executive Director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. “CNT’s efforts can support implementation of GO TO 2040, including its emphasis on redevelopment that strengthens our region’s existing communities.”
Prospering in Place was made possible by the support of the Searle Funds of the Chicago Community Trust, Field Foundation of Illinois, the Grand Victoria Foundation, and the Harris Family Foundation.
“The Trust supported the development of the GO TO 2040 plan for the Chicago region,” said Ngoan Le, Vice President of Programs at The Chicago Community Trust. “Recommendations provided in Prospering in Place give us a good framework to think about an approach that could implement the GO TO 2040 plan concretely toward building a successful region.”
CONTACT:
Emily Robinson, Center for Neighborhood Technology, erobinson@cnt.org, 773-269-4043
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Founded in 1978, CNT is a Chicago-based think-and-do tank that works nationally to advance urban sustainability by researching, inventing and testing strategies that use resources more efficiently and equitably. Its programs focus on transportation, energy, water, community development, and climate. Visit www.cnt.org for more information.
Posted in Press Releases | No Comments »
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
The US House of Representatives will vote next week on a transportation bill that would fundamentally alter transportation policy as we know it, rolling back the clock to 1983.
In an unprecedented move, the bill, HR7, would remove dedicated mass transportation funding from the Highway Trust Fund and use it solely to fund highways. It would also eliminate the already miniscule amount of federal funding that makes our roads safer for bikers and pedestrians. Read more about the failings of the bill here. Read more »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Transportation and Community Development | 1 Comment »
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
CNT is working with American Water Works Association, the Alliance for Water Efficiency, and the Great Lakes Commission to survey the water-loss control policies of a select number of utilities within the eight Great Lakes. The information will be used to help shape our Water Service Innovation work, which is focused on performance-based investment in water services and infrastructure.
Preliminary research demonstrates a lack of regulation and accountability regarding water-loss control and its associated, subsequent economic and social costs. Gaining a better understanding of how the Great Lakes states are handling this issue is critical for the long-term protection and stewardship of this important natural resource.
CNT will use data from the utility survey to help inform a forthcoming publication that highlights the cost to society of not appropriately investing in our water services. Although nationally relevant, the survey will be based on research undertaken primarily within the Great Lakes states. Following this publication, the Water program plans to work with a select number of utilities to make voluntary improvements in water-loss control.
To get your community involved in this area of work, or to find out more about it, please contact Harriet Festing, hfesting@cnt.org.
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Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Photo by Steven Vance - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesbondsv/
If the House Ways and Means Committee’s proposed transportation bill passes as currently drafted, it stands to fundamentally alter transportation policy as we know it and roll back mass transit funding by 30 years.
This unprecedented move kicks transit funding out of the Highway Trust Fund and into the annual appropriations process, which means that every year transit will have to compete against all federal domestic spending. Meanwhile, funding for highways would go back to having all the user fee funding— as it was until the Reagan Administration, despite clear evidence over decades of transit’s contribution to congestion relief, clean air, among other benefits. Read more »
Posted in Featured Portfolio News, Policy, Transportation and Community Development | No Comments »
