Strengthening Transit Through Community PartnershipsWe shouldn’t be talking about housing affordability in isolation. We should really be talking about “affordable living” rather than “affordable housing.” If your rent is low, but you have to spend a disproportionately large share of your income on transportation, then your living situation isn’t affordable. This is the essential insight behind CNT's Housing + Transportation Index which quantifies the approximate costs associated with housing and transportation in different neighborhoods. CNT used census data on income and housing costs, and estimates of commuting patterns, transit available and car ownership to estimate what fraction of a household’s income gets spent on housing and transportation in different locations.
