LaHood, Donovan team up

Focus: sustainable communities

Steve Hawley, Mar 20, 09.

On March 18, Ray Lahood, Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOT), and Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced a partnership to encourage sustainable, transit-oriented communities. According to their departments, “The average working American family spends nearly 60 percent of its budget on housing and transportation costs, making these two areas the largest expenses for American families. Donovan and LaHood want to seek ways to cut these costs by focusing their efforts on creating affordable, sustainable communities.”

LaHood said, “One of my highest priorities is to help promote more livable communities through sustainable surface transportation programs.” Donovan added, “This partnership will help expand every American family’s choices for affordable housing and transportation. HUD’s central mission – ensuring that every American has access to decent, affordable housing – can be achieved only in context of the housing, transportation, and energy costs and choices that American families experience each day.”

The partnership will consist of a joint task force designed to better coordinate federal housing and transportation spending. The task force aims to give Americans:

• More choices for affordable housing near employment opportunities;
• More transportation options, to lower transportation costs, shorten travel times, and improve the environment; and
• Safe, livable, healthy communities

Current federal affordable housing standards do not account for transportation costs, even though the agencies note that “transportation costs now approach or exceed housing costs for many working families.” The task force aims to include transportation costs as a component of housing costs and create an online tool to help individuals better evaluate housing options.

In addition, the task force hopes to encourage every major metropolitan area to incorporate integrated housing, transportation, and land use plans into the long-term regional transportation plans over the next four years.

Houston-Galveston 2035 Regional Transportation Plan

DOT and HUD will also conduct joint research in order to gather data on transportation and housing options and facilitate better decision-making and investment strategies.

In related news, the New York Times reports that the average American household spends more on transportation than health care, clothing, and entertainment combined.

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