New US policy links housing, transportation

Breaking down silos

Jon Boyd, Jun 23, 10.

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced they will spend a combined $75 million dollars on Sustainable Communities projects, a program which DOT Secretary Ray Lahood, HUD Secretary Donovan, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson unveiled on June 16th, 2009.

Secretary Ray Lahood’s blog explains more about the program which allows DOT and HUD to consider projects, “holistically to better align transportation, housing, economic development, and land use planning.” For example, TIGER II transportation grants can support community development projects if transportation is an important component of a sustainable and affordable communities. The test program coordinates, “up to $75 million in funding—$35 million from DOT, $40 million from HUD—for planning activities leading to projects that integrate transportation, housing and economic development.”

On May 21st, at the 18th Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) in Atlanta, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary, Shaun Donovan, emphasized the importance of location efficiency. Secretary Donovan also promoted neighborhood development based on LEED-ND principles.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) has proposed measuring affordability by combining housing and transportation costs. Sometimes, inexpensive housing lies in remote areas within a metropolitan area where transit service is poor or even non-existent. If a family needs to buy, maintain, and operate three cars instead of one or two, they might spend more operating their vehicles than they are saving in housing costs. CNT also developed the definition of “location efficiency,” which looks at transportation costs associated with a residential property based on its accessibility to transit.