Location Efficiency and Sustainability: the H+T Affordability Index

ABSTRACT

Housing is traditionally considered affordable if it costs less than 30% of a household’s income. But, this benchmark ignores transportation, which is typically the second-largest expenditure and among a household’s biggest environmental impacts. The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing and Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index offers an expanded view of affordability that incorporates the variable costs of transportation by place to encourage location efficiency, sustainability, and lower household costs. First released in 2006, it has been expanded and updated to cover 89% of the US population. Users can view combined H+T costs, greenhouse gases, and other key data at the neighborhood level as maps, charts, and statistics for nearly 900 metropolitan and micropolitan areas. The H+T Index guides public policy changes and community sustainability goals and is reshaping housing and development choices in regions across America.