Combined Housing and Transportation Costs Strain Workers Throughout Washington Metro Region, Finds New Report from Urban Land Institute
For more information, contact: Trish Riggs 202-624-7086 or E-mail: priggs@uli.org
WASHINGTON (February 9, 2009) – Housing located far from transit and employment centers places a heavy financial strain on working families in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, according to a new publication from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. Beltway Burden: The Combined Cost of Housing and Transportation in the Greater Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, documents the challenges faced by area working families who are forced to "drive ‘till they qualify" for housing, incurring higher transportation costs that eventually erode their housing cost savings. It finds that area families are victim to combined housing and transportation costs that constitute, on average, nearly 47 percent of the area median income.
The report, prepared by the ULI Terwilliger Center in partnership with the Center for Housing Policy (CHP) and the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), finds that region-wide, households spend an average of $23,000 on housing and $13,000 on transportation annually. An estimated 60 percent of households have either high housing cost burdens, high transportation cost burdens or both.
Beltway Burden measures the combined housing and transportation costs for 22 areas within the Washington region. In general, it finds that increases in transportation costs start offsetting housing savings when families locate roughly 15 to 17 miles from employment centers.
J. Ronald Terwilliger, chairman of Trammell Crow Residential and chairman of the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing, noted that “drive ‘till you qualify” is no longer a viable option for working families. “They are either being squeezed by high housing costs or high transportation costs and in many cases both,” Terwilliger said. “The Terwilliger Center is developing local solutions to increase the availability of workforce housing close to public transit hubs and employment centers.”
Richard Rosan, president of ULI Worldwide, pointed out that the housing-jobs imbalance in the Washington region is indicative of what is occurring in high-cost urban areas nationwide. “The shortage of housing that is close to jobs is a pressing urban need that cannot be shelved for later,” Rosan said. He noted that declines in prices for homes and gas do not address the fundamental shortage of workforce housing in high-cost urban areas. "Throughout urban America, commutes are getting longer and traffic is getting worse. Improving the quality of life in our cities by linking more housing to jobs is critical to both economic and environmental stability. Where we build is just as important as how much we build. The challenge is to build workforce housing where it’s needed.”
To lower the housing-transportation cost burden for the Washington metro area, the report suggests that part of the answer is “creating more housing and transportation choices.” This can be achieved by local policymakers working to ensure that housing in desirable close-in locations offer affordable housing for a wide range of incomes.
Beltway Burden attributes a shortage of workforce housing near jobs and transit as a root cause of some of the nation’s worst congestion, wasted time and wasted fuel. Drivers spend an average of 60 hours per year sitting in traffic and waste nearly 91 million gallons of fuel, according to the report.
"The findings for Clarke County, VA, help to illustrate the core findings of the report," said Jeffrey Lubell, CHP’s executive director. "Due in part to its distance from employment centers, Clarke County offers lower-than-average housing costs. But its high transportation costs lift the combined costs for housing and transportation above the region-wide average. Since Clarke County incomes are nearly 18 percent below the region-wide average, these combined costs are particularly difficult for families to afford."
While Washington, D.C. has a successful transit system, outlying regions struggle with sprawl. The report points out that “we need to use our existing infrastructure more wisely and more intensively.” Public policies are needed to preserve the existing stock of affordable housing in the city and older suburbs. More compact development would make public transit more economically feasible and attract retail and other uses, thus reducing congestion, greenhouse gas emissions and transportation costs, the report says.
These challenges will only increase with the projected addition of 1.7 million new households over the next 20 years in the region. The report shows projected population growth for the greater Washington, D.C. region and finds that half of the growth will occur in the outer suburbs and outer-ring jurisdictions. These areas currently are home to just over one-fourth of the region’s population, and have the highest combined costs for housing and transportation.
As a complement to Beltway Burden, the Terwilliger Center also released the Terwilliger Cost Calculator, which provides consumers with up-to-date Washington, D.C. metro area housing and transportation cost data that they can use to make informed decisions on where to live and work. Developed in partnership with the CNT, the calculator allows users to input their current home and work addresses and compare their current housing and transportation costs to the costs they would incur if they chose to change their home and/or work addresses.
“The Terwilliger Cost Calculator allows people to examine the relationship of where they live to what they spend on housing and transportation,” said Dr. Peter Haas, CNT’s chief research scientist. “Until now, individuals only knew the cost of housing when moving into a new neighborhood, but this tool allows consumers to estimate transportation costs as well. By choosing a location-efficient neighborhood near transit, services and jobs, families can reduce their monthly household expenses because the money they save by lower transportation needs can offset a more expensive house.” Haas also pointed out that this tool is useful for planners and housing advocates in thinking about both housing and public transit development in their communities.
The report and calculator are available at http://www.uli.org/ResearchAndPublications/TerwilligerCenterforWorkforceHousing.aspx
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About the ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing
The ULI Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing was established in 2007 with a $5 million endowment to ULI from former ULI Chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger, chairman of Trammell Crow Residential and chairman of the ULI Terwillliger Center. The mission of the Center is to act as a catalyst in increasing the availability of workforce housing by harnessing the power of the private sector.
About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a global nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in sustaining and creating thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has nearly 40,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.