Environment | Daily Report

Cheap housing might not always be that cheap when you account for transportation costs, according to a recent study.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology developed a Housing and Transportation Index that takes into account the amount of household income devoted to paying both mortgage or rent, as well as transportation costs. Their analysis concludes "that only two in five American communities – or 39 percent – are affordable for typical households when their transportation costs are considered along with housing costs."

As its baseline, the index determines affordable housing as that which takes up 30 percent or less of household income and tacks an additional 15 percent more of household income to cover transportation costs. If mortgage or rent costs plus transportation costs take up 45 percent or more of household income, the index considers the area unaffordable.

Interactive maps available on the Web site allow readers to explore the affordability of metro areas around the country. The maps drill all the way down into neighborhoods inside the metro.

In the Bay Area, a large swath of housing around Hayward on in to Pleasanton looks affordable when only housing costs are considered, but when transportation costs also figure into the equation, it becomes unaffordable, according to the index.

Similarly, there are some areas around Santa Barbara that eat up less than 30 percent of household income before transpiration costs are figured into the equation. But most of that area of apparent affordability disappears when transportation costs are also tallied.

In addition to the maps, take a look at the accompanying report, "Penny Wise, Pound Fuelish." It serves as a guide to the Housing and Transportation Index and the methodology used to develop the index is available here.

"The report highlights the financial consequences to households and regions of the two approaches to development – compact, mixed use development with access to stores, jobs and transit versus dispersed, single use development that is removed from job centers and public transportation – and concludes that the compact approach produces greater affordability, lower greenhouse gas emissions and more sustainable regional growth," according to the report's summary.