Part Four in an ongoing series linking energy consumption and development patterns
With the price at the pump topping
record levels, many advocacy groups have published their own version of “10 Tips
for Reducing Your Energy Consumption.” While individual efforts – as well
as critical thinking in the ongoing alternative fuels debate – are
integral, communities also must start planning carefully to achieve the only sure-fire
method for curbing America’s oil addiction: cutting car trips. Imagine the
possibilities if we stopped subsidizing unnaturally low gas prices, and started letting
the market catch up to rising consumer demand for pedestrian and
bike-friendly communities near jobs, retail and public transportation. This is part four in an
ongoing Metropolitan Planning Council Web series, highlighting how we, as a
region, can start recognizing every chance to grow or rebuild as another
opportunity to diminish our auto dependency. Check back every other Thursday to
learn innovative ways we can beat our oil addiction through sensible
growth.
Since the end of World War II,
people across the
United
States
have settled in suburban towns, many
happily finding what we all want in our communities: quality homes, good
schools, spacious parks and quiet, peaceful streets. Some, however, would prefer
to stay in the city, but are moving out because they’ve bought into the widely
accepted idea that you “get more bang for the buck” by buying in ’burbs.
Even though some suburbs offer a greater variety of
homes with attractive price tags, if there is limited or no access to public
transit, the costs associated with longer vehicle commutes often out-weigh
potential housing cost savings. With gas prices climbing, suburban homeowners’
savings are rapidly eroding. The spike in fuel prices will increase the average
household’s total transportation expenditures – the second largest household
expenditure – by 15 percent, according to the recent
Center for Neighborhood Technology
(CNT) presentation,
Housing
+ Transportation: Moving the Region Toward Greater Affordability
. These
added costs are putting the squeeze on families in the
Chicago
area, making it
even more urgent to provide a variety of housing options, including affordable
apartments and homes, near public transportation.
As policy makers and advocates
work to create new affordable housing options, it is key that transportation be
factored into day-to-day policy and planning decisions. A family’s ability to
afford a home does not just depend on the sales price or rent; it also depends
on the cost to travel to and from that home to work, visit friends and family,
attend school and church, and run errands. In other words, “If a family finds a
home that meets their housing budget, yet has to own two, or even three cars to
live there, that home is not so affordable anymore,” said CNT’s Carrie
Makarewicz.
Already, more than 730,000
families are stretching beyond their means to afford to live in the
Chicago
area, and it’s
these low and moderate-income families who are hardest hit by the disparities
between the location of affordable housing and public transit. In order to solve
these disparities, efforts need to be put forth to create affordable housing
options near transportation nodes and employment centers.
Several initiatives currently are
working to do just that, including:
- Employer-assisted housing programs,
through which employers are providing
financial assistance to help their employees live near work or transit;
-
SB 2885
, the “Location Matters” bill
signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week to create incentives for employers to
invest in and locate near workforce housing and transit options;
-
Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Housing Endorsement Criteria
, which provides a means by which communities can review
residential housing proposals based on their proximity to jobs and transit;
-
Chicago Metropolitan
Agency for Planning
, formally
known as the Regional Planning Board, was legislated in 2005 to combine
previously separate transportation and land-use planning agencies to better
coordinate the two for northeastern Illinois; and
- the
Illinois Comprehensive Housing Plan
sets specific goals to build and preserve affordable and workforce housing
in Illinois and connect housing to transit, jobs, and other essential
services, and bridges the common divide between the state agencies providing
capital and service dollars for housing, transportation and other related
resources.
Progress is being made, but it’s
not enough. Changing housing supply patterns and educating consumers on the
financial implications of their choices is going to require a coordinated
regional approach. Academics and civic groups can help by assessing the region’s
changing demographics and resulting preferences to plan for where and what type
of housing is needed. Communities can preserve affordable housing in the face of
gentrification by using innovative tools such as housing trust funds, community
land trusts and demolition taxes. Local and state leaders can work together to
steer affordable housing development near new and redeveloping transit hubs.
Nonprofits and financial institutions can educate renters and buyers about the
true cost of their housing choices. And regional planners can encourage better
connections between housing and job centers, so that workers are less likely to
have to commute from one part of the region to the other to get to work every
day.
Yes, it’s a tall order – but it’s
a necessary one, since both housing and gas costs are projected to continue to
rise in coming years. While many factors go into a consumer’s choice about where
they want to live, as a region, we have to make sure to provide them with
options, including the option to get around without a car.
Read Part One of the series.
Read Part Two
of the series.
Read Part Three of the series.