MOBILITY | Unlocking Home Affordability through Car-Free Living
Workforce housing is only meaningful if transportation doesn’t break the bank
Written By Phil Veasley
This article is Part Two of the series Mobility & Affordability.
In Atlanta, there has been a focus on providing workforce housing, but the conversation completely ignores workforce mobility. As a result, we continue to provide car-centric housing solutions. Given that the maximum housing and transportation (H&T) cost recommended by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is 50 percent of a person’s income, in Atlanta (and most cities), this leaves no workforce housing options for households earning 60 to 80 percent of the average median income (AMI) while also allowing for affordable car ownership.
At the same time, home affordability is at an all-time low. The average home price in Atlanta hovers right around $400,000, which is nearly 50 percent higher than it was five years ago. Meanwhile, the median household income has only gone up less than 20 percent during the same timeframe. This has forced many people to flee the city and resort to sprawling fringe communities, making traffic worse and harming the climate in the process. Needless to say, it’s an undesirable outcome.
Although people may see an initial savings when they choose a home farther out, the costs of car dependency become that much higher. Those costs have forced many people out of the home-buying market altogether. But even opting out provides no relief: Rent prices soared over 15 percent in 2021.
And while housing prices shot up during the COVID-19 Pandemic, until recently, that rise was somewhat buffered by historically low interest rates. Those too have skyrocketed to highs not seen since the early 2000s. Buyers are forced to either continue renting or pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars more each month for the same home compared to a year ago.
While all this seems gloom and doom, there is a key to unlocking home affordability: a car-free lifestyle.
Income required for an Atlanta house to be affordable, based on number of cars owned:
Income required for an Atlanta apartment to be affordable, based on number of cars owned:
As cities continue to evolve, the way forward is clear: If housing in urban settings is going to be affordable, cities must provide areas where people are able to live car-lite or car-free.
Next time: Unexpected car-free hotspots
Phil Veasley is a multimodal transportation engineer working on projects throughout the Southeast that build places for people to move and thrive. Follow him on Twitter at @Urban_Connector