Does Location Matter? Performance Analysis of the Affordable Housing Programs with Respect to Transportation Affordability in Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Metropolis

Abstract

Transportation costs are the second largest expenditure for a family, thus have a substantial influence on housing affordability. In an auto-oriented region like DFW, the situation is exacerbated for low-income families due to limited transportation options. This study seeks to evaluate the efficiency of major affordable housing programs for low-income people in terms of transportation affordability. This study uses a rigorous methodology that involves a solid transportation cost modeling with disaggregated data available at property level for housing assistance programs in DFW. Our findings show that about 69% of the assisted units in DFW are unaffordable in terms of transportation costs. The majority of them are spending about 17% to 20% of their income on transportation. The most affordable program is Low-Income Housing Tax Credit with 58% affordability rate and the least affordable program is the Continuum of Care with 9% affordability rate when accounting for transportation costs. We also found that almost all affordable units (regarding the transportation costs) are located in main economic hubs of the region such as Dallas and Fort Worth which have better access to jobs and public transit. In contrary, almost all housing properties in the areas between Dallas and Fort Worth are unaffordable. These are areas adjacent to the University of Texas at Arlington with a high number of transit dependent population and in Arlington, the biggest midsize city with no public transit. Our findings urge HUD to consider modifying these programs by incorporating the location-efficiency factors to ensure true affordability.

A National Study on Transportation Affordability of HUD Housing Assistance Programs

“…The average income spent by all households of HOME properties is about 15.3% which is slightly higher than the affordability threshold, while a typical household who lives in LIHTC properties spend, an average, 15% of their income on transportation, precisely within the affordability threshold. The LIHTC found to be the most affordable, even in an auto-oriented region like the DFW metro area [8]. On the other hand, programs designed for people with special needs like Section 811 nationally spend on average 16% of their income on transportation and found to be the least transport affordable programs.…”

“…While this study has shed a light on an overlooked but critical topic of transportation affordability for subsidized housing, the Multifamily Section 8 program is only one of several major HUD-subsidized housing programs and it is currently only limited to the renewal of existing contracts. There is still little evidence on transportation affordability and location efficiency of other major Addressing these gaps, Hamidi et al [8] most recently employed a more rigorous methodology using address level disaggregate data to investigate the performance of HUD-subsidized units supported by eight different programs in the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) region. They used the transportation costs model developed for low-income households who are eligible to receive assistance from HUD.…”

“…These allowed the transportation cost models to precisely capture the built environment determinants of travel. Hamidi et al [8] found a noticeable variation across programs and in different DFW cities in terms of transportation affordability citing LIHTC properties as the most affordable and Continuum of Care and Section 202 properties as the least affordable properties.…”