What does this indicator mean?
The cost of housing as a percentage of income
How is this indicator useful for creating and measuring activity-friendly places?
- To determine how many households pay too much for housing.
- To prioritize where to make investments to support a range of housing options (e.g., to help more people live close to jobs, to increase discretionary income).
What would help the most people benefit from this indicator?
- Build more compact, mixed housing types in neighborhoods where housing demand is high.
- Eliminate unnecessary parking requirements.
- Encourage a mix of housing types and sizes to allow families with kids, empty nesters, young adults, and people of all ages and abilities to live next to each other.
- Specifically develop zoning incentives and requirements to assure a variety of housing types, sizes, and costs, including row houses and townhomes; multi-family units (duplexes, quads, etc.); accessory dwelling units (such as over-garage and garden apartments); tiny homes; and other creative approaches.
- Implement property tax abatements for low-income homeowners.
- Provide regulatory incentives to developers to build affordable housing.