Housing and Transportation costs are the two biggest budget items for most families, but it’s difficult to truly factor housing and transportation costs into decisions about where to live and work. How can you tell the true costs of living in an area?

The Partnership for Sustainable Communities (a joint project of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation) launched the Location Affordability Portal last week. The goal of this project is to provide the public with reliable, user-friendly data and resources on combined housing and transportation costs to help consumers, policymakers, and developers make informed decisions about where to live, work, and invest.

The Portal features two new tools:

• Location Affordability Index (LAI): The LAI estimates the percentage of a family’s income dedicated to the combined cost of housing and transportation in a given neighborhood, city, or region. A family’s profile can be modified (by household income, size, # of commuters) 

• My Transportation Cost Calculator: This tool allows you to customize data from the LAI by entering in basic information (estimates of family income, housing costs, etc.), then view estimates about how costs would differ in another location or with different individual choices.

How can community leaders use the Location Affordability Index? Visit the portal to read vignettes about how different stakeholders from community development organizations, private companies, and residents can use the tools available. Knowing the combined cost of housing and transportation using the LAI can guide decisions about:

• Where to invest in affordable housing.
•  How to plan for more equitable transportation.
•  Where to target investments in neighborhood development.
•  Where to live and work.

Visit the portal to find out how and try out the new tools at http://www.hud.gov/locationaffordability/. Also - members of the ICMA online community who have used affordability as a metric, we would love to hear your stories!