Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>The Income indicator (Percent of income devoted to housing and transportation) measures the percentage of income devoted to housing plus (+) transportation for the Regional Typical Household. The percentages data for this indicator were collected directly from the Housing and Transportation Costs (H+T) Index webpage at the census tract level. The H+T Index was last updated in 2017. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>The Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index Tool was created by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) to help planners, developers, and community leaders make intelligent, data-driven decisions. The tool provides a full measure of affordability by considering the cost of housing and transportation cost. The Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index Tool provides an all-inclusive understanding of the affordability of place. Dividing these costs by the representative income illustrates the cost burden of housing and transportation expenses placed on a typical household. While housing alone is usually affordable when consuming no more than 30% of income, the Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index Tool combines transportation costs; usually a household’s second-largest expense, to show that location-efficient places can be more livable and affordable. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-weight:bold;"><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Rationale:</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>As access to opportunity is highly correlated to income, affordable housing and transportation are a daily challenge for low-income individuals. Housing cost characterized by rent or mortgage with essential utilities is a burden for most low-income households. Transportation is a significant expense, and housing and transportation costs are subjects of choice for households. They are led to spend less on housing located far away from job centers, schools, shopping centers, and other amenities or spend a more significant percentage of their income on transportation or vice-versa. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>Transportation costs, characterized by private vehicle ownership costs and public transport usage costs, are essential parameters that households must consider when choosing a neighborhood to live in. Caltrans believes that policies and investments should be linked to affordable housing and transportation accessibility policies and investments. It is commonly accepted that a house is affordable for households if they pay no more than thirty percent of their annual income on housing. Above that, it’s considered a cost burden for them, which leads to their inability to pay for other necessities such as food, medical expenses, transportation, and other expenses. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN><SPAN>The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) teamed up with institutions such as the Brookings Institution to create the Affordability Index Tool. It is a tool for measuring the true affordability of a housing choice. Its goal is to assist in developing the housing and transportation affordability index in metropolitan areas across the United States. Transportation costs are classified into three factors: auto ownership, auto use, and public transit use, and the model hypothesizes that each cost factor is a function of the local environment of that place and household income and size. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;font-weight:bold;"><SPAN>Data Source(s):</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN /><SPAN /><SPAN>Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) (2021). Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index. CSV </SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 11 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>The Poverty Rate indicator measures the percent of the population with income below 200% of the federal poverty level. Data for this indicator were collected directly on December 14, 2021, from the Census Bureau at the census tract level for the 2019 ACS 5-year estimate (5-year estimate, 2015-2019).</SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-weight:bold;margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Rationale:</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>Many studies have documented that communities /households/individuals in poverty are expending far more resources on transportation than any other group. These communities and persons make 3+ more connections on public transit to get to their end location; have a smaller radius of travel than other groups; lower vehicle ownership and less access to reliable public transportation options; and longer commute times. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 0 51;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>Those in Poverty make up the more significant share of public taking public transit, walking, and biking. Public transportation appears to be an effective alternative for low-income populations, but it brings a laundry list of issues in most communities. In most communities, there is a disconnect between where people live, work, and access transit routes, forcing people to use multiple routes with longer overall commute times. The long commute can translate to diminished wages, missed opportunities, less quality time with family, increased stress, and loss of competitiveness. With the ongoing pandemic, public transit has become increasingly challenging as service cuts and driver shortages are increasing unreliable services. Data during the pandemic on who was still riding public transit were those of lower-income households, Black and Latinos, and women. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;margin:0 0 0 51;"><SPAN /><SPAN /></P><P STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-weight:bold;margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Data Source(s) U.S.</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>Census Bureau (Extracted, December 14, 2021). 2019 ACS 5-year estimates. Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months (Table - S1701). CSV </SPAN></SPAN></P><P><SPAN /></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>