I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5824 

To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 

a process for incorporating transportation costs associated with the location of housing into affordability measures and standards, and to develop 

a transportation affordability index to measure and disclose the transportation costs associated with the location of a home. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 22, 2010 

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. SIRES, Ms. WATSON, Mr. 

MORAN of Virginia, Mr. COHEN, and Ms. TITUS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 

to establish a process for incorporating transportation 

costs associated with the location of housing into affordability measures and standards, and to develop a transportation affordability index to measure and disclose the 

transportation costs associated with the location of a 

home. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transportation and 

3 Housing Affordability Transparency Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The average family spends about half of its 

7 income on transportation and housing costs. 

8 (2) Housing affordability has traditionally been 

9 measured as the extent to which a household’s in10 come can cover the purchase price of a home or the 

11 monthly rent. 

12 (3) Households in location-efficient commu13 nities can experience substantial savings on trans14 portation costs as a result of lower car ownership, 

15 higher transit usage, and more accessible amenities 

16 such as stores and restaurants within walking dis17 tance. 

18 (4) In certain auto-dependent areas, transpor19 tation costs can be very high, leaving families with 

20 less money for housing, food, healthcare, and other 

21 important expenses. 

22 (5) Currently, transportation costs and savings 

23 are not taken into account in government afford24 ability measures and standards, and information is 

25 not generally available to consumers looking to pur26 chase homes. 


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1 (6) Low-income housing tax credits, downpay2 ment assistance grants, and rental assistance under 

3 section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, 

4 for example, are all awarded and used without re5 gard to this transportation cost burden. 

6 (7) A community’s location, character, and de7 sign can contribute to overall affordability of the 

8 community more than household size and income. 

9 (8) Households with annual incomes between 

10 $20,000 and $35,000 and located far from job cen11 ters spend 70 percent of their incomes on housing 

12 and transportation combined. 

13 (9) Studies have shown that 63 percent of fed14 erally assisted housing units located within one-half 

15 mile of public transit may no longer be affordable to 

16 low- and moderate-income families by 2012. At the 

17 same time, of the more than 250,000 affordable 

18 apartments within one-half mile of public transit in 

19 20 metropolitan areas studied, more than two-thirds 

20 of the Federal subsidies that keep these apartments 

21 affordable will expire within the next 5 years. 

22 (10) Existing and future affordable housing 

23 stock should be taken into account by local agencies 

24 when planning economic development and transit 


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1 projects, to ensure that the combined housing and 

2 transportation costs remain affordable. 

3 (11) The preservation of existing affordable 

4 housing stock, particularly if it is located within one5 half mile of public transit or other neighborhood 

6 amenities, should be a priority for local, State, and 

7 Federal agencies. 

8 (12) Potential homebuyers should have infor9 mation about the transportation costs associated 

10 with their housing choices to enable fully informed 

11 decisionmaking. 

12 (13) Incorporating transportation costs into af13 fordability measures can enable stakeholders, citi14 zens, and decisionmakers at all levels of government 

15 coordinate and target investment decisions, strate16 gies, and plans to lower transportation burdens. 

17 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol18 lows: 

19 (1) To provide consumers with information 

20 about the costs of housing based on its location. 

21 (2) To recognize transportation costs as a key 

22 element of housing affordability. 

23 (3) To ensure transparency in housing and 

24 transportation costs for consumers, housing proVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:28 Jul 24, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5824.IH H5824

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1 viders, local and regional planning agencies, Federal 

2 agencies, and other stakeholders. 

3 (4) To enable the Department of Housing and 

4 Urban Development, as appropriate, to incorporate 

5 transportation costs associated with the location of 

6 housing, including neighborhood characteristics such 

7 as density, walkability, the availability of quality 

8 transit service, and convenient access to amenities, 

9 into affordability measures and standards. 

10 (5) To help communities recognize the impor11 tance of providing transportation and housing 

12 choices for their residents. 

13 SEC. 3. TRANSPORTATION AFFORDABILITY INDEX. 

14 (a) DEVELOPMENT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing 

16 and Urban Development shall, through a public 

17 process, develop a transportation affordability index 

18 that measures the transportation costs associated 

19 with the location of a home, both on a neighborhood 

20 and regional basis. 

21 (2) AGREEMENTS.—In developing the index, 

22 the Secretary may enter into agreements with exist23 ing entities for access to, and may rely upon, pre24 viously developed databases, consistent with Federal 

25 procurement guidelines. 


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1 (3) ADDITIONAL LOCATION-SPECIFIC COSTS.— 

2 The Secretary shall conduct research and analysis as 

3 to other location-specific costs associated with a 

4 home and determine the feasibility of including such 

5 costs into the index to be developed under this sub6 section. 

7 (b) PARTICIPATION.—In developing the transpor8 tation affordability index, the Secretary shall consult with 

9 the Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator of the 

10 Environmental Protection Agency, the Rural Housing 

11 Service of the Department of Agriculture, real estate, de12 velopment, housing, and transportation professionals, local 

13 and State governments, low-income housing advocates, re14 searchers, and other appropriate parties. 

15 (c) FACTORS.—The transportation affordability index 

16 developed under this section for a household, property, 

17 community, or region shall take into consideration appro18 priate factors, including at least the following factors: 

19 (1) Location and, to the extent practicable, fre20 quency of service for bus, rail, light rail, streetcar, 

21 ferry service, and other public transportation options 

within 1⁄4, 1 22 ⁄2, and 1 mile of the property. The Sec23 retary shall consult with the Secretary of Transpor24 tation on ways to better incorporate the frequency of 


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1 bus, transit and other public transportation options 

2 into the index. 

3 (2) If available, the average daily vehicle miles 

4 traveled for the census block group in which the 

5 property is located. 

6 (3) The availability within, and accessibility to, 

services within 1 7 ⁄2 mile of the property, including 

8 grocery stores, parks, bicycle lanes or paths or other 

9 bicycle facilities, community centers, restaurants, 

10 coffee shops, medical facilities, laundry/cleaners, li11 braries, schools, plazas/town squares, banks, and day 

12 care facilities, and other services. 

13 (4) Proximity of the property to local and re14 gional employment centers. 

15 (5) Net residential density, as measured by 

16 households per residential acre. 

17 (6) Any other factor that the Secretary deter18 mines would help improve the availability of infor19 mation about transportation costs of housing 

20 (d) AVAILABILITY.—Upon development of the trans21 portation affordability index under this section, the Sec22 retary shall make the index— 

23 (1) publicly available through the Internet; 


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1 (2) available to Multiple Listing Services for 

2 real estate in a format that provides for incorpora3 tion into such Services; 

4 (3) available to regional and metropolitan plan5 ning organizations for use in regional transportation 

6 plans and models; 

7 (4) available to local housing and planning 

8 agencies for possible use in developing Consolidated 

9 Plans for formula grant programs of the Depart10 ment of Housing and Urban Development; 

11 (5) available to States, local governments, non12 profit organizations, and other entities that provide 

13 financial literacy counseling to households; and 

14 (6) available to transportation management 

15 agencies and other entities that engage in transpor16 tation demand management programs. 

17 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS; WORKSHOPS; PILOT

18 PROJECTS.—The Secretary shall— 

19 (1) provide a report to the Congress, not later 

20 than 120 days of the date of the enactment of this 

21 Act, that identifies in detail— 

22 (A) the opportunities for, and the barriers 

23 to, the development of the transportation af24 fordability index and related housing afford25 ability measures; 


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1 (B) the means and methods the Secretary 

2 intends to adopt for overcoming such barriers; 

3 (C) an implementation plan for developing, 

4 piloting, and adopting alternative housing af5 fordability measures; and 

6 (D) the potential uses of the index estab7 lished pursuant to section 3 to guide housing 

8 programs; 

9 (2) convene public workshops or other suitable 

10 events to solicit input into the process from the pub11 lic and stakeholders; 

12 (3) conduct one or more pilot projects as may 

13 be necessary to test the feasibility of incorporating 

14 transportation costs into current definitions of af15 fordability; and 

16 (4) collect and publicly disseminate information 

17 about which public housing projects and other 

HUD-assisted housing projects are located within 1 18 ⁄2

19 mile of bus, rail, light rail, street car, or ferry serv20 ice. 

21 (f) PERIODIC UPDATES.—The Secretary shall update 

22 the transportation affordability index under this section 

23 at least once every five years, or more frequently if fea24 sible. 


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1 SEC. 4. INCORPORATION INTO AFFORDABILITY MEASURES 

2 AND STATE AND LOCAL PLANS. 

3 To the maximum extent practicable and in a manner 

4 consistent with current research, the Secretary of Housing 

5 and Urban Development shall, in consultation with the 

6 Secretary of Transportation, carry out the following: 

7 (1) FEDERAL HOUSING PROGRAMS.—The Sec8 retary shall incorporate transportation costs associ9 ated with the location of housing into affordability 

10 measures and standards in connection with housing 

11 programs administered by the Secretary, where fea12 sible and consistent with the intent of such pro13 grams. This paragraph shall not be construed to in14 crease the rent burden of any tenant assisted by any 

15 housing program or override any specific definition 

16 of a housing affordability measure or standard re17 quired by or provided under Federal law. 

18 (2) STATE HOUSING PLANS.—The Secretary 

19 shall provide information and resources to States to 

20 assist and encourage States to incorporate transpor21 tation costs into their housing and land use plans, 

22 including encouraging State housing agencies to use 

23 the index in administering the allocation of Federal 

24 low-income housing tax credits and to provide the in25 formation to recipients of vouchers for housing as26 sistance. 


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1 (3) REGIONAL AND LOCAL PLANS.—The Sec2 retary shall work with regional and local government 

3 entities to integrate housing, transportation and, to 

4 the extent feasible, other costs associated with loca5 tion into long-range transportation, land use, hous6 ing and community development, or investment 

7 plans. 

8 (4) OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary 

9 shall consult with organizations that use, or may 

10 wish to use, affordability indexes to incorporate 

11 transportation costs into the housing affordability 

12 indexes of the organizations. 

13 (5) FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The Secretary shall 

14 work with the Administrator of the Environmental 

15 Protection Agency, the Secretary of Transportation, 

16 the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the 

17 Treasury, and other Federal agencies to, where 

18 practicable, incorporate the transportation afford19 ability index established pursuant to section 3 into 

20 their programs. 

21 SEC. 5. EVALUATION. 

22 To the extent amounts are made available for car23 rying out this section, the Secretary of Housing and 

24 Urban Development shall, not later than 3 years after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act, conduct a study to 


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1 evaluate the effectiveness of the transportation afford2 ability index established pursuant to section 3 in achieving 

3 the purposes of this Act, including field evaluations of its 

4 use. Such evaluation shall be updated annually and shall 

5 be made publicly available. 

6 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF INDEX.—There is authorized 

8 to be appropriated $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2011, to re9 main available until expended, for costs of developing the 

10 transportation affordability index required under section 

11 3. 

12 (b) MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENT OF INDEX

13 AND ACTIVITIES TO INCORPORATE INDEX.—There is au14 thorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for each of fiscal 

15 years 2012 through 2020 for— 

16 (1) costs of maintaining and improving the ef17 fectiveness and use of the transportation afford18 ability index established pursuant to section 3; 

19 (2) costs of the Secretary of Housing and 

20 Urban Development of complying with section 4; 

21 and 

22 (3) costs associated with annual updates to the 

23 evaluation required by section 5. 

24 Of any amounts appropriated pursuant to this subsection 

25 for any fiscal year, 30 percent shall be available for outVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:28 Jul 24, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5824.IH H5824

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1 reach to Multiple Listing Service programs and regional 

2 and local entities described in section 3(d) to promote the 

3 use of the transportation affordability index. 

4 (c) INITIAL EVALUATION.—There is authorized to be 

5 appropriated $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2013 for costs of 

6 conducting the initial evaluation under section 5. 

Æ 


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