Affordable-Accessible Housing In A Dynamic City Why and How To Increase Affordable Housing In Accessible Neighborhoods

This report examines ways to evaluate housing affordability, identifies problems caused by inaffordability, and describes affordable-accessible housing, which refers to lower priced homes located in areas with convenient access to essential services and activities, which minimizes household cost burdens. Affordable-accessible housing typically consists of lower-priced apartments, townhouses, small-lot single-family and accessory suites located in compact, multimodal neighborhoods. Demand for affordable-accessible housing is growing. Increasing affordable-accessible housing development can help achieve various economic, social and environmental objectives. Many current policies discourage such development, leading to shortages, particularly in growing cities. Policy and planning reforms described in this report can increase affordable-accessible housing development. For illustrated examples of affordableaccessible housing types see the Affordable-Accessible Housing Photo Essay (www.vtpi.org/aff_acc_photo.pdf).