Angie Schmitt follows up on an earlier report by the Citizen's Budget Commission that made an argument for the affordability of cities like New York City, with its large network of cheap transportation.
Since Planetizen caught news of the Citizen's Budget Commission (CBC) report via Crain's New York Business, the report has made news at the Washington Post, CityLab, and Michael Lewyn's blog for the Congress of New Urbanism, so people are interested in the idea of alternative measures of transportation.
Like Michael Lewyn, Angie Schmitt is skeptical about the implications of the conclusions produced by the report, instead arguing that "[between] the high cost of transportation in sprawling regions and the high demand for housing in compact cities with good transit, very few places in America are looking genuinely affordable these days."
Although Schmitt agrees that the CBC's report uses a better measure of affordability than housing costs alone, she also argues that "[while] abundant transit is absolutely essential to keeping household transportation costs down, and it provides a lifeline to low-income residents of major coastal cities, the report still tends to exaggerate overall affordability in these areas."
FULL STORY: Are There Any Affordable Cities Left in America?
New York City Ranks Highly for 'Location Affordability'
A comparative analysis by the Citizens Budget Commission provides a softer take on the "affordability crisis" making so much news in New York City. The conclusion of the study is that New York City is more affordable than many other large cities.
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A recent study claiming that transportation costs in Houston, among other expenses, raise the cost of living almost to the same level as living in New York City. Some took exception to the study's methodology.
Houston Just as Expensive as New York City, Study Says
The extra costs of automobile dependency turn assumptions about affordability on their head, according to a recently published report by the Citizens Budget Commission.
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