Durham’s Joint City-County planning Committee spent last Wednesday morning hearing from city experts on the state of affordable housing near planned transit stations. As efforts to enhance mobility move forward, Durham officials want to be prepared for not only the benefits that new transit investments bring but the challenges as well. As such, they have invested resources and staff time in assessing the stock of affordable housing, options to maintain existing affordable housing, as well as policy tools and potential sites available for expanding affordable housing.
Housing is considered affordable if housing-related costs such as rent and utilities are no more than 30 percent of a household’s income.
Research shows that a majority of neighborhoods where new transit stations are built experience higher housing costs, undergo gentrification, and attract higher-income residents who are less likely to use public transit. With these troubling findings in mind, Durham CAN and other community activists organized a successful policy campaign over several years to urge local elected officials to plan for this reality. In response, Durham elected officials set a goal that at least 15 percent of housing within a half mile of each transit station be affordable to residents at or below 60 percent of the median area income. That is an annual earnings of roughly $37,350 for a family of three, which is a very modest income considering that $51,729 is needed to earn a living wage for that family size in Durham County. Read More
