Posted on: Friday, May 20, 2005
ISLAND VOICES
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By Ronald S. Lim
Affordable housing and transportation costs seem to distressingly resurface with periodic certainty in Hawai'i.
Except for updated cost data to replace 1980 data, this commentary is disturbingly similar to one I wrote for The Honolulu Advertiser on July 17, 1980.
The shortage of affordable housing for the low-to-moderate-income household is well documented. This commentary is directed at the significant importance of proximity of residence to jobs, and the critical need for low-cost transportation to jobs.
The simple economic fact of soaring land and construction costs precludes the production of any new inner-city housing without substantial housing subsidies. Affordable housing is ideal, provided the location is in the immediate proximity of jobs. The hidden costs of automobile transportation are enormous when translated into housing costs.
Advertiser library photo • Sept. 7, 2004 According to the National Roads and Motorist Association, the travel cost for an automobile in 2004 was 84 cents per mile. Thus, the additional traveling cost for 600 extra miles is $504 per month.
Translated into housing costs, the $504 a month means either an increase in monthly housing rent of $504, or an added mortgage of approximately $86,500 ($504 a month would cover a 30-year mortgage of approximately $86,500 at 5 3/4 percent). In other words, the above person should add $504 to one's monthly rent, or add $86,500 to one's home purchase price to arrive at the true cost of housing.
This situation is particularly relevant to the low-to-moderate-income household that must reside in suburban or rural areas because of lower rents or lower sales prices while employed in urban Honolulu. An enormous burden of automobile traveling cost is added to the budget.
The following policies are recommended to alleviate the plight of the low-to-moderate-income household:
• Affordable and convenient public transit services must be provided and encouraged for the downtown-employed suburban and rural residents of moderate means. Implementation of both a high-speed mass-transit system and public transit lanes on highways are imperative. These transportation modes would result in substantially lower traveling costs while eliminating parking costs, and substantially reduced time and duress on the jammed highways.
• New affordable urban rental housing developments must be pursued using federal, state and county resources, e.g. low-income housing tax credits, rental housing trust funds, community development block grant funds, HOME funds, low-interest loans, etc. • Jobs must be brought closer to suburban and rural locations. Public and private decision-makers must recognize that traveling costs will become an even greater burden as energy costs increase.
Ronald S. Lim was special assistant for housing under Gov. Ben Cayetano and housing director for Mayor Jeremy Harris. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.
For example, a person driving 15 miles more than one's counterpart to an identical job location must, in effect, travel 30 more miles a day or 600 more miles per month (exclusive of shopping and pleasure trips).
The true cost of housing should include transportation costs.
