California Air Resources Board

Principal Investigator/Author: Jesus M. Barajas

Contractor: University of California, Davis

Sub-contractors: Center for neighborhood Technology

Contract Number: 22STC019

Project Status: Active

Relevant CARB Programs: Sustainable Communities & Climate Protection Program

Topic Areas: Sustainable Communities, Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Reduction & Climate Goals, Land Use & Transportation Research, Climate Change

Research Summary:

The purpose of this project is to better understand the impact that housing and transportation costs have on equity-priority communities. Guided by a project advisory committee, the research team will conduct four research activities: (1) a landscape scan of housing and transportation cost burdens via a review of the academic and gray literature and tools used in practice; (2) the development of an updated housing and transportation cost methodology that can be updated annually by state staff; (3) an analysis of housing and transportation costs and burdens by socioeconomic vulnerability; and (4) triangulation of the quantitative results with interviews of housing- and transportation-cost burdened individuals. The research findings will be used to guide development of policy strategies to mitigate housing- and transportation-cost burdens for equity-priority populations and may allow promotion of housing in high location-efficient areas. The results and policy strategies will help inform CARB's and other state agencies' work in equitably meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduction goals.

Keywords: housing, transportation and land use, sustainable communities, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), equity, equity-priority communities, housing costs, transportation costs