Affordable Housing, and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) are increasingly being discussed as a paired challenge facing planners for good reason. Housing and transportation represent the first and second largest expenditures for a majority of U.S. households (Center for Transit Oriented Development, 2014). According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households pay more than 50% of their annual incomes for housing, “if a family pays more than 30% of their income for housing, it is considered a cost burden” (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2020).

Likewise, the economic, public health, and environmental cost of congestion continues to rise. In 2019 Americans lost “99 hours a year due to congestion, costing them nearly $88 billion in 2019, an average of $1,377 per year” (Inrix, 2020). Affordable housing and TOD projects each require a unique set of conditions to come to fruition, and integrating these efforts requires more than just combining the best practices of each.

A review of the literature finds they are often studied separately from one another. The resulting conclusions and policy recommendations provide a good foundation to start understanding the unique challenges of creating affordable housing in proximity to transit requires a more in-depth inquiry into the interaction (and often times conflict) between various land use and transportation policies.