Smart Growth and Housing
Background
Communities across the United States are facing an increasing shortage of housing. This is driven, in part, by a lack of neighborhoods with a range of housing types, including smaller homes, townhomes, multi-family units and accessory dwelling units. Meanwhile, conventional housing development patterns have led an increased conversion of rural and natural lands and significant increases in vehicle miles traveled. This large-lot, dispersed housing development challenges local governments' ability to finance and maintain infrastructure like schools, utilities, street networks, and police and fire protection and preserve air and water quality.
By creating neighborhoods with a variety of housing options, communities can increase the amount of housing at different price points. Local land use policy and development regulations often make it difficult for developers and communities to provide diverse types of housing, but housing affordability strategies and investments, as well as inclusive policies for zoning and planning, can help.
One concern about walkable neighborhoods is that shifts in consumer preferences may lead to higher market value costs. Communities can lower the costs of these neighborhoods over time by changing zoning codes to make smart growth neighborhoods and a range of housing options easier and cheaper to build. This benefits all community members and mitigates housing instability and displacement for existing residents.
Communities can also reduce the overall cost of living for residents by helping to reduce transportation and utility costs. Building housing near existing community destinations (e.g. libraries, schools, transit services, offices, shops, etc.) and investing in accessible transportation solutions can create neighborhoods that are walkable, safer and less expensive for commuting. When dispersed housing cannot support viable public transit, biking, or pedestrian options, automobile ownership becomes almost a necessity. The true cost of housing, therefore, is the combined cost of housing and transportation, since they generally make up the first and second largest household expenditures [1]. Today, nearly a quarter of rent households spend more than half of their incomes on rent each month, leaving little left to cover other essential expenses [2]. In addition, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, lower income families spend on average 30 percent of after-tax income on transportation costs [3].
Green design approaches that reduce the energy and carbon impacts of new and existing homes can also help residents save on utility costs. Green building materials, techniques, and appliances can dramatically reduce energy consumption as compared to conventional approaches and can also improve environmental outcomes. ENERGY STAR-certified buildings, for example, use less energy and generate 35% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than typical buildings.
More efficient use of water also reduces a household's utility costs and reduces demand, which is vitally important in regions that are growing rapidly yet also suffering from drought. As climate change is projected to increase drought in many areas of the United States, water-efficient development will become even more important. Green building approaches also often contribute to improved indoor air quality.
Homes that use energy and water efficiently can help lower- and moderate-income households cope with economic impacts related to climate change, which could include volatile energy and water prices and supplies. As part of our adaptation to climate change, homes that maintain habitable conditions in extreme heat or cold and during power outages, are crucial to protecting their inhabitants.
Additional Resources
This list includes relevant resources from EPA and federal agency partners that further explore the intersecting issues of housing development and the environment.
- Solar for All: Solar for All Affordable Housing Highlights, EPA (2024): Examples of Solar for All program awardees' strategies and approaches focused on affordable housing.
- EPA Engagement with Energy Communities, EPA (2024): EPA is engaging with energy communities, where a significant percentage of jobs and tax revenue historically has come from the extraction, processing, transport, and energy production of fossil fuels, and supporting their transition to a more sustainable, resilient and equitable economy. This initiative supports communities in addressing affordable and attainable housing, among other critical needs.
- Increasing the Supply of New Affordable Housing Toolkit, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (2023): Resource for state and local governments that want to support affordable housing development options in their communities. It also includes strategies that jurisdictions may use to address the affordability gap for low-income residents.
- Energy Efficiency in Affordable Housing: A Guide to Developing and Implementing Greenhouse Gas Reduction Programs, EPA (2018): Provides options, steps and considerations for improving energy efficiency in affordable housing, as well as investment and funding opportunities.
- Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Low-Income Communities: A Guide to EPA Programs, EPA (2016): Helps state and local staff connect with EPA initiatives that can help them expand or develop their own energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives in ways that benefit low-income communities. Low-income community leaders and stakeholder groups can use the guide to better understand the benefits of participating in EPA initiatives to help community members save energy costs, improve the health and safety of their homes, and protect the environment.
- Location Efficiency and Housing Type – Boiling it Down to BTUs, Jonathan Rose Companies for EPA (2011): Examines how a home's location and access to transit affect household energy use compared to using energy-efficiency measures in homes and cars. Creating more energy-efficient communities and buildings would reduce our impact on climate change and save on household energy costs.
- Smart Growth Guidelines for Sustainable Design and Development, EPA (2009): Guidelines developed through the Capital Region Council of Governments technical assistance project that can serve as a checklist for local, state, or regional officials; developers; and community members to ensure that programs, plans, and proposed developments incorporate the elements needed at the location, site, and building levels to result in more sustainable, affordable housing.
- Housing and Transportation Affordability Index, Center for Neighborhood Technology: Provides a transparent view of housing affordability by analyzing both housing and transportation costs of an address.
1 Bell-Pasht, Aimee. Low-Income Households Spend Nearly 20% of Income on Home Energy and Auto Fuel Costs. ACEE, 2024.
2 Airgood-Obrycki, Whitney, et al. The Rent Eats First: Rental Housing Unaffordability in the US. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2021.
3 Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The Household Cost of Transportation: Is it Affordable? United States Department of Transportation, 2024.