Neighborhood walkability for subsidized households: Revisiting neighborhood environments of Housing Choice Voucher and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit households

Abstract

Scholars and planners have emphasized the importance of the living environments provided to marginalized families by subsidized housing. Many previous studies have focused primarily on the socio-demographics environments of subsidized housing, but it remains unknown if subsidized housing programs facilitate disadvantaged populations' access to walkable environments. Furthermore, little attention has been devoted to the potential differences in walkability of the environments provided by tenant-based programs such as Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), and project-based programs like the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). This study examined the spatial distribution of HCV and LIHTC housing units and their environmental attributes in the American city of Austin, Texas. Binary logistic regression models were used to estimate various walkable environments around subsidized households. We found that the walkability characteristics varied between the two subsidized housing programs. HCV households were mostly in neighborhoods with high accessibility to amenities and significant sidewalk completeness, but had low densities of crosswalks and transit stops. Meanwhile, LIHTC households were principally found in census block groups characterized by poor sidewalk completeness. Other walkability features, such as the Street Smart Walk Score and the crosswalk density, were not significantly related to neighborhoods containing LIHTC households. These findings will help planning practitioners understand the spatial attributes of subsidized households and better improve their neighborhood walkability.