Evaluating the Concept of a Jobs-Housing Balance through LA County

Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez3/19/2012

The Concept of Jobs-Housing Balance• Jobs-housing balance occurs in areas where people

can both live and work• Seen as a solution to congestion, commutes and air

pollution • Jobs-housing ratio= # of jobs in an area/ # of

housing units in the area• According to Southern California Association of

Governments (SCAG)▫An area with more housing then jobs is housing

rich with a ratio less than 1 ▫An area in balance has a ratio between 1 and

1.29 ▫An area with more jobs then housing is job rich

with a ratio greater than 1.29

Questions•How valid is this concept? Can it really be

used to reduce congestion, commutes, and pollution?

Map created by Diana Gonzalez GonzalezSources: U.S. Census 2009 County Business Patterns Survey, U.S. Census 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) , and SCAG’s Rtp 2012 growth forecast. Skills: Inset map, geoprocessing (clip, merge), aggregating attribute fields (jobs housing ratio=total number of jobs in a neighborhood / total number of housing units in neighborhood), attribute sub-sets selections (freeways taken out of a larger road file), charts

LA County Jobs-Housing

Ratio by Neighborhoo

ds

Housing Rich

Balanced Job Rich0

50

100

150Jobs-Housing Status

Average Commute Time Comparison

Maps Created by Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez Source U.S. Census 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) Skills: Aggregated attribute fields (mean commute time =total minutes spent commuting in a neighborhood/ total number of workers in neighborhood)

Comparing Two Different Neighborhoods: Vermont Square and Beverly Hills

Vermont Square mean travel time 1.5x

longer than Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills jobs-housing ratio 10x

larger than Vermont Square

Maps created by Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez Sources: U.S. Census 2009 County Business Patterns Survey and U.S. Census 2009 American Community Survey (ACS)Skills: Inset Map, Graduated Symbols

Why the Difference in Ratio?Comparing BH and VS Land Parcel Use

Maps created by Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez Source: LA County Land Assessor Parcel Files Skills: Inset Map, Original Data (Base map layer created using georefrencing)

Beverly Hills 90210 Vermont Square 90062

Problem #1: Why are Job Rich Residents Commuting Outside Job Rich Areas

Map created by Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez Source: U.S. Census 2009 American Community Survey and UCLA MapshareSkills: Network Analysis, Measurement/Analysis

Comparing BH and VS Average

Commute Distance

% Workers Working

Outside their Balanced

Neighborhoods

Map created by Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez Source: U.S. Census 2009 American Community Survey

Problem #2: Why are residents of balanced neighborhoods working outside?

Multiple Workers per Household

Map created by Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez Source: U.S. Census 2009 American Community SurveySkills: Aggregating attribute fields (workers per household=total number of workers in a neighborhood/total housing units in a neighborhood)

Problem #3: What does living near work mean for households with more then one worker?

Changing the Geographic

Scale to Ideal Commute

Area

Map created by Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez Source: U.S. Census 2009 American Community Survey, U.S. Census 2009 County Business Patterns Survey, and Redmond and Mokhtarian (2001 ) “The Positive Utility of the Commutes Modeling Ideal Commute Time and Relative Desired Commute Amount”, and LA Metro Skills: Buffer, extracting data from a buffer, modeling, measurement/analysis

Problem #4: What is the appropriate area at which to calculate the ratio?

Changing the Definition of

Balance to 1.5

Map created by Diana Gonzalez Gonzalez Sources: U.S. Census 2009 American Community Survey, U.S. Census 2009 County Business Patterns Survey, and  Cervero’s (1989) article “Jobs Housing Balancing and Regional Mobility “Skill: Charts

Change No Change0

50

100

150

Neighborhood Ratio Status Change

Problem #5: What is the appropriate balance ratio?

Conclusions• There does seems to be a connection between a

neighborhood’s job-housing ratio and average commute time

• Nevertheless this concept cannot be used to reduce congestion, commutes, and pollution

• Problems with the concept▫ Large % of workers in balanced and jobs rich

neighborhoods working outside their neighborhood▫ Multiple workers per household▫ Lack of consensus on the appropriate geographic scale to

calculate the ratio Problematic since different scales produce different ratios

▫ Lack of consensus on what ratio means balance• The issues of congestion, commutes, and pollution

should be addressed directly and not indirectly through this concept

List of Skills Used • 1. Original Data• 2. Measurement/Analysis• 3. Modeling• 4. Inset Map• 5. Geoprocessing• 6. Aggregating Attribute Fields• 7. Graduated Symbols• 8. Network Analyst• 9. Extracting Data from a Buffer• 10. Buffering• 11. Charts and Images• 12. Attribute Sub Selections

Model

Sources• (2008). Rtp 2012 growth forecast. Los Angeles: Southern California Association of Governments.

Retrieved from http://www.scag.ca.gov/forecast/downloads/excel/RTP2012-GROWTH-FORECAST.xls

• (2012). Los Angeles County Parcels. Los Angeles: Office of Assessor. Retrieved from http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm#

• Cervero, R. (1989). Jobs-housing balancing and regional mobility. Journal of the American Planning Association, 55(2), 136-150. Retrieved from www.uctc.net/papers/050.pdf

• Metro. (2012). I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvement Projects. Retrieved February 7, 2012 from http://www.metro.net/projects_studies/I405/images/I405-Project-Benefits-Fact-Sheet.pdf

• Redmond, L. and Mokhtarian, P. (2001 ). The positive utility of the commutes modeling ideal commute time and relative desired commute amount. University of California Transportation Center. Retrieved from http://uctc.net/research/papers/526.pdf

• U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). Aggregate travel time to work (in minutes) of workers by sex. Retrieved February 6, 2012, from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_09_5YR_B08013&prodType=table

• U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). Commuting Characteristics by Sex. Retrieved February 6, 2012, from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_09_5YR_S0801&prodType=table

• U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). County business patterns: zip code business statistics: total for zip code. Retrieved January 23, 2012, from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=BP_2009_00CZ1&prodType=table

• U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). Sex of workers by place of work-place level .Retrieved March 14, 2012, from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_09_5YR_B08008&prod Type=table

• U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). Universe: Housing units. Retrieved January 25, 2012, from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_09_5YR_B25001&prodType=table