Interactive Map

Interactive Map Link

Acknowledgments

Mentor:

Jose Thommana, Division of Parking Management.
Montgomery County Dept. of Transportation

Inspiration & conversation:

Lola Schoenrich, Vice President, Communities.
Great Plains Institute, BetterEnergy.org

Additional help & suggestions:

Maia Davis and Leah Boggs, Department of Environmental Programs.
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, mwcog.org

Montgomery College Data Science Faculty

Dr. Celia Evans, Michael Iapalucci, Abdirisak Mohamed, Rachel Saidi

Transportation availability is a barrier to job opportunities for lower income Americans

• Our automobile-dependent transportation system disproportionately affects low-income people
• The high expense of car ownership effectively walls off many low-income people from job opportunities

Electric Vehicles are becoming more prevalent

• Executive Order sets a new target of electric vehicles representing half of new vehicles sold in 2030

• Federal Government incentives for consumers to purchase EV may be out of reach for Low to Moderate Income (LMI) people who are already housing cost burdened

LMI individuals are more reliant on alternative transportation options

• Public Transportation
• Bike Sharing
• Car Sharing (e.g. Zip Car)

Low - Moderate Income (LMI)

• The Area Median Income (AMI) for Montgomery County in 2019 was $110,389

• 6.83% of the population for whom poverty status is determined live below the poverty line

• 21% of households in Montgomery County earn less than $50,000 per year (low-income)

• 13% of households are moderate income

Affordable Housing

• Montgomery County needs over 20,000 more affordable units priced for people earning less than 50% AMI
• 38% of renter households in Montgomery County earn below 50% of AMI

  • More than 20,000 households earning under $31,000/year spend more than half their incomes on rent (severely housing cost burdened)

  • 60% of households earning below 50% AMI are severely housing cost burdened

  • Many of these households do not have enough resources to adequately cover necessary expenses like transportation, food and health care

  • Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDU) data was obtained from the Department of Housing and Community Affairs MPDU Rentals List

  • Affordable Housing information was obtained from Consumer Housing data for Montgomery County in the 2021 Rental Facility Occupancy Survey

Transportation Access

The average distance to transporation options from Affordable Housing is more than 1/4 mile

Note: Bus stops have been filtered to be at least 300 feet apart

Car Sharing information for Montgomery County lists 13 Zip Car locations that are all close to public transportation

Electric Vehicle Charging

• 80% of EV charging takes place at home – an option that may be unavailable to some apartment dwellers

• EV charging station data was obtained from [Alternative Fuels Data Center] (https://afdc.energy.gov/stations/)
  • The data does not appear to include information on private charging stations that may be available to residents of rental facilities

Federal government stimulus for EV charging support

• $400 billion in public investment in clean energy +including battery technologies and electric vehicles. +500,000 new electric vehicle charging outlets by the end of 2030

Observations

• The majority of affordable housing is located near transit corridors; Metro Rail Red line and I270 corridor
• Even so there are locations in these areas that are more than 1/4 mile from public transit
• Up-county affordable housing (Damascus, Clarksburg, Brookeville) has little to no access to transit options

Counts by Zipcode

Counts by Planning Area

Conclusion

• Lower and mid-county concentrations of affordable housing have good access to public transportation, 76% within 1/2 mile walking distance
• Upper county affordable housing has fewer transportation options
• 27% of Bike Sharing stations are within 1/2 mile of affordable housing
• Public electric vehicle charging stations are not as accessible to affordable housing, 47% are more than 1/2 mile away
  • EV charging data may not be comprehensive - private charging stations are not included, such as those at an apartment building and available to residents

Recommendations for Montgomery County data

• Collect EV charging information for affordable housing locations (e.g. include EV Charging station information on affordable housing surveys)
  • Collect parking information for affordable housing locations (e.g. garage, parking lot, on street)
• Collect car sharing location information, (e.g. Zipcar)

Provide support for Electric Vehicle Adoption by LMI residents

• Incentives to property owners for EV Charging installation at/near affordable housing locations
• Incentives to consumers for Used Electric Vehicle purchasing
• Install public EV Charging stations that are accessible to affordable housing, e.g. on-street stations, public parking lots

Datasets

1. Affordable dwellings, Data Montgomery - 2021_Rental_Facility_Occupancy_Survey_Results

2. Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDU) Rentals List, apps.montgomerycountymd.gov/dhca-mpdu/Rental/List

3. Bike Sharing stations, Data Montgomery - Bikeshare dataset

4. Electric Vehicle Charging stations, Alternative Fuels Data Center - Alternative Fuel Stations

5. Ride On Bus Stops, Data Montgomery - Montgomery_County_Ride_On_Bus_Stops

6. Metro Rail Stations, Data Montgomery Metro-Rail-Stations

7. Metro Bus Stops, Maryland_Transit_-_WMATA_Metro_Bus_Stops

8. Low-Moderate Income American Community Surveys Income data

Shape files

1. Zipcodes, Montgomery Planning - MC Atlas Zipcodes-Montgomery

2. Montgomery County Planning Areas, Montgomery Planning - Planning_Areas

3. Census Block Groups, Data Montgomery - Census Tracts 2010 (geographic data)

References

1. The Leadership Conference Education Fund, “Getting to Work: Transportation Policy and Access to Job Opportunities”, (2011). https://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/docs/transportation/getting-to-work-july20.pdf
2. The White House Briefing Room, FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Steps to Drive American Leadership Forward on Clean Cars and Trucks, (August 5, 2021). https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/05/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-steps-to-drive-american-leadership-forward-on-clean-cars-and-trucks/
3. CNBC, General Motors plans to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2035https, (January 28, 2021).//www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/general-motors-plans-to-exclusively-offer-electric-vehicles-by-2035.html
4. Department of Numbers, Montgomery County (2019). https://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/maryland/montgomery-county/
5. DataUSA: Montgomery County, MD (2019). https://datausa.io/profile/geo/montgomery-county-md/
6. Montgomery County Housing Needs Assessment, (2020). https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/MoCo-HNA-July-2020.pdf;
7. Montgomery County Affordable Housing Preservation Study (2020). https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/200914-Montgomery-County-Preservation-Study.pdf
8. Department of Energy, President Biden, DOE and DOT Announce $5 Billion over Five Years for National EV Charging Network, (February 10, 2022). https://www.energy.gov/articles/president-biden-doe-and-dot-announce-5-billion-over-five-years-national-ev-charging

Next Steps

• Identify affordable dwellings at risk for limited EV charging access i.e. buildings with only on-street parking access.
• Identify parking facilities and lots close to affordable dwellings.
  • Utilize Montgomery County Data Parking Garages and Lots dataset
  • Utilize Montgomery County Data Commercial Parking Lots dataset
• Provide information on Electric Vehicle ownership in Low to Moderate Income areas.
  • Utilize MD Electric Vehicle Registration data, MD MDOT/MVA Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle Registrations by Zip Code as of Each Month End from July 2020 to February 2022
• Explore economic impacts and benefits of Electric Vehicle car sharing for LMI residents