While everyone is affected by transportation policy, there are disconnects between federal agencies and their state counterparts. The 2007 State of Metropolitan Housing Report, released by the Metropolitan Housing Coalition mid-October, has several potential solutions to this issue.

The Coalition advocates that citizens need to empower each other and create a voice, allowing for public participation. “This report is written as a primer on what I would have to do start doing tomorrow to affect transportation policy,” Cathy Hinko, the Coalition’s executive director said.

For the second year, the SUPA Center for Environmental Policy and Management authored the Metropolitan Housing Coalition’s annual housing report. The Kentucky State Data Center, also housed in SUPA, provided information for the Coalition’s reports since 2003.

Each year’s report is themed, with this year’s centered on transportation policy, from federal programs to local ones. “We looked at the funding and structure of federal programs on down to their regional and local counterparts,” Carol Norton, CEPM research coordinator said.“This helps us to look at issues we focus on more holistically.”

The report is broken down into two sections. The first part is how transportation affects housing affordability. The second is a set of nine measures running from the concentration of subsidized housing to the amount of foreclosures in the Metro Louisville area and southern Indiana.

“We thought Carol and the center did a great job,” Hinko said. “I don’t think that people realize what the depth of resources at SUPA is.” Environmental justice is a significant portion of the report, with emphasis being placed on local priority.

The Coalition also advocates more financial constraint in the transportation plan, which has swelled in size. The analysis showed that there isn’t interaction between the various stakeholders in the process, and the report was intended to suggest links for communication, Norton said. These include changing the locations of public meetings and a focus of power in the State Secretary of Transportation to the legislature, according to the report. The group has not yet chosen next year’s theme, Hinko said, but they are hoping to involve the CEPM again. - story by Patrick Lewis