Miles of bicycle facilities located within 0.25 mile of affordable housing

In 2018, there were 34 affordable housing developments in Champaign County, an increase of three affordable housing sites from 2015. Housing developments were considered affordable if they were listed in association with low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC), Housing and Urban Development (HUD) public housing, or voucher programs.

The LIHTC is the federal government’s primary program for encouraging the investment of private equity in the development of affordable rental housing for low-income households. The housing choice voucher program, also known as the Section 8 program, is the federal government’s major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Section 202, also known as Supportive Housing for the Elderly, is a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program that provides capital advances to private, nonprofit sponsors to finance the development of housing for elderly residents.

There was no net change in the number of affordable housing units within Champaign County in the past year. The metropolitan planning area (MPA) has 30 of the 34 affordable housing developments in the county, the majority of which are located in Champaign and Urbana. Seven affordable housing developments in the MPA are without access to bicycle facilities within a quarter mile distance. The map below shows the distribution of affordable housing developments in relation to bicycle infrastructure in the region.

In 2018, 23 affordable housing projects in the MPA had access to a total of 17.1 miles of bicycle facilities within a quarter mile distance, a decrease of 1.3 miles from 2015. A significant decrease in access to bicycle facility mileage comes as a result of the sale of Skelton Place in Champaign. Previously, Skelton Place provided the greatest access to bicycle facilities in the MPA. The replacement housing development for Skelton Place, Haven at Market Place, is still under construction. Access to bicycle facilities at the new location will provide about 30 percent of the previous mileage Skelton Place provided. This performance measure receives a negative rating.