Submission
Affordability measures the cost of something, specifically housing for this analysis, relative to income. This is a better indicator than just the price of housing because the price is irrelevant if it is unknown how attainable it is for the residents of that area. Also for comparison between places, the cost of housing may appear very similar or dissimilar, but again, it is relative the residents of the area so for a more accurate comparison, both factors must be examined.
The Housing Affordability Ratings are Affordable, Moderately Unaffordable, Seriously Unaffordable, and Severely Unaffordable based on a classification of the ratio between median house price to median household income. They were determined by the Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey of 2017. The method for calculated the ratings seems statistically trustworthy. The median is used, which makes sense so that outliers do not throw off the data, and the categories are based off the historical ratio. However, this affordability index is for middle-income, which means that it does not apply to low-income people. So even though it is trustworthy, it could be misleading if this is not indicated.
Affordability is an indicator of livability, however there are many other factors that contribute to whether an area is livable (e.g. public services, condition of the house and neighborhood, crime). Therefore, being affordable does not necessarily mean livable, but an area does need to be affordable to be livable.
Accomplishment Statement
I compared the affordability of housing in Vancouver, BC versus London, ON using spatial data and tabular data on the location of census tracts and price of housing. I produces two maps to show the comparison, one of just cost of housing and one of cost of housing standardized by household income. Click here and here to view the maps!