An assessment of sustainable housing affordability using a multiple criteria decision making method

Housing affordability is a complex issue that must not only be assessed in terms economic viability. In order to increase quality of life and community sustainability the environmental and social sustainability of housing must also be taken into consideration. The paper considers the application of a methodology that can be applied to assess the affordability of different housing locations in a sustainable manner, taking into account a range of economic, environmental and social criteria. The COPRAS method of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is selected and applied to three residential areas as an example of how sustainable housing affordability can be assessed using a MCDM method. The outcome of the study reveals that considering a range of social and environmental criteria can greatly affect the calculation of an areas affordability, in comparison to focusing solely on financial attributes. COPRAS was found to be an effective method for the assessment and could be applied in other regions or internationally. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.