The Obama Administration’s Middle Class Task Force released its first annual report last week.  Unfortunately, it missed an opportunity to address the issue of car ownership for middle class families – and for low-income families aspiring to become middle class.

The report contains a set of hypothetical budgets for two-parent families in the 25^th, 50^th and 75^th  percentiles in income.  For a look at these hypothetical budgets, click here and see Figure 6.  All of these budgets show a higher percentage of the family budget devoted to cars than to medical expenses or saving for college. 

In fact, for two-parent families at the 25^th and 50^th percentiles, car expenses appear to be higher than any category except housing and an “other expenses” category that includes the cost of necessities such as food, clothing and utilities.  The percentage for car ownership for households at the 25^th percentile was especially high.

Similar hypothetical budgets for low-income, single-parent families (mostly headed by women) by the U.S. Department of Commerce (click here to see these budgets) show the same results.  The costs of car ownership for these families outpace every other category except housing and other necessities.

Unfortunately, the Middle Class Task Force’s report did not offer any solutions to this transportation challenge.  Yet we know that for low-income (and minority) households, car ownership is positively correlated with improved access to jobs, higher household income and more weeks worked per year.  For example,  nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of participants in Vehicles for Change, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation, obtained a better job within six to 12 months of owning their car, and participants enjoyed an average increase in salary of more than $4,500.

While health care, college savings and other pressing expenses receive – and deserve – attention from media and policy makers, these figures show a real need to address the needs of working families for cars.

Let’s hope we can get the task force to look more closely at these issues in the future. If you want to encourage them to do so, you can leave a comment on their website at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/strongmiddleclass/.

John Van Alst is an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, Inc., in Boston

Today is Car Free Day, an international event celebrated every September 22nd that encourages people to leave their car at home.  Our region signed on last year and is participating again this year.

Car Free Day is intended to highlight transit, bicycling, walking and all alternative modes of transportation and take cars off the road so people can think about what their region, city or neighborhood might be like with fewer cars.

I want to propose a different type of car day: Cars for People Who Need Them but Can’t Afford to Buy, Insure or Maintain Them Day.

I know, I know – it’s not as catchy.

It’s not that I’m opposed to Car Free Day. 

I celebrate it nearly every day because I don’t own a car.  I am a big fan of public transportation (I commute by bus) and walking.  But I live and work in parts of town with rich public transportation options.

The frustrating truth is that many low-income residents in our region – especially low-income, women-headed families East of the River and in Prince George’s County – actually need more access to private transportation to be able to work and take care of their families.

According to Census data, nearly half (48%) of all non-elderly poor in the District lived in households without a car.  They participate in Car Free Day every day but not all willingly.

Car ownership programs for low-income families and individuals have demonstrated their effectiveness by producing significant income and asset gains for participants. Programs in our region, like Vehicles for Change, and national programs like Ways to Work and its local partners Northern Virginia Family Service (a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation) and Family Matters of Greater Washington need and deserve support.

I hope we can all agree that our region’s transportation challenges call for multifaceted solutions beyond just “more people should take public transportation.”

Gwen Rubinstein is a Program Officer at The Women’s Foundation.