Regional Trends
Regional Trends
Urban Core Trends
Urban Core Trends
Foster the Region's Business Climate and |
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Total Number of Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Sites on the Lower Connecticut River and Tributaries
Description:
As quoted from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, “Combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, were built as part of sewer collection systems that were designed to carry both sewage and storm water in the same pipe. When there is not a lot of storm water, this mix is transported to a wastewater treatment plant where it is processed. However, after heavy rainfall or snowmelt, storm water and sewage overload the system. Without CSOs, this mix would back up into homes, businesses, and public streets. Combined sewer systems have regulator structures that allow overloaded systems to discharge into rivers, lakes and coastal areas subjecting them to higher pollutant loads. This can compromise a water body's uses and lead to water quality violations in the receiving waters.”
Throughout the Pioneer Valley, the total number of CSO sites on the Connecticut River has decreased from 59 to 52 between 2009 and 2010, representing an 11.9% reduction.
As of 2010, the urban core is now the site of all of the CSOs in the Pioneer Valley. The number of CSOs in the urban core areas of the region remained constant, at 52, between 2009 and 2010.
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Amount of Non-School Local Aid Per Capita Received by the Region's Cities and Towns
Description:
The amount of non-school local aid includes all aid that a town receives for purposes other than education. This includes the following sources: Unrestricted General Government Aid, Local Share of Racing Taxes, Regional Public Libraries, Police Career Incentive, Urban Revitalization, Veteran’s Benefits, Exemptions for Veterans, Blind and Surviving Spouses, Exemptions for the Elderly, State Owned Land, and Public Libraries.
In the Pioneer Valley, the per-capita non-local school aid decreased dramatically between 2009 and 2010, from $243 to $172 per capita.
Urban core communities received significantly more aid per capita than the Pioneer Valley as a whole (an additional $57 per capita in 2010). There was a significant decrease of 31.4% in the per capita aid in the urban core areas.
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Rate of Property and Violent Crimes Reported
Description:
Property and violent crimes consist of the following crimes: Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter, Forcible Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Larceny-Theft, Motor Vehicle Theft and Arson. The rate of property and violent crimes reported in the Pioneer Valley stayed the same between 2008 and 2009 at 3.5 crimes reported per 100 people representing a 0.0% change.
Crime rates decreased at an even greater rate in the urban core (-9.4%) than they did in the region as a whole, though the actual rates were still significantly higher. Urban core crime rates remained almost twice those in the region as a whole (6.4 and 5.8 per 100 people in 2008 and 2009). Trends were vastly different for the two urban areas, with an increase of 5.6% in Holyoke and no change in Springfield from 2008 to 2009.
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Percentage of Housing Units that are Owner-Occupied
Description:
Percentage of Housing Units that are Owner-Occupied includes all types of housing units and is calculated by dividing the number of owner-occupied housing units by the total number of housing units in the region. Between 2008 and 2009, the percentage of housing units in the Pioneer Valley that were owner-occupied remained the same, at 65.3 percent.
Owner-occupied units were rarer in the urban core (49.9% of units in 2009). The urban core also experienced a slighter larger increase than the Pioneer Valley as a whole, with a 0.5% change from 2008 to 2009. Of the urban core areas, Holyoke had the lowest percentage of owner-occupied units, with 41.6% in 2008 and 42.7% in 2009 while Springfield had the highest rates of owner occupation, with 51.4% in 2008 and 52.0% in 2009.
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Percentage of Owners with Mortgages Paying More than 30% of Their Income on Selected Monthly Owner Costs
Description:
According to many government agencies, people who pay more than 30% of their income on housing costs are considered to be housing cost burdened. The U.S. Census Bureau provides estimates on this statistic based on a survey of a sample of the population with the American Community Survey. Data for this indicator includes all home owners who have mortgages. Monthly owner costs include payment for mortgages, real estate taxes, various insurances, utilities, fuels, mobile home costs, and condominium fees. Between 2008 and 2009, the percentage of home owners in the Pioneer Valley who were housing cost burdened increased from 31.9% to 32.2% (representing a 0.3% change).
In the urban core 37.2% of owners paid more than 30% of their income towards the cost of their property in 2008 and 37.7% in 2009. This was a 0.5% increase. Trends were similar in the urban core areas, including a 0.5% increase in Holyoke to a 1.2% increase in Springfield.
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Percentage of Renters Paying More than 30% of Their Income on Rent
Description:
According to many government agencies, people who pay more than 30% of their income on housing costs are considered to be housing cost burdened. The U.S. Census Bureau provides estimates on this statistic based on a survey of a sample of the population with the American Community Survey. Between 2008 and 2009, the percentage of renters in the Pioneer Valley who were housing cost burdened decreased from 50.8% to 51.4% (representing a 0.6% change).
In the urban core, 55.8% of renters paid more than 30% of their income towards their mortgages in 2008 and 56.3% in 2009. This was a 0.5% increase. Trends varied in the three urban core areas. Springfield experienced a slight decrease of 0.2%, while Holyoke experienced and increase of 2.8 percent.
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Median Sale Price of a Single Family Home
Description:
Single family homes include all transfers over $1,000 classified by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue with a 101 use code. Between 2008 and 2009, the median sale price of a single family home in the Pioneer Valley decreased 4.7% from $192,301 to $183,342.
In the urban core real estate sale prices also fell, with an overall decrease of 3.8 percent. Within the two urban core areas, trends ranged from a 6.0% decrease in Holyoke to a 3.4% decrease in median sales prices in Springfield.
It would be remiss not to note that while the decrease in the cost of home sales is a a positive trend long term in the context of an economic development desire for more affordable housing in the region, the marked decrease in home sale prices in 2009 is indicative of the negative occurrence of a major crisis in the housing market nationally. In the short term, of course, this might be more likely to be interpreted as a negative trend. At the same time, when renter and home owner affordability is examined for the region between 2008 and 2009, this drop in home prices has corresponded with a smaller percentage of residents in the region being housing cost burdened. (Unfortunately, 2007 and 2008 data is not available for housing affordability data at the urban core geography level.)
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Building Permits Issued for New Residential Construction
Description:
Between 2008 and 2009, the number of building permits issued for new residential construction in the Pioneer Valley increased 26.8% from 496 to 629 permits. The urban core’s increase in number of building permits issued for new residential construction was slightly larger, representing an increase of 46.1% from 89 to 130 permits.
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Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC)
60 Congress Street • Springfield, MA 01104-3419 www.pvpc.org
For more information on the State of the Region and Plan for Progress Performance Indicators,
contact the PVPC's
Regional Information & Policy Center at (413) 781-6045