As they post-mortem the housing crisis, policy makers are increasingly putting transportation costs under the microscope. Blueprint America visits the car -dependent suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, to learn about how transportation costs are making it harder for families to hold on to the American Dream.

If there's a positive from the recession, it's been the fact that U.S. households are lowering their debts and getting their finances back in order. What hasn't changed is that the majority of a family's income still goes to covering housing costs, and the affordability of where you live doesn't always equal the amount you pay in rent or on your mortgage -- it's often times higher, meaning the cost of housing is even more of a majority.

The average family in America today spends 52 percent of its income on housing and transportation. In this Blueprint America interview, John Larson talks with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan about how transportation adds to the true cost of housing.

The national credit crisis is hitting the housing market again, this time resulting in bankruptcy -- for builders.