An Affordable Responsibility: True Transit-Oriented Developments Require Adequate Low-income Housing in Order to Thrive.
By: Robert (Bob) H. Voelker When Dallas opens the balance of the Green DART light rail line at the end of this year, an additional 13 rail stations become prime targets for transit-oriented development. To date, only four of the existing 20-plus rail stations outside downtown have transit-oriented residential development, and all of that housing is oriented toward higher-income residents. DART uses existing rail right-of-way in expanding commuter rail service. These lines originate in industrial rail-served areas and intersect in high-density urban cores. The resulting train stations create new “transit-oriented” mixed-use opportunities in areas that have been either industrial parks or forgotten areas in urban centers. During the eras of white flight and the suburbanization of America, these types of urban or commercial areas became housing areas for lower-income residents. The revitalization of former low-income centers has the distinct possibility of gentrifying the area by displacing lower-income residents away from the train stations. Except in certain more “liberal” or “social minded” areas of the country where inclusive zoning and affordable housing quotas originated (California, New Jersey, Minneapolis, etc.), most areas of the United States, including many of those now undertaking large-scale commuter rail projects, lack an institutional understanding of how to promote “transit equity” as part of the process of developing transit-efficient real estate. They have no “fair share” regional affordable housing quotas, and, more important, they have not established the necessary development and financing tools to facilitate true mixed-income, mixed-use development. TO READ MORE, CLICK THE PDF ICON BELOW: View as PDF |