Ensuring Equitable TOD Through Rail Investment, Land Assembly & Housing Support Systems
1. EQUITY & TRANSIT-
ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT
LINES, SITES & SYSTEMS
Catherine Lowe ■ PhD Candidate
City & Regional Planning, Cornell University
Presentation at Partners in Innovation:
Including Affordable and Workforce Housing
within TOD.
September 27, 2010 ■ Denver, CO
Research team: Rolf Pendall, Juliet Gainsborough,
Mai Nguyen & Catherine Lowe.
Support from the Support from the John D. &
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
2. CONTEXT
Ongoing research on fast growth regions’ preparation for
future.
Regions
Denver, Houston, Charlotte=major system expansions
Miami=proposed expansion and TOD
Boston corridor=CBO & CDCs secure investment
Opportunities and challenges
Lines: Rail investment
Sites: TOD challenges
Systems: Ensuring resources & system equity
Importance and potential for advocates and housing
community involvement in each
3. LINES: EQUITABLE RAIL ROUTING
CHALLENGES
Today’s projects from yesterday’s planning
Building support for rail investment areas require
compromises in complex metros
Happy accidents?
4. SITES: TOD LAND ASSEMBLY CHALLENGE
Talbot Station,
Fairmount Line, Boston
6. SITES: LIMITS TO AFFORDABLE TOD
THROUGH VALUE CAPTURE
Assumption: Transit raises land value that can
be recaptured to subsidize housing
Reality: Not that simple
Therefore: Affordability will require more
and redirected subsidies
7. SYSTEMS:
SMART GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Civil rights and
environmental
justice goals
“Smart growth”
goals driving
“equitable TOD”
Reconciliation:
Plan systems, not
just stations
8. SYSTEMS: SUPPORT FOR MIXED INCOME
TOD PART OF METRO SUPPORT FOR
Public sector commitment
Experienced affordable housing
builders
Ismael Guerrero,
Denver Housing
Authority http://politics.mync.com/wp-
content/uploads/2008/11/080515_pat_mccrory.jpg
Denver Housing http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/images/NR
Authority’s Curtis Park
development, a downtown transit-accessible
_Norwell_5-10-05_dig.jpg
HOPE VI project
Boston Mayor Tom
http://www.denverhousing.org/development/curtispark/Publ
Menino at ground-
ishingImages/CurtisParkandBean506054.jpg
Pat McCrory, breaking for Norwell
Charlotte Homes, a project of
http://www.inside-lane.com/wp-
Mayor,
Dorchester Bay EDC’s Dudley Village, with 50
content/uploads/2010/02/DSCN3772.JPG Codman Square NDC on
1995-2009
affordable units and ground floor retail (Boston). the Fairmount Corridor
9. LESSONS: SITES, LINES & SYSTEMS,
Lines
Ensure transit serves low/moderate income
communities
Coalition opportunities
Sites
Challenges of land assembly and supporting
amenities
Value capture can’t support all workforce/low-income
housing needs
Systems
EJ & smart growth in metro housing & transport
system
Support & resources for workforce/low-income
housing generally
10. EQUITY & TRANSIT-
ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT
LINES, SITES & SYSTEMS
Rolf Pendall, The Urban Institute
rpendall@urban.org
Juliet Gainsborough, Bentley University
jgainsborough@bentley.edu
Mai Nguyen, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
mai@unc.edu
Catherine Lowe, Cornell University
CRL64@cornell.edu
Support from the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation.