Transit Oriented For All: Delivering Mixed-Income Housing in Transit Served Neighbourhoods

As the market for TOD heats up and as government, development and business interests recognize its potential; there is an increasing danger that virtually all of the new development near transit could be unaffordable to lower income households. It is also probable that new or enhanced transit service could trigger considerable displacement in existing low-income and mixed-income neighbourhoods. This is because presently, for the most part, only luxury housing projects can afford to absorb the time, uncertainty and cost of risk inherent in building TOD in the United States. In many communities, TOD is not yet supported by appropriate zoning codes, which leads to lengthy and costly permitting processes and parking standards are higher than necessary. Both the time it takes for developers to get permits and the high parking requirements increase construction costs. Furthermore, the cost of land in and around existing and future transit stations is rising due to speculation or is broken into small parcels, making it difficult for developers to find sites that are large enough to economically produce high density housing that could keep prices down.