The California Housing Partnership Corporation recently released a report entitled “Building and Preserving Affordable Homes near Transit: Affordable TOD as a Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Equity Strategy,” which assesses the existing research on the role of preservation and development of affordable housing in transit-oriented development (TOD) areas as a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategy. The report finds that lower income households are less likely to own a car and more likely than other income groups to work or utilize public transit. In addition, the report notes that there is evidence from existing research that living in TOD areas reduces auto use and GHG emissions while also lowering transportation costs yet housing near transit stations is subject to rapidly increasing rents and property values, which overall makes TOD areas less affordable to lower-income households. The report concludes that there is strong evidence that preserving and building affordable homes near transit will allow California to achieve substantial GHG-reduction benefits. The report also highlights that investing only in transit would likely cause displacement of low income households and recommends that action be taken to ensure that people with low incomes, who are most likely to use transit and to benefit from its presence, are able to live near transit.
Click here to read the report.
