Transit Advocacy Takes on the Housing Crisis

A lack of affordable housing has reached crisis proportions in cities and regions all over the United States. As low-income transit riders move outside of the urban core to find affordable housing options, they also move away from high-quality transit options, robbing transit systems of riders. The economic pressures of the pandemic–skyrocketing housing prices and a sudden wave of out-migration from superstar to smaller cities–have added additional urgency to the discussion.

As a result, advocacy organizations traditionally focused on transportation are delving into housing and land use policy. In San Diego, Circulate San Diego is exporting a successful affordable housing density bonus program to the rest of the state. In Los Angeles, local advocates ACT-LA have qualified a real estate transfer tax for the November ballot that will raise an estimated $8 billion over ten years for tenant support and homlessness prevention programs. And in Pittsburgh, Pittsburghers for Public Transit is pushing for citywide land use reforms that make it easier and cheaper to build housing near transit. Despite the numerous challenges, these advocates are achieving significant success by creatively marrying the causes of housing and transit.