Number C-07-04
09-09-04
Dear Colleague:
It is with great excitement and anticipation that we issue this report on the potential for transit oriented residential development.
With the recent surge in interest in and construction of rail transit systems, families and communities are seeking ways to take full advantage of their promise - seeking improved mobility, environmental benefits, and economically thriving neighborhoods.
In this report, the Center for Transit-Oriented Development has estimated the demand for housing within a half-mile of 27 existing rail systems and 15 planned extensions or new systems over the next 20 years. The findings are nothing short of astonishing.
Over 14.8 million households are expected to want housing within a half-mile of these rail systems by 2025 - more than double the number of households living there today. Meeting this demand would require building an average of 2,100 residential units near each of the 3,391 transit stations that was studied. For communities, transit systems, real estate developers, and financial institutions, this potential demand for housing presents not only a tremendous opportunity, but a challenge as well. To fully capture the benefits of our transit investments:
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has worked hard over the last several years to reduce administrative burdens on grantees in areas such as procurement and to improve the timeliness with which FTA processes grant applications. Therefore, it is with careful consideration of the impact on our transit agency customers that I write today to ask for your help regarding two important matters of concern:
- Our communities must adopt policies to support the attractive, higher-density housing that families and individuals are seeking -- revisiting zoning rules, parking policies, and infrastructure investments;
- Our transit systems must make continued improvements, not only to the operations of the systems themselves, but to the surrounding plazas, streetscapes and other amenities that make transit attractive; and
- Real estate developers and financial institutions must fully embrace the economic potential of urban development.
We hope you will read this report with an eye toward your role in creating attractive,
vibrant, and economically thriving communities for ourselves and our children.
Sincerely,
Jennifer L. Dorn
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