BOSTON — After years of living on the street and sleeping on friends’ couches, Quantavia Smith got the keys to a studio apartment in Los Angeles that comes with an important perk — easy access to public transportation.
The 38-year-old feels like she’s gone from a life where “nobody cares” to one where she has a safe place to start. Rebuilding her life. The metro station on which the residential complex is built is a lifeline while she searches for work without a car.
“It’s a feeling of relief, a sense of independence,” said Smith, who moved in July. She receives some government assistance and pays 30% of her income in rent — just $19 a month for an efficiency with a full market value of $2,000.
“Having your own space makes you feel like you can do anything.”
Metro areas from Los Angeles to Boston took the lead Connecting new housing Developments due to their proximity to public transportation, often partner with developers to streamline the permitting process and pass policies that promote developments that include a larger number of units.
City officials say building housing near public transit helps revitalize neglected neighborhoods and provide affordable housing, while ensuring a steady flow of commuters to transit systems and parcels. Greenhouse gas emissions By reducing the number of cars on the road.
“Transit-oriented development should be one of, if not the biggest, solution we look to for housing development,” said Yona Freimark, research director at the Urban Institute’s Land Use Lab, who has written extensively on the topic.
“It takes advantage of all this money we spent on transportation infrastructure,” Freemark said. “If you build projects and don’t build anything around the areas near them, it’s money wasted.”
The Santa Monica and Fairmont apartments where Smith lives are part of an ambitious plan by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 10,000 housing units near transit sites by 2031 — offering developers discounts on land in exchange for developing affordable housing and other community benefits.
In Washington, D.C., the transit authority has completed eight projects since 2022 that have provided nearly 1,500 apartments and 1 million square feet of office space. About half of them were in partnership with Amazon, which has allocated $3.6 billion in low-cost loans and grants to affordable housing projects in Washington, as well as Nashville, Tennessee, and the Puget Sound region of Washington state. Almost all of them are located within a half-mile of public transportation.
“Large cities face the biggest challenges when it comes to traffic congestion and high housing costs,” Freemark said. “Building new homes near transit helps address both problems by encouraging people to use transit while increasing housing supply.”
Among the projects built by Boston, Pok Oi Residents is located in Chinatown, a 10-minute walk from the subway and six bus stops. This is a draw for Bernie Hernandez, who moved his family there from suburban Connecticut after his daughter attended Boston University.
“The big difference is mobility. You don’t need a car,” said Hernandez, who said he can walk to the grocery store and pharmacy. His 17-year-old daughter takes the metro to school. Now, his car mostly idle, saving him money on gas and time spent in traffic.
“You have to go to different places very quickly. Everything is convenient,” Hernandez said.
States from Massachusetts to California are passing laws targeting restrictive zoning regulations that for decades have prohibited the construction of multifamily projects and contributed to… Housing shortage.
Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a state law allowing taller condos to be built on land owned by transit agencies and near bus, train and subway lines.
“Building more homes in our most sustainable locations is key to addressing the affordability crisis and maintaining California’s success for many years to come,” said State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat who authored the bill.
California joins Colorado, which requires cities to allow an average of 40 housing units per acre within a quarter-mile of transit, and Utah, which mandates about 50 units per acre. In Washington, the governor signed a bill this year allowing taller residential projects to be built in mixed-use commercial districts close to transportation.
“We want to ensure there are mixed-income, walkable, vibrant homes throughout these transportation investments, and that people have the choice to use cars less to improve the environmental health of our communities,” said Democratic Rep. Julia Reed, who authored the Washington bill.
“It’s about giving people the opportunity to drive less and live longer.”
Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey He made housing a priority.
Among its most powerful tools is a 2021 law requiring 177 neighboring towns or communities to create zoning districts that allow multifamily housing. The state has provided nearly $8 million to more than 150 communities to help establish these zones, while threatening to cut funding to those that don’t. As a result, there are more than 6,000 residential units under development.
“I put housing near public transportation,” Healey said. “It’s great for people. They can literally get up, leave their house, walk to the railway and go to work.”
Among the first companies to comply was Lexington, which approved 10 projects, including a $115 million complex with 187 residential units and retail space.
“This is a landscaping yard. It’s commercial. It’s for trucking,” said project manager Quinlan Locke, as he walked past earthmoving equipment and dump trucks at the construction site earlier this year.
But, he added, “in a couple of years from now, this will be for the people who live here, work here, and play here. This will be someone’s home.”
Some advocates argue that the lofty goals of transit housing are failing because of fierce local resistance and a lack of funding and support at the federal and state levels.
Higher mortgage interest rates, more government red tape, rising construction costs and a lack of investment in transit stations have also contributed to a troubling trend — nine times more housing units have been built farther from public transit than near it in the past two decades, according to a 2023 study by the Urban Institute.
In Massachusetts, there are 19 communities that have not yet created new districts. Some have unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against the state to stop the law, while residents have rejected the creation of new zones in other areas. Lexington eventually reduced its area from 227 acres to 90 acres after residents complained.
“If we let the state come in and dictate how we live, what are they going to come in and dictate to us?” said Anthony Renzoni, a selectman from the town of Holden, who has sued the state and is drawing up a new zoning map after residents rejected the first one.
In Los Angeles, the six-story complex where Smith lives in East Hollywood has become home to 300 new residents since it opened in February. It is revitalizing the area surrounding the metro site, with a Filipino grocery, medical clinic and farmers market opening early next year.
Half of the 187 units are set aside for formerly homeless residents like Smith, who lived in a rundown hotel paid for with a voucher and before that on the street. She was hired as a caseworker and is getting help with basic life skills, budgeting and finding work.
And just as important: Smith, who can’t afford a car, doesn’t need one.
“I’m very fortunate to be somewhere where transit takes me where I want to go,” she said. “The place I want to go isn’t that far away.”