Amazon, Sound Transit join to build affordable housing in Suburban Seattle: an example of creating affordable housing initiatives in association with transit infrastructure programs

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Update with regard to Amazon funding projects in the DC area.  WTOP Radio reports on two projects, at the New Carrollton and College Park Metrorail Stations, totaling $82 million for almost 750 units of new affordable housing with low rents guaranteed for 98 years.  This isn't related to the Purple Line so much, but is an example of how such a program for the Purple Line could be created.

-- "$82M in Amazon loans to fund affordable housing at 2 Metro stops"

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Independent of the introduction of new transit infrastructure, there is an "affordable housing" crisis because the population has increased and housing production hasn't kept up.

It's only accentuated by the introduction of new transit infrastructure, which usually leads to an increase in housing demand in response to better mobility conditions,

This is why many advocates decry transit infrastructure improvements as an element of gentrification, even though the process is much more complicated.

And that it is unfair that when neighborhoods improve because of the addition of transit and the resultant revitalization that instead of benefiting, legacy residents are instead displaced.

Which is why I argue that:

1.  In association with the development of new transit infrastructure there should be a simultaneous complementary plan for transit network improvements, to improve the rider experience, to increase ridership, and to increase the success of the new infrastructure from the outset.

-- "Codifying the complementary transit network improvements and planning initiatives recommended in the Purple Line writings," 2022

2.  Simultaneously, there should be a community development initiative to buy, hold, fund, and develop housing, station improvements, and neighborhood and commercial district improvements, with the aim of preserving housing affordability for existing residents, as well as new housing.  (This doesn't necessarily require the participation of the transit agency as lead developer.)

3.  And another way to target neighborhood improvements at the nexus of new transit stations is to create public improvement districts, to plan for and implement improvements in a concerted way.

-- "Revisiting creating Public Improvement Districts in transit station catchment areas," 2020

WRT #2, for the Suburban Maryland Purple Line light rail project, which will integrate into the Metrorail system, since 2007 I've suggested that a bi-county community development corporation be created to do this.

-- "Creating a transportation development authority in Montgomery and Prince George's County to effectuate placemaking, retail development, and housing programs in association with the Purple Line," 2017

Although it hasn't happened.

Mount Dennis, Toronto.  An article about the Mount Dennis neighborhood in Toronto, which is about to be served by the Eglinton light rail line, describes how the neighborhood is supportive of the new infrastructure, in part because there is a simultaneous program for neighborhood improvements ("Sidewalks, bike lanes and shops: why this neglected neighbourhood is saying ‘yes in my backyard’ to LRT development," Toronto Star), which illustrates the importance of the kind of complementary approach suggested here. 

The plans aim to make Mount Dennis a new transit hub with superior connections 

to Downtown Toronto and the Airport

The new planning framework builds on the 2019 community-initiated Mount Dennis Eco-Neighborhood Action Plan.

Note that because it's Toronto, the most populated city in Canada, densities for new development are much higher than in Suburban Seattle or DC.

From the article:

The “Picture Mount Dennis” report contains a host of recommendations to improve Mount Dennis. Among them: 

• Encouraging the development of Weston Road, which cuts diagonally through the area, as Mount Dennis’s historic main street. 
• Low and midrise buildings would continue to dominate both sides of Weston Road. The height limit would be eight stories and the goal would be to create a “pedestrian-scaled” main street character. 
• A height peak of 45 stories would apply for buildings immediately adjacent to Mount Dennis station, with those heights gradually decreasing to the north and south of the station and towards Weston Road. Choice Properties wants to build seven towers with about 2,356 units all told, with heights ranging from 20 to 49 storeys. 
• Encourage a “balanced mix of housing types, unit sizes and tenures” in all new developments in order to provide housing opportunities for a variety of income levels and family sizes. For example, new buildings with more than 80 residential units should include more space for families, so 10 per cent of the units should be three-bedroom or larger, 15 per cent of units should be two-bedroom, while an additional 15 per cent should be a combination of two and three-bedrooms. 
• New buildings with 80 or more units should have 10 per cent of units be affordable rental or affordable condos. 
• Connect a new network of bike paths — including one that runs along the length of Weston Road — to planned cycling corridors in Toronto. 
• A “post-secondary satellite campus” should be built in Mount Dennis, that could align with clean tech or an eco-business or some form of green-friendly transportation.
• Attract jobs by promoting and attracting a major business such as a mass timber production facility that provides material for wood frame buildings, a food or social innovation hub, a photography or film museum or a major arts/cultural centre.

No substantive plan for affordable housing preservation in the Purple Line corridor.  While advocates have been calling for affordable housing initiatives in the Purple Line corridor ("Op-Ed in Washington Post about preserving affordable housing in the Purple Line corridor (Department of Duh)," 2022), not much has happened in a substantive way, especially given the reality that we know what will happen in terms of increased demand ("New apartments leasing in Chevy Chase Lake in Montgomery County," Washington Post), given the experience with Metrorail and the massive increase in demand for housing near subway stations in DC, Arlington and Montgomery Counties..

Also see:

-- "East County, Montgomery County, Maryland: Council redistricting spurs ideas for revitalization | Part 1 -- Overview," 2021

Seattle.  Which is why an article in the Seattle Times, "Amazon, Sound Transit will build hundreds of apartments in Bellevue, SeaTac in affordable-housing push," sticks out.    From the article:

Sound Transit and Amazon are partnering to build 318 affordable-housing units near light-rail stations in Bellevue and SeaTac. The new apartments, funded through $42.5 million in low-rate loans and grants from Amazon, are slated for the Spring District/120th Station in Bellevue and the Angle Lake Station in SeaTac. 

The units are targeting residents who earn 30-80% area median income. In Seattle, that ranges from $24,300 to $63,300 for a single-earner household, according to the Seattle Housing Authority. Construction is likely to start in 2023 in Angle Lake and 2024 in Bellevue. 

These are the first projects announced since Amazon committed $100 million in June to build 1,200 affordable-housing units on Sound Transit properties. That funding comes from an even larger commitment Amazon made in January 2021 to launch its Housing Equity Fund, a $2 billion initiative to preserve and create 20,000 affordable homes. “

Transportation and housing costs are linked,” said Catherine Buell, director of the Housing Equity Fund. “Our hope is we’re able to not only reduce the amount that families are spending on their housing but also reduce the amount that families are spending on transportation costs.”

This is part of Amazon's Housing Equity Fund initiative, which will invest $2 Billion in affordable housing initiatives in association with its three main HQ operations in Seattle, Arlington County Virginia ("Amazon and Arlington County are providing capital to support a landmark preservation deal to create long-term affordability for over 1,300 apartment homes for a period of 99 years.," press release) and Nashville.

Granted the new initiative is in Suburban Seattle, not the center city, but to see the transit agency come together with a major area corporation, to develop specifically affordable housing is impressive, although even so, in markets where many tens of thousands of units are required, 20,000 units of new affordable housing is a drop in the bucket.

Conclusion.  At the 2014 advocacy meetings for the Purple Line, I said similar kinds of arrangements needed to be created then, to be proactive, based on the DC experience with Metrorail.

-- "Purple line planning in suburban Maryland as an opportunity to integrate place and people focused initiatives into delivery of new transit systems"
-- "Quick follow up to the Purple Line piece about creating a Transportation Renewal District and selling bonds to fund equitable development,"

I thought it was odd that they focused on examples from Denver and Minneapolis--I was told later that it was because those were light rail programs, and the Purple Line is light rail--without acknowledging the richness of examples of the impact of transit on economic development, housing cost, and neighborhood revitalization from the DC area, in association with the development of Metrorail.

Which is why 8 years later, I'm not particularly impressed by the January op-ed in the Washington Post.

Note that Greater Phoenix ("Light rail housing fund spurs 15 projects in metro Phoenix" and "Why you don't see more vacant lots along light-rail route," Arizona Republic), Minneapolis ("Affordable Housing Contributes to Equitable Transit-Oriented Development in Saint Paul’s Corridor of Opportunity," HUD), and Denver ("RTD Wants More Housing Near Stations. It May Sacrifice Unused Parking Spots To Make That Happen," Colorado Public Radio) have created affordable housing initiatives in association with light rail.  

Sheridan Station Apartments in Denver is a 133-unit, 100% affordable building 

constructed at a light rail station. 

At 8 stories, it's bigger than many comparable buildings in the DC area.

The Phoenix program has some heft, while the others don't, but even so it pales compared to Seattle.  Then again, it's more significant than what's going on with the Purple Line.

Note that along the lines of the CDC approach I suggested for Suburban Maryland, in Denver, the Urban Land Conservancy is a nonprofit real estate developer focused on constructing affordable housing developments across Metropolitan Denver.