Today we are proud to release our latest policy report “Real Opportunity.” The report details that the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) owns substantial under-utilized properties, which present an opportunity for the agency to leverage those assets to build affordable homes, catalyze economic development, and to address climate change.
The properties MTS has already identified for potential development total more than 57 acres. Those properties could support more than 8,000 new homes, with more than 3,000 reserved as permanently affordable for low income renters, with accommodating land uses and affordability requirements. With new policies, MTS can make a substantial contribution to addressing the region’s housing affordability crisis.
This report recommends that MTS take advantage of the current political support for transit oriented development through reform of its policies to:
- Create a joint development program that issues requests for proposals for priority sites and actively solicits near-term development partners.
- Include a requirement that any residential development on MTS land include a percentage of homes to be made permanently affordable for low income renters.
- Eliminate the costly requirement for new developments on MTS parking lots to replace or maintain parking where it is already underutilized.
You can read the report online at http://www.circulatesd.org/realopportunity.
