Efforts to build housing around transit threaten to price out those most dependent on bus and rail
By Joshua Emerson Smith :sandiegouniontribune – excerpt
The greatest risk is the places that are already showing signs of gentrification. There’s already value in those neighborhoods and the private market has seen...
Lawmakers, academics and urban planners from Southern California to Sacramento have long called for building denser housing around transit stops. The idea is to design neighborhoods that encourage people to ditch their car commutes — simultaneously fighting climate change while trying to address the state’s historic housing crisis.
However, efforts to inspire construction along rail and bus lines, coupled with a severe shortage of housing, have brought opulent apartment buildings and condominiums into economically challenged neighborhoods. As young professionals flock to the new housing, moderate- to low-income tenants in urban areas from San Diego to Sacramento are now facing displacement.
Tenants’ rights groups, especially in Southern California, say the trend is already playing out in many…
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