I explored the city through a few mobile tours, and was able to learn how their transit agency proactively addresses safety issues around transit facilities and rail lines. A colleague from our Met Council was also on the tour, as she prepares to work with a team to do education about safety around the new Green Line.

Russ and I are working with many partners locally, including the Trust for Public Land, to implement the Central Corridor Development Strategy's vision for parks along the Green Line. I was able to visit a new park in downtown Los Angeles - where some sort of dog event and youth activities were happening simultaneously that day in different parts of the park - and it was inspiring to imagine how green and open spaces along the Green Line could become true neighborhood and City gathering places.   

Late in 2012, I helped spearhead two major actions on the part of the City regarding affordable housing. In November, acting as the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), my colleagues and I approved the allocation of $2.5 million to an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Councilmember Carter and I championed the Trust Fund, which was created in 2011 using unspent funds from the City's Sales Tax and Revitalization (STAR) program. After much discussion about the best use of these resources, the HRA gave highest priority to programs and projects aimed at keeping existing homeowners in their homes, and a high priority to helping to preserve existing affordable rental housing. We reserved 20% of the funds to help finance the construction of new affordable, multi-family apartments.

Project for Pride & Living's planned Hamline Station mixed use affordable housing project.

 
The second major action was the HRA's adoption of a set of recommendations for new affordable housing goals along the Green Line (the new name for Central Corridor). For the past 18 months, I have been involved in an effort called the Big Picture Project. The group, made up of representatives of government, philanthropy, private developers, community-based organizations, and affordable housing advocates, developed specific targets for the preservation and creation of affordable housing along the corridor. The thinking behind this work is that over time, as a result of the $1 billion investment in light rail, property values and rents in the neighborhoods along the corridor will increase. This upward pressure on prices may eventually price lower-income households out of the market, unless we as a City and community take steps today to ensure that a portion of the existing and new housing units along the corridor remain affordable to low- and moderate-income households. The neighborhoods along the Green Line have long been home to people of all incomes, and it is our collective vision to preserve the mixed-income nature of the community. The investment in light rail, while also an important part of the regional transit system, should benefit the people who live here today -- with improved access to jobs, services, recreation, etc. -- not displace them.

Over the years, some community members have feared that light rail was a stalking horse for gentrification and the wholesale redevelopment of the surrounding area. On the contrary, I believe strongly that light rail can and will improve our existing community, AND open the door for the redevelopment of vacant and under-utilized properties along University Avenue -- benefiting current residents and businesses while also attracting new, additional residents and businesses.

Painting by Tracy Moos for Family Housing Fund's Home Sweet Home exhibit.

Some have argued that we have enough affordable housing in the City and that new affordable housing should all be built in the suburbs. While I agree that every part of our region should provide housing opportunities for people across the income spectrum, this does not change the fact that we want to remain a diverse, mixed-income community that provides opportunities for all.

One of the basic definitions of "affordable housing" is that no more than 30% of household income is required to cover housing expenses, leaving remaining income available for food, transportation, health care, etc. Yet a substantial share (one recent analysis based on 2009 data suggests 45%) of renters along the Corridor today are already "housing burdened," meaning they are spending 30% or more of their income on housing.  This housing burden is somewhat offset by lower transportation costs associated with living in the urban core near good transit service  More info on this here.

Given that even today, with moderate prices, many renters are "housing burdened," one could reasonably conclude that what's needed is higher incomes, not subsidized housing.  Family income for the bottom 60% of households has stagnated or even declined in this country over the past 40 years. Federal policies such as the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit are part of the solution. The City does have some levers on wage fairness when it helps funds development projects, but we generally have more leverage in the area of housing policy and finance than we do in the area of income inequality.

NOTE: The Family Housing Fund, an organization for which I serve as a Board member, has great resources on Affordable Housing, including this fact sheet that outlines a variety of jobs, their respective pay, and the proportion of that pay necessary to pay for housing.