In Boston, transit-served areas (transit sheds) outperformed the region by a staggering 129 percent. In Chicago, home values in transit served areas performed 30 percent better than the region; in San Francisco, 37 percent; Minneapolis-St Paul, 48 percent; and in Phoenix 37 percent.

Transit type had an effect on the stability of average residential sales prices, which benefited more from transit that was well connected and had a higher frequency of service. Stations with higher levels of transit access saw the most price resilience within and across regions. In addition to having higher frequency service and better transit connectivity, these stations also tend to be located in areas that are more walkable, have higher residential density, and better access to jobs.

In addition to more stable residential sales prices, data from CNT’s Housing + Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index showed that households living in transit sheds had better access to jobs and lower average transportation costs than the region as a whole.

“This study reinforces the body of research indicating the benefits of robust, convenient, and affordable transit systems,” said CNT President Scott Bernstein. “What we see here is that residential proximity to transit not only reduces costs of living and lowers environmental impacts, it also translates to stronger household, municipal and regional economies.”

“Stable property values in areas with public transit access have a number of policy implications,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy. “As Congress and state and local governments look for ways to accelerate economic growth, this study shows that investing in public transportation is a boon to revitalizing our economy.”

“We are excited to be able to present this initial research, and look forward to expanding it with further analysis using more datasets in more places,” said Bernstein. “This research has the potential to uncover the full value of transit on commercial and mixed use properties, as well.”

The New Real Estate Mantra: Location Near Public Transportation builds off of CNT’s groundbreaking research and publications on issues related to Transportation & Community Development, and Transit-Oriented Development.

Full report: The New Real Estate Mantra: Location Near Public Transportation

Appendix A

Appendix B

A few notes on the method:

• Transit station zones may be overlapping, due to proximity of transit stations. Transit sheds are the aggregate area covered by all transit zones. As a result, transit sheds are not an average of all transit station zones.
• While individual zones may overlap, properties are not double-counted in the transit shed.
• The Employment Access Index provides a measure of the quantity and proximity of jobs to a given place, not a simple measure of jobs per square mile.
• This examination of sales prices of all residential property types in aggregate provides an overall picture of how all residential sales activity contributes to the economy. This is a valuable reference for understanding the potential for value capture, tax revenue, and local investment.
• Averages sales prices, where available, are also broken out in the report for single-family, town homes, condos, and apartments.

Photo credit: Patrick Putze

For nearly a century the Bloomingdale freight line has rolled across and above the City’s Northwest side. Today the tracks are aligned to transform the Bloomingdale into an elevated, mixed-use, linear park and trail running through the heart of Chicago, connecting neighborhoods, the river, and Chicago’s great park system. Since 2003, Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail have been advocating for this conversion of the rail line into Chicago’s next great park. Many community groups and public agencies have participated in a community charrette that led to the development a framework plan for this major endeavor.

CNT is pleased to be hosting, Reframing Ruin: A Prelude to the Bloomingdale Trail,  a photography exhibition presented by Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail and The Trust for Public Land. The exhibit showcases the community’s documentation of the future trail, its relationship to the diverse neighborhoods it cuts through, and how we currently interact with this stretch of land through photography.

The exhibit will be housed at CNT Energy location, 1741 N. Western Ave. The exhibit will run until August 22, by appointment only. Contact info@bloomingdaletrail.org to schedule a visit. We are no longer taking RSVPs: the opening reception is completely sold out.

Learn more about the Bloomingdale Trail and its development here.>>

Learn more about the exhibit here.>>

Check out this preview video of the exhibit here.>>

The study revealed some interesting findings about what is needed to support TOD in Pittsburgh, including new sources of funding for smaller scale infrastructure improvements such as pedestrian pathways and signage to help link the stations to nearby communities. It also identifies priority areas for TOD investments out of 100 stations in the rail, busway, and incline transit network, based on the readiness of those stations to be transformed into walkable, transit supportive communities. The study prioritizes stations based on three types of investments: infrastructure, new development, and building the capacity of community groups, which is a specialty of the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group and its GoBurgh initiative.

CTOD is a partnership of CNT, Reconnecting America, and Strategic Economics. For more information visit CTOD’s website here.>>

Copies of the report can be downloaded here.

Read full press release >>

CNT president Scott Bernstein will deliver a presentation dealing with urban sustainability and transit issues at the event. As the economic and environmental case for investment in safe, reliable and efficient public transit becomes increasingly irrefutable, educating and organizing the public to support political action will play a crucial role in the development of the modern transit system that the Chicagoland are needs and deserves. CNT Vice President of Policy Jacky Grimshaw will participate in the panel exploring funding transit. Former CNT board member and noted urban policy expert and commentator Carol Coletta will also be presenting at the summit.

Participating in the panel discussions will be key decision makers like Frank Beal, executive director of Metropolis Strategies; Dan Cronin, chairman of DuPage County;  John Gates, chairman of the RTA, Randy Blankenhorn, executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning; Kevin DeGood, deputy policy director of Transportation for America; and Peter Skosey, vice president of the Metropolitan Planning Council.

For more information, contact Brenna Conway>>

Register here>>

On January 29th from 6-9pm, CNT will host a public briefing meeting for CDOT to share the draft guidelines. As a project stakeholder, CNT is a participating member of the task force to inform and shape these unique, wide-reaching guidelines and policies. If you’ve ever seen your street re-paved, only to see a utility trench cut a year later and roughly covered over, these guidelines hope to address this issue (among many other issues that affect the long-term viability of our urban infrastructure).

This initiative builds upon many of CDOT’s successful pilot projects, and will surely serve as national model for public agencies to coordinate infrastructure improvements. The community briefing is free and open to the public and will allow participants the opportunity to provide input on the document.

We hope that you will consider joining us on January 29th at 6pm in our office at 2125 W North Ave in the Wicker Park neighborhood.

For more information, contact Ryan Wilson.

The west suburbs of Cook County possess abundant TOD (transit-oriented development) and COD (cargo-oriented development) assets, including passenger and cargo rail lines, extensive bus routes, pockets of dense housing, intermodal freight terminals, a strong base of industrial and logistics businesses, and community colleges that can train unemployed or underemployed industrial workers. These strengths can be leveraged to generate new sources of public and private funding, retain and attract industrial firms and retailers, increase job access near transit, reduce car and truck traffic, and stimulate greater collaboration between neighboring communities to create a more sustainable, prosperous region.

In 2010, CNT expanded its model for sustainable development based on COD and TOD assets to a second major sub-region of metropolitan Chicago by partnering with the West Central Municipal Conference (WCMC), a council of governments representing 40 municipalities and over 600,000 residents.

The new report, “West Cook County COD+TOD,” lays out two interconnected strategies to generate economic development and preserve natural resources in the western suburbs of Cook County. Cargo-oriented development (COD) promotes the creation of manufacturing, distribution and logistics businesses on vacant and underused land near freight infrastructure. Transit-oriented development (TOD) connects people to jobs, housing and other opportunities by focusing growth in walkable areas along transit corridors. Together, these strategies can be harnessed to mitigate suburban sprawl and take cars and trucks off the road. CNT is continuing to work with the West Central Municipal Conference to facilitate collaboration between communities that share COD and TOD opportunities.

Download “West Cook County COD+TOD” here ››

Conventional wisdom holds that metro areas like New York, San Francisco, Boston and D.C. are the most expensive places to live for average families. After all, these traditionally upmarket cities have some of the highest housing costs in the nation. But conventional wisdom is the name given to a popular idea about to be debunked; housing costs are just one part of this story. A new report from the Center for Housing Policy and CNT draws attention to the other, often hidden, factors that contribute to a growing cost of place for American households.

The report, Losing Ground: The Struggle of Moderate-Income Households to Afford the Rising Costs of Housing and Transportation, further explores a phenomenon first covered in the seminal 2006 report A Heavy Load: The Combined Housing and Transportation Burdens of Working Families. Losing Ground draws the latest five-year data from the American Communities Survey and finds that for the average family in the 25 largest U.S. metro areas, any income gains made in the last decade have been erased—and then some—by the skyrocketing cost burden of housing and transportation combined.

Among other findings, the report notes that for every $1.00 increase in nominal income since 2000 for these families, the share of their household budgets going to housing and transportation has shot up by more than $1.75. So how are families getting by? The report includes a case study on the Los Angeles metro area, showing that a typical moderate-income renter household’s monthly expenses exceed monthly income by $328. This family must choose among dipping into savings, racking up debt or cutting corners on groceries, health care, clothing and school supplies. None of these choices is sustainable. It’s a losing proposition for families in Los Angeles and all around the country.

Read the full press release, including key findings here ››
Download the report here ››

This blog was adapted from NHC’s Open House Blog and was written by Blake Warenik, National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy.

Through a grant to Project for Public Spaces from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities under their Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program, Livability Solutions will be offering free technical assistance workshops to 6 to 12 communities around the country, enabling local governments and communities to implement changes that will move them along the road towards smart growth and sustainability. Livability Solutions is a partnership of organizations with expertise in sustainability planning, including CNT. This technical assistance will take the form of one- to two-day workshops, led by one or more experienced coalition members, focused on one or more of the group’s unique suite of livability tools.

Workshops are intended to provide communities with strategies to enhance livability, to create lasting economic and environmental improvements, and to effect positive change for their residents. The workshops will focus on helping communities reach a tipping point or overcome a significant hurdle to reaching a particular livability or sustainability goal.

Coalition members will work with selected communities to identify the tool or palette of tools that will best help them achieve their livability and sustainability goals, building off of each community’s unique character, culture, creativity, and effort. A short report will be prepared for each community following the technical assistance, and communities receiving technical assistance will be asked to follow up one month and nine months after receiving technical assistance to report on their progress toward objectives set during the assistance.

Learn more and apply now »

To help communities learn more about this program, Livability Solutions will host a webinar on Wednesday, October 10^th, 3:00-4:00pm EST to further discuss this technical assistance opportunity, the available tools, and the process. Register for the webinar.

Livability Solutions is a partnership among CNT and 10 other organizations who have expertise in planning projects that protect the environment, improve public health, facilitate job creation and economic opportunity, and improve overall quality of life.

Bernstein’s chapter calls for reducing the poor’s exposure to high costs of transportation by guaranteeing better transportation choices on a basis that the poor can afford.  Just as so-called “food deserts” describe areas with no affordable grocery stores, too many of our neighborhoods are “train deserts,”  where poor peoples’ modest income can’t keep pace with the combined cost of housing and transportation. Scott’s essay offers a bold yet practical set of recommendations for quickly getting on the path to improving this situation.

Along with other contributions from representatives of organizations like Witnesses to Hunger, Spotlight on Poverty, the Coalition on Human Needs, and the United Nations, the rest of the book gives voice to the often voiceless by allowing the poor to tell their own stories. They describe hunger, unemployment, their children’s needs, prison, panhandling, health care struggles, and the role of race in poverty from a perspective that many people simply don’t see.  Heise also offers his advice to citizens and the country at large for dealing with the poverty question, addressing issues like raising the minimum wage, creating jobs, and the disparity between media coverage of those with money and those without.

In appreciate of Scott’s contribution in this publication, the publisher—Marion Street Press—has generously offered a 10% discount to anyone that either enters the discount code “CNT” at checkout or follows this link when ordering the book off their website. Additionally, this 10% discount will be donated to CNT, so ordering this book is a great way to support CNT and get fascinating, insightful, and occasionally troubling reading at the same time.

The book ships in September, so take advantage of this offer soon!

CNT’s national projects and engagements to promote economic growth through improved transit connectivity

Some of the places and types of work we’re currently doing:

Madison, WI

CNT is leading a consulting team in conducting a market study for Madison’s regional sustainable planning consortium, Capital Region Sustainable Communities (CRSC). The study will help determine the projected demand for TOD along several potential bus-rapid transit (BRT) corridors that, when complete, will provide the city with time and cost-efficient bus service. CNT’s team will use national and regional datasets, interviews with stakeholders, and our own in-house analytical tools to assess the potential for building compact mixed-use districts with easy transit access.

In conjunction with the market study’s kick-off, CNT President Scott Bernstein delivered a presentation on June 22 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, entitled “Transportation Options for a Strong Economy.” Bernstein used CNT’s Housing and Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index and TOD Database to illustrate current trends in the Dane County region and to highlight the important role transportation plays in maintaining a region’s economic vitality.

Knoxville, TN

Plan Eastern Tennessee (PlanET) is a 30-year vision plan to enhance regional livability through sustainable transportation and land use patterns, job creation, and improved infrastructure. CNT is helping the Knoxville region pinpoint ideal places for investing in BRT, TOD and COD.

Greenville, SC

CNT is assisting the City of Greenville in assessing the feasibility of a proposed BRT line and studying the local demand for TOD as part of the city’s goal to connect more people to jobs and amenities without the need for automobiles.

Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA

As a partner in the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD), CNT is identifying market opportunities for building TOD along the planned Hartford Busway and New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Rail alignments. These new connective transit corridors will support and enhance the region’s already thriving knowledge economy.

Pittsburgh, PA

As part of CNT’s technical assistance for the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, CNT and our local partner the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) are planning a two-day workshop in November for Partnership grant recipients located in weak market regions. The workshop will allow this special cohort of grantees to learn about topics tailored to economically challenged areas, and to share their experiences in undertaking regional sustainable planning and implementation projects in slow-growth contexts.

The workshop is part of the larger (Re-) Emerging Economies Action Team (REEAcT), a coalition of regions and communities that face slow or declining market sectors, high concentrations of poverty, fragmented governments, and limited capacity and resources.

Erie, PA

CNT is partnering with the planning and design firm WRT to develop a plan document for Erie County, Pennsylvania entitled “Destination Erie: Regional Plan for Sustainable Development”. CNT’s contributions entail analyzing freight and public transportation facilities, land use, and vacant and underutilized properties in Erie County to assess priority development opportunities for both TOD and COD. CNT’s analysis will rely on the H+T Index and a data analysis survey process referred to as COD/TOD scans.  It is anticipated that these analyses will inform the preparation of Erie County’s Regional Economic Development Framework.