2013/10/16 Council Agenda Packet

5 Attract more of the region's residential and employment growth to high capacity transit communities. VISION 2040 calls for a compact pattern of growth within the Urban Growth Area, particularly in regional and subregional centers served by high capacity transit. The Growing Transit Communities work program has demonstrated that the region's light rail corridors alone have the potential to support this vision by attracting at least 25% of the housing growth and 35% of the employment growth expected in the region through the year 2040. Attracting additional TOD market demand to other regional corridors that are served by other types of high capacity transit is also essential. To advance the Regional Growth Strategy adopted in VISION 2040, promote economic development, and realize the multiple public benefits of compact growth around rapid transit investments, the signatories to this Compact will strive to: • Use a full range of tools, investments, and economic development strategies, to attract the potential demand for residential and commercial transit oriented development within transit communities consistent with and in furtherance of regional policies and plans, and • Plan for and promote residential and employment densities within transit communities that support ridership potential and contribute to accommodating growth needs within each high- capacity transit corridor. Additional transit communities along the region's other high-capacity transit mode corridors will also attract significant portions of future residential and employment growth. Provide housing choices affordable to a full range of incomes near high-capacity transit. Adopted regional policy recognizes housing as a basic human need and calls for local policies and tools that provide for an adequate supply of housing affordable at all income levels, to meet the diverse needs of both current and future residents. Region-wide, affordable housing need is defined by current household incomes, where 18% of households earn between 50% and 80%of AMI, 12% earn between 30% and 50% of AMI, and 13% earn less than 30% of AMI. In transit communities, projected need for affordable housing is higher, especially for households in the lowest income range due to their greater reliance on transit. Depending on local market conditions, efforts to meet that need will focus on new housing, housing preservation, or combined strategies. In order to meet a substantial portion of this need within walking distance of rapid transit services, the signatories to this Compact will strive to: • Use a full range of housing preservation tools to maintain the existing level of affordable housing within each transit community, and • Use a full range of housing production tools and incentives to provide sufficient affordable housing choices for all economic and demographic groups within transit corridors, including-new housing in the region's transit communities collectively that is proportional to region-wide need or greater to serve transit-dependent households. Growing Transit Communities Compact I August 23,2013 5 20