The full Housing Action Plan, along with summaries in English and Spanish, can be downloaded at the PLCC website: http://purplelinecorridor.org/housing/

This month the Purple Line Corridor Coalition (PLCC), a cross-sector collaborative of organizations from the Maryland suburbs surrounding Washington, DC, released its first Housing Action Plan. MZ Strategies was honored to work with the Coalition over the past year to create this plan, which details twelve actions to increase the production, preservation and protection of housing affordable to working families living in this newly emerging high-capacity transit corridor.

The challenge is immense --- preserving some of the last remaining affordable housing in the metropolitan Washington DC region, where the housing market is undergoing further shocks as Amazon prepares to open its next headquarters. The opportunity is equally immense – to try and break the cycle of transit-oriented displacement (TOD) through early actions across a set of key players from government to philanthropy to private finance and community advocates.

Over the last twenty years, I have seen in city after city the same cycle play out. Skepticism that light rail will actually impact the housing market. Land speculation around the rail corridor throughout planning, construction and opening. Land use changes to promote greater density that alters land values. Rents and housing prices rise. Many of the residents who rely on transit to access regional opportunities and jobs are pushed out. Local businesses who once defined neighborhood culture are priced out by landlords seeking higher rents. New transit-oriented developments (TOD) reliant upon financing models that prioritize chain stores over the corner store open and the commercial transformation of local retail is accelerated. Public outrage and efforts that come too late to try and preserve some semblance of the last remaining affordable units. Yet something different is happening in metro Washington.

The new 16-mile Purple Line will transform the communities it connects, including the University of Maryland through which it runs. In a region dominated by bus and heavy rail service it provides a different type of transit. The Maryland Transportation Authority will own the line, but a private firm will design, build, operate and maintain the line for 35 years. This type of public-private partnership (P3) creates different challenges for those trying to ensure development supports transit and community building goals.

Transit agencies are important TOD partners. In some cases, like Sound Transit in Seattle-Tacoma, they ensure that a portion of new development includes affordable housing. Yet most transit agencies whether local, regional, or state agencies are not structured to lead on equitable TOD. In the case of the Purple Line this is especially true, as the P3 agreement limits the ability to pursue development.

Transit is usually built by a public agency that can acquire land through eminent domain and set policies that prioritize social values such as affordable housing and joint development that supports transit-oriented communities. The Purple Line P3 agreement severely limits these equitable TOD levers. These constraints, combined with the growing housing affordability crisis facing the Washington DC region, necessitate cross-sector collaboration.

Regional partners are coming together in new ways to address housing affordability challenges at large tables like the Metropolitan Council of Governments and smaller ones like the PLCC to create “a region where everyone can live and thrive.” A diverse group of local partners launched the PLCC to ensure the line was built and that this new investment would benefit and not displace local residents and businesses. Key PLCC members, including county executives in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties, Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise), CASA de Maryland, and the President of the University of Maryland, signed a voluntary, non-legally binding Community Development Agreement (CDA) at the end of 2017. It has since been endorsed by over 40 organizations. The CDA defines four community goals that support shared priorities for growing local businesses, building a thriving and diverse labor market, ensuring housing choices for all, and supporting vibrant, sustainable, healthy communities. For the PLCC, the next four years -- before the line opens in 2023 -- are critical.

The National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland leads the PLCC’s data work and created a set of subareas along the corridor to illustrate the distinct demographics and economic characteristics of each. (Source: PLCC Housing Action… — The National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland leads the PLCC’s data work and created a set of subareas along the corridor to illustrate the distinct demographics and economic characteristics of each. (Source: PLCC Housing Action Plan, December 2019)

Like many transit corridors, the Purple Line connects demographically diverse communities. The new transit line will link some of metro Washington DC’s wealthiest households in the Chevy Chase – Bethesda neighborhoods where median annual household income is roughly $140,00 to some of the region’s poorest households living in Langley Park and Riverdale neighborhoods where a majority of households rent and are people of color, including many immigrant families. Households along the corridor are more housing cost burdened than the regional average (47.2% for the corridor vs. 44.1% for the DC metropolitan area). Over four-fifths of today’s 14,876 renters who live along the corridor and annually earn less than $50,000 pay more than a third of their annual income on housing.

A number of current rental units were built over 50 years ago and are considered affordable to lower-income households. Analysis of CoStar data finds that roughly 17,000 homes are affordable to those earning $70,000 annually, or 60% of the area median income. Yet overcrowding and rising rents are a concern repeatedly raised by those we spoke with in writing the Purple Line Housing Action Plan. Of the 17,000 units considered affordable, 8,500 have protections in place to maintain their affordability, however, many of these protections will expire in coming years without further action.

While the data story of the Purple Line may not be unique, the Coalition’s approach is and its Housing Action Plan offers some important models for other regions pursuing equitable TOD. The plan details what the Coalition will pursue in the next three years. Having an insider seat to help craft it, there are three take-aways from the PLCC process that already offer lessons for other regions pursuing ETOD. They are:

Use the planning process to make real-time institutional change.
Leverage grass-tops partner assets to engage under-represented local voices.
Commit to actions and timelines that allows each partner to lean-in to their own unique strengths.

1. Use the planning process to make real-time institutional change.

The Purple Line is a tale of two counties. For fans of the TV show, Parks and Rec, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties are a bit like Eagleton and Pawnee. Montgomery County includes some of the nation’s wealthiest neighborhoods, important job centers, and a robust public sector. Prince George’s County and Montgomery County meet at the Takoma Langley Crossroads area, a geographic focal point for the Housing Action Plan. Several neighborhoods in each county are in state-designated Opportunity Zones to foster economic development and growth. Across Prince George’s County, housing demand from those with an annual income of $50,000 or less is projected to grow by nearly 13,000 households before 2030. The county has fewer dollars to meet this greater demand.

In a tale of contrasts, Montgomery County’s Housing Initiative Fund grew from $5 million since its creation in 1990 to over $65 million in 2019. It funds a range of housing preservation, production and emergency rental assistance programs. Of the 8,500 units with some type of affordability protections in place along the corridor many are located in Montgomery County as a result of the County’s Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit Program. The City of Takoma Park, located in Montgomery County, passed rent stabilization in 1981. Yet this is not to say that housing affordability is not a problem. Far from it, and activists are hard at work to expand renter protections and increase funding to preserve and produce more housing especially for those at the lowest
income levels.

In Prince George’s County, the Housing Investment Trust Fund was created in 2013, and today has roughly $6.5 million available. County leaders are eager to step up their commitment to housing and implement the newly adopted Prince George’s county comprehensive housing strategy, Housing Opportunity for All. The PLCC Housing Action Plan builds upon this work and creates a pathway to further commit resources beyond the county from state, federal and private sector funding.

Staff and local elected officials from both counties informed the PLCC’s Housing Action Plan. The process was used to address the needs unique to each county and identify actions that bridge jurisdictional divides. County-specific meetings created the space for staff to come together across departments and see how housing relates to transportation, economic development, workforce development, real estate and procurement work happening simultaneously.

The next three years … are a critical time to act in anticipation of market dynamics that will accelerate once service is open,” the document says. “Simply put, this is a plan that cannot afford to sit on a shelf.” – WAMU, “How To Limit Gentrification Along The Purple Line, According To Housing Advocates”

We also facilitated cross-county meetings to talk through the shared issues that bridge jurisdictions and to provide the space for staff from one county to share with another their experiences with similar programs. For instance, each county has existing tools to support acquisition of certain multi-family housing projects. Right of First Refusal (ROFR) programs allow county government the right to match any signed bona fide third-party sales contract for an existing rental building. This is a powerful ETOD preservation tool. The specifics of each county’s program vary but both are designed to preserve housing at affordable rents. However, application of the program has been uneven. Montgomery County’s program (§ 53A-4) allows the County, HOC or tenant organizations the right to purchase sites, and it has been strongly utilized. Prince George’s program (§13-1110 - §13-1120) allows the County to purchase a multi-family property with 20 or more units before it can be sold to a third-party buyer, however, the county has not yet utilized the program.

In developing the Housing Action Plan, we brought together staff across counties to talk about what they found worked and did not. PLCC also tapped its non-governmental partners with expertise in this program. These discussions flagged potential solutions and accelerated action in Prince George’s County. (See Recommendation #3.)

2. Leverage grass-tops partner assets to engage under-represented local voices.

In crafting the Housing Action Plan, the co-chairs realized early on the value of diversifying PLCC membership. When formed, membership was largely grass-tops organizations from philanthropy, government and the community development field. Development and financial acumen help ensure that affordable projects get built. Having government as a key partner facilitates policy and institutional change. Ensuring that projects meet the most critical housing needs, reflect community aspirations, and are supported by local partners requires engagement of grassroots partners. PLCC partners valued not only a final product but a process that could build these longer-term relationships and elevate local voices.

Towards this goal, the leadership of the Housing Action Team agreed to do something rather remarkable: slow down the process. Scopes and timelines were adjusted to prioritize local engagement. Partners inventoried the local organizations, advocacy groups, and trusted institutions working in the corridor from faith-based organizations to those groups working on immigration, tenant protections, small business development and health care issues. PLCC lacked existing relationships with many of these groups so the process of creating the Housing Action Plan provided an opportunity to change that.

In outreach and meetings with stakeholders we all learned more about what each was doing in the corridor and heard directly from residents and local businesses. Not surprisingly, while housing was the entry point, these discussions also raised ideas and concerns about workforce development, community safety, local business retention and even how revised parking policies make it harder for those working in blue collar jobs as plumbers and HVAC contractors to keep service vehicles parked overnight on the street in front of their house. (The unexpected yet enlightening threads of urban connectivity are what I most love about my profession!)

Throughout the process, and with the help of PLCC partners who provided translation and funding support for translation, outreach materials were available in Spanish and English.

Surveys and outreach materials were developed in English and Spanish and circulated through trusted local partners. In one month, over 600 people responded from across the corridor. Almost a third of these needed to be translated. As the recommendations were further fine-tuned, the Housing Action Team provided funding to locally-based organizations to convene residents. We offered stipends, meals and childcare to focus group participants. One meeting organized for renters by CHEER and Casa de Maryland was held entirely in Spanish. Through a mix of voluntary and paid translation support, the Housing Action Plan summary was translated into Spanish.

The result, I believe, is a more rich and authentic set of actions. Our hope is that the Plan will be a launching pad for deeper partnership between grasstops and grassroots organizations. Among the 12 recommendations is a commitment to identify and commit resources to compensate community groups or members for their participation in key implementation activities. (See Recommendation #10.) Additionally, the Housing Action Plan recommends including locally based organizations in future funding proposals.

3. Commit to actions and timelines that allows each partner to lean-in to their own unique strengths.

The Purple Line Housing Action Plan is a living document. In the coming years it will be revisited and fine-tuned as needs and opportunities warrant. Its 12 recommendations reflect the complexity of issues and the variety of assets that partners bring. The majority focus on strategies to increase the production and preservation of affordable housing, while also committing more strongly to protecting the rights of tenants. Three of the recommendations focus on areas for cross-county and cross-sector collaboration and three recommendations are focused on improving collaboration and accountability of the PLCC itself. The Housing Action Plan goes beyond topline recommendations to identify specific actions that must be taken, who the lead partners are for each, alignment with current policies and programs and a timeline for implementation. Additional resources (primarily financial) will be needed, yet the Plan also acknowledges that existing resources are available that can be leveraged and better aligned to meet shared housing goals.

This focus on leverage and alignment is not a small thing. In working on ETOD policies and projects it can be easy to rely on new resources to address equity goals, rather than prioritizing existing programs and policies. It can be easy to recommend that someone else (often the public sector) step up in stronger ways to elevate equity. PLCC partners though, were willing to look internally at the resources and strengths that each possess to do more in support of shared housing goals. For some this means leading policy change, for others it is about advocacy and education to tenants and homeowners. Some partners build and preserve affordable housing units. Others bring technical skills including data analysis necessary to monitoring impact and progress towards achieving stated goals. Equitable TOD is not the purview of any one sector.

Preserving 17,000 units of affordable housing requires additional funding. Preserving affordability along the corridor cannot happen without building housing affordable to families at a range of price points. In working on ETOD, money matters. But successful ETOD is more than housing finance. Real collaboration across a variety of leverage points is required to strengthen tenant protections, fight displacement, improve energy efficiency and housing conditions, and preserve the culture and vibrancy of communities so that all residents
can thrive and feel they belong.

The PLCC Housing Action Plan is based upon a framework of partners holding themselves accountable and acting in good faith. This involves valuing the role that everyone plays. It commits to finding new resources and sharing them, especially with locally based community partners who lack adequate funding and staffing to deepen their impact. The Plan also starts and ends with creating a set of benchmarks and tracking progress to determine what future actions may be needed, or adjustments required to meet housing goals that ensure no net loss of affordable housing in the years to come.

The coming years are an opportunity to learn from the Purple Line Corridor Coalition’s work. In 2019, PLCC
partners received grants from JP Morgan Chase and the Federal Transit Administration that will be essential to the Plan’s implementation. As other transit regions look to advance ETOD policies, hopefully the work of the Coalition and the power of this type of comprehensive plan to attracting financial resources will inspire further innovative and inclusive practices .

For now, a heartfelt and sincere thanks to all involved in the PLCC Housing Action Plan – especially the Housing Action Team Co-Chairs: Jessica Sorrell and Joe Williams at Enterprise, Chris Gillis at Montgomery Housing Partnership, and Maryann Dillon and Stephanie Prange Proestel with the Housing Initiative Partnership. Gratitude to my colleague, Steve Brigham with Public Engagement Associates, for going the extra mile to create inclusive engagement. High praise to Sophie Morley at the Neighborhood Design Center for making our work look great. And appreciation to the data team at the National Center for Smart Growth and to the many others including County staff who provided data analysis, translation, and research support. MZ Strategies was privileged to have the opportunity to be involved in such an uplifting, challenging, and exciting process!