Does a Transit Boom Have to Lead to a Real Estate Bubble?

Affordable Housing Near Rail Lines Isn’t a Pipe Dream, But We’ll Probably Be Living on Top of Each Other

Los Angeles is in the midst of a housing crisis. At a panel discussion co-presented by Metro in front of a standing-room-only crowd at MOCA Grand Avenue, Joan Ling, an urban planning policy analyst, pointed out that the city needs more than 4,000 affordable new homes every year to accommodate low-income residents. But it builds only 1,000—and loses 3,000. “It’s one step forward, three steps back,” Ling said.

While there’s no single way to get and keep Angelenos in housing that doesn’t eat up the entirety of their income, one often-overlooked …