The Effects of Light-Rail Transit on Affordable Housing in Seattle, WA
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Date
2016-05
Authors
Jackson, John
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Department of Planning, Public Policy & Management, University of Oregon
Abstract
Since the creation of public transportation in the realms of the late 19th, its main purpose
has been to move citizens throughout a specific area efficiently and safely. As public
transit developed further into the 20th and 21st century, its goal became to provide
alternatives so that fewer cars could be on the road and so that anyone car owner or not
could get to their points of interest quickly and frequently. When designing and building
public transit lines, many factors fail to receive the attention they deserve with regards to
effects on the communities that they serve. Public transit lines have positive and negative,
direct and indirect, effects on certain communities. Unfortunately, many of those
potential negative indirect effects are overlooked.
This paper looks at Seattleās Sound Transit Central Link Light-Rail system, and the effect
that its creation has had on housing affordability in five South Seattle neighborhoods in
reference to five separate transit stops. The five neighborhoods being profiled in this
study are some of the most racially and economically diverse in the city. They include the
neighborhoods and stations of Beacon Hill (Beacon Hill Station), Mount Baker (Mount
Baker Station), Columbia City (Columbia City Station), Dunlap (Othello Station), and
Rainier Beach (Rainier Beach Station). The Link Light-Rail in Seattle opened in 2009,
making it one of the newer light-rail systems in the United States. This paper uses
demographic data from the most recent 2010 U.S. Census, 2000 Census, American
Community Survey, and Sound Transit to identify the connections between the
implementation of light-rail and housing affordability This quantitative study also
integrates information from previous literature, newspaper articles, and a neighborhood
Jackson
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walking analysis to examine whether light-rail has an effect on housing affordability in
these communities.
Description
37 pages