Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development Action Guide

The Federal Transit Administration has unveiled a new Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development Action Guide created by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. The guide comes in the form of a website and is the first "publication" by the FTA to be completely paperless.

The website can be accessed at www.fta.dot.gov/livability/mitod or directly at mitod.org

"The goal of this guide is to help communities start an inclusive mixed-income TOD planning process in their jurisdiction and help stakeholders be better equipped to know the right questions to ask, where they can find the answers, and what tools and strategies might be available to address their community needs," FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff told Congress in announcing the guide.

Jointly developed by Federal Transit Administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through a cooperative agreement with the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, the guide was created in response to request from the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations issued with the "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008." The guide is a major product of federal efforts to better coordinate transportation and housing programs to promote affordable housing near transit.

The guide’s multi-step process leads users through an analytical framework that assists them in identifying current issues, key opportunities, and appropriate strategies that could be addressed in regular planning processes or specific station area plans.

The term “mixed-income TOD” is shorthand to describe a mix of housing choices, affordable to a range of incomes, for people at different stages of life within a specific transit station area. The goal of this guide is to help practitioners identify the most appropriate and effective planning tools for achieving MITOD in their transit station area, and ultimately to facilitate the development of mixed-income communities.