A new national study has found that extending public transit to a neighborhood can bring gentrification — but local researchers say it’s not that simple in the Washington region.
The report by the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, which included research from neighborhoods around the Columbia Heights, Georgia Avenue and Shaw Metro stations in the District, said higher property values and household incomes can have unintended consequences.
“Core transit users — such as renters and low-income households — are priced out in favor of higher-income, car-owning residents who are less likely to use public transit for commuting,” the report said.
But some take issue with the generalization, noting that development around Metro stations varies by neighborhood.
The stations cited in the report — Columbia Heights in particular — were built during the 1990s in forgotten neighborhoods, and even the hint of a Metro station had an immediate impact. Data in the report comes from the 1990 and 2000 census.
In general, the value of nearby land jumps when transit investments are proposed, said Robert Puentes, an analyst with the Brookings Institution. “There’s an immediate increase in land costs and that’s going to have an impact on housing costs.”
The District’s white population has increased since 2000, while the black population has dropped. To some, what came first — gentrification or Metro stations — is a chicken-and-egg question.
“I think it may be more a cultural and generational shift and more of an urban preference,” said John McClain, a professor at the George Mason University School of Public Policy. “It reinforces the Metro and it makes some of those projects more possible.”
But suburban stations tell a different story — in the case of Wheaton, the neighborhood surrounding the station has become more diverse since the station opened in 1990.
In the past decade alone, home values have more than doubled, median household income has increased by one-quarter to more than $73,000, and median monthly rent has skyrocketed to $1,343.
Meanwhile, the white population has fallen to less than half of residents, while Hispanics have jumped from one-quarter to more than one-third of the population.
In Prince George’s County, Metro stations have spurred little development. There are 2,200 acres of undeveloped land within walking distance of the county’s 15 stations, according to Andrew Scott, special assistant to the Maryland Department of Transportation’s secretary for economic development.
