Sound Transit plans to facilitate affordable housing near light rail stations [bellevuereporter.com]

Sound Transit will now give almost all of its surplus property surrounding Link Light Rail stations to affordable housing developers.

On April 26, the agency’s board of directors approved a new policy which requires Sound Transit to offer up 80 percent of any surplus property surrounding Link Light Rail stations for affordable housing projects. The measure also mandates that developers utilizing surplus property around light rail stations set aside 80 percent of their residential units for tenants earning 80 percent of the area median income or below.

“Two of the biggest problems facing residents of the Puget Sound region are traffic congestion and the lack of affordable housing,” Snohomish County Executive and Sound Transit Board Chair Dave Somers wrote in a press release. “With this new equitable transit oriented development policy, we will be able to make progress on both of these challenges.”

[For more on this story by  Josh Kelety, go to http://www.bellevuereporter.co...light-rail-stations/]