Assessing the Co-Benefits of Housing and Transportation Investments in Prohousing Designated Jurisdictions

In response to California's ongoing housing affordability crisis, state and local governments have adopted a range of prohousing policies aimed at reducing barriers to housing production and promoting the integration of housing with transportation. This study examines two distinct but related dimensions of prohousing policies in California. One concerns the Prohousing Designation Program (PDP) (established by the 2019–2020 Budget Act), analyzing the adoption and implementation of prohousing policies in 56 California cities that received Prohousing Designation. The other examines recent state and local policy shifts aimed at promoting affordable housing in transit-rich areas. The study uses a mixed-methods research design, combining policy and document review with semi-structured interviews with urban planners, municipal housing professionals, transit-oriented development (TOD) managers in large transit agencies, and real estate developers. The study finds that prohousing designations skew toward large urban cities. Interviewed planners identified a few especially effective prohousing tools in practice: entitlement and permitting streamlining, specific plans, inclusionary zoning, and local measures that facilitate and incentivize ADUs. They also identified several major barriers to housing production, including high development cost and financing constraints, land cost and constrained sites, understaffing and the administrative burden of keeping pace with rapidly evolving state housing laws, and community opposition. In addition, interview participants emphasized several factors beyond the purview of municipal planning and housing authorities that significantly influence housing production. These include housing funding and subsidies, the availability and timely expansion of infrastructure and utilities needed to support new development, and building and fire codes that can increase development costs and timelines. The analysis of recent TOD policy changes suggests that, following a series of state laws facilitating housing near transit, major coastal cities, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and transit agencies have reformed local policies governing affordability requirements, density regulations, and parking standards in transit-rich areas. Despite these reforms, TOD implementation remains complex and faces multiple obstacles, including community opposition to density increases and parking reductions, high development costs and financing constraints, fragmented funding sources, insufficient interagency coordination, and institutional and technical challenges. The findings provide practical insights for state and local policymakers seeking to strengthen