In California, Assemblymember Ash Kalra’s AB 2263 would give the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority a new job: helping house the workers who keep the system moving. The bill would let VTA buy property for rental housing for its employees and for-sale housing that promotes housing opportunities for them.
That authority would build on existing law that already lets VTA acquire property for transit-oriented joint development projects. The employee housing projects would still have to fit local zoning and land-use rules.
More than just land
If VTA moves ahead, it could construct affordable rental housing for employees and affordable for-sale housing as well. Rental units would have to stay affordable to lower- or moderate-income households for at least 55 years, while for-sale units would carry a 45-year affordability restriction.
The bill also gives the agency another kind of leverage. It could accept money from public agencies and contract and cooperate with them to acquire and construct employee housing projects, instead of trying to carry the work alone.
Why that matters in Santa Clara County
The pitch is practical. In a high-cost county, housing close to transit can make it easier for workers to get to the job they help run, and it can ease the pressure that long commutes put on paychecks and schedules.
AB 2263 does not name a site or promise a building. It would extend a tool VTA already has and add employee housing to the agency’s transit-oriented development toolbox, not as a side project but as part of how it serves its own workforce.
Sources
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