Government officials and community groups should protect affordable housing and small businesses to prevent gentrification around Purple Line stations under construction in Maryland, according to a two-year analysis released Wednesday.
Communities most at risk include Long Branch, Langley Park and Riverdale Park, study leaders said.
The study came from the public-private Purple Line Corridor Coalition, a group composed of government officials, community activists, nonprofits, companies and academics. The group organized in 2013 to try to prevent the kind of displacement that has traditionally followed many Metro stations and new transit lines across the country.
“The true test of our work on the Purple Line … is that all of the communities are able to thrive through the construction and afterwards, that we leave no one behind,” said Del. Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery) at an event celebrating the report’s release in downtown Silver Spring.
Among the recommendations: Make the Purple Line stations safer to reach on bicycle and foot, particularly for lower-income transit riders who don’t own vehicles. It suggested providing more funding to preserve affordable housing and making it easier to build homes for lower- and middle-income residents. The report also recommended helping small businesses to survive construction, while working with residents and communities of color to preserve local cultures.
“We have seen that time and time again, light-rail service has not been kind to local, low-income communities, particularly communities of color,” said Prince George’s council member Deni Taveras (D-District 2).
The findings come as major work on the Purple Line resumes this fall under a new construction contractor. Most construction stopped in fall 2020 after the original contractor quit amid a years-long dispute with the Maryland Transit Administration over delay-related costs.
The line, which was originally scheduled to begin carrying passengers in March, is now scheduled to open in fall 2026, more than four years late and $1.46 billion over budget.
While most construction sites lay dormant for the past two years, coalition members said they continued to research and discuss ways to promote equitable development along the Purple Line corridor using a $2 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The work was based on technical analysis from the University of Maryland’s National Center For Smart Growth.
Gerrit Knaap, the coalition’s founder and the smart growth center’s director, said property values and rents already are rising in the corridor.
“The threat of gentrification and displacement is substantial,” Knaap said, “and it’s already happening.”
In addition to acting quickly to assist small businesses and preserve and create more affordable housing, he said, local officials need to improve sidewalks, add more buffers between pedestrians and traffic, and expand bicycle networks near stations.
“This is a tremendous transit opportunity and investment, but it’s being put in a place that was not meant for that,” Knaap said. “We need to emphasize people over cars.”
Gustavo Torres, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group CASA, said thousands of residents in the corridor are excited about one day riding the Purple Line 15 minutes from Langley Park to jobs in Bethesda — a trip that now takes two hours via bus.
Even so, he said, many are worried they won’t be able to afford to continue living near the stations as economic development follows construction. Some landlords are ending leases knowing they can charge more with the Purple Line on the way, he said.
“Our job,” Torres said, “is to make sure the people fighting for the Purple Line are going to benefit from the Purple Line.”
