Transit-induced gentrification in the pre-operative period: The case of Maryland’s Purple Line

Source abstract

Government investments in transit can be a catalyst for gentrification and displacement. Using Maryland’s under construction Purple Line light rail project as a case study, we add evidence to recent debates on the extent of displacement due to transit construction. Our approach is novel in two ways: first, we study the pre-operative phase, as the Purple Line is currently under construction. Second, we utilize a large consumer reference dataset of household addresses, over the period 2006–2022 in the immediate Washington, DC, metropolitan area, to track the impact of the Purple Line’s announcement and construction on displacement. We find some limited evidence of displacement immediately around under-construction Purple Line stations, although the comparison groups in our triple-difference model reveal increased mobility among some low-income renters near established WMATA stations without future Purple Line service. Results are broken down by income quartile, which enables a fine-grained analysis of transit-induced gentrification which illuminates a nuanced reality dependent on local context. These results suggest that anti-displacement measures must be in place well in advance of transit station openings to mitigate against potential displacement.