California has enacted a law giving VTA employees preference to buy or rent affordable homes built on the transit agency’s land. The measure could make it easier for workers to live near their jobs in Santa Clara County.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill, co-authored by Assemblymembers Ash Kalra and Patrick Ahrens. The county’s high housing costs have led many of VTA’s roughly 2,300 employees to live elsewhere, leaving some with long commutes.
Of the 10,000 homes VTA is building, 4,000 will be affordable, said Jessie O’Malley Solis, the agency’s director of multimodal planning and real estate. She said 94% of respondents to a VTA employee survey expressed interest in worker housing. A draft policy is expected to go to union leaders for review and to VTA’s board in December.
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