Link to the full January-April 2025 issue here.
by Sheila Somashekhar, Kathryn Howell, and Gerrit-Jan Knaap
For the past decade, the Purple Line Corridor Coalition (PLCC) has focused on one question: what does it take to make a multi-billion dollar transit project work equitably for communities along the line? The coalition is a broad and organized response to a planned light rail line in Maryland’s suburbs of Washington, DC. The Purple Line will connect some of the region’s most ethnically and socioeconomically diverse communities with jobs, schools, and recreation across the region. The coalition’s goal is to drive the benefits of new mobility and investment to communities along the transit corridor, while mitigating the displacement risk that often comes with large scale infrastructure investments like transit in existing low- and moderate-income communities. PLCC’s work offers a model for equitable growth and change, guided by a clear long-term vision, committed partners, and the persistence to find win-wins, no matter the circumstances.
About the Purple Line Corridor
The Washington, D.C. area’s metrorail system spiders out from downtown Washington, with legs that reach up into Maryland and down into Virginia suburbs. Automobile transport easily connects the ends of the “spider legs” via the beltway that surrounds the city, but public transit has historically been more limited in connecting different parts of suburban Maryland to one another. The Purple Line, now under construction, is a planned 21-station light rail line that spans 16 miles across suburban Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, touching a diversity of neighborhoods. It will be the DC area’s first suburb-to-suburb rail connection. The arrival of the Purple Line portends an exciting new level of mobility in the region, and with it, transformative change and growth. It will expand mobility for historically underserved communities, linking dense residential neighborhoods with major job centers and spurring new investment. With a price tag of over $9 billion, it is by far the state’s largest infrastructure investment in decades.
The transit corridor is also home to more than 180,000 people, two thirds of whom are people of color. For at least the last two decades, the corridor has been one of few areas in the DC region that offer affordable housing – primarily in unsubsidized buildings – and affordable commercial space – often in aging strip malls – in the region. These dense residential neighborhoods and bustling commercial districts offer a sense of community and neighborhood identity. However, in the high-cost DC area market, new transit presents both opportunity and displacement risk.
The DC area’s history of development and gentrification suggests that communities risk loss of affordable housing, and loss of connection to place, history and culture. Immigrant, Latino, and Black communities are likely to feel these displacement impacts most intensely. In fact, research by NCSG has shown that gentrification and displacement is already underway. Residents are enduring what researchers call Purple Line “anticipation effects” that have already resulted in disproportionate property value increases along the Purple Line (Peng et al., 2023). This is especially true in family-sized two-, three-, and four-bedroom rental units, where renters within a half mile of the Purple Line might now pay a premium of between $450 and $1,200 relative to adjacent areas. National research suggests that transit-induced gentrification is likely to continue or even accelerate once the light rail is open (Chava & Renne, 2022).
Displacement pressures impact small businesses too. Many of the corridor’s locally owned businesses are economic and cultural anchors in their communities. Yet they face construction disruption, rising rents, and redevelopment pressures. Recent research suggests that gentrification-driven pressures have resulted in higher rates of business closure along the Purple Line compared to other areas (Finio, 2023).
PLCC, a project of the University of Maryland’s National Center for Smart Growth (NCSG), connects people and partners in the region with the goal of pooling expertise, influence, and resources to mitigate displacement risks and ensure equitable benefits for residents and small businesses along the Purple Line.
PLCC is pursuing a form of change that safeguards long-term affordable housing, catalyzes reinvestment, drives a new market of transit riders to local businesses, and enhances a sense of belonging for existing and future residents.
PLCC History
Soon after the Purple Line was announced in 2013, local groups expressed a mix of views about the project’s impacts in the community. While longtime transit advocates celebrated the Purple Line’s future benefits on regional mobility, community groups raised important questions about displacement impacts. NCSG, as a trusted local institution with a strong track record in research, policy, and community engagement, was able to bring multiple sets of voices together to explore common solutions.
These early conversations led to the creation of the Purple Line Community Development Agreement, a regional commitment to community goals “beyond the tracks.” They also led to the creation of the PLCC, a public-private-community collaborative pursuing equitable growth and displacement prevention along the Purple Line. PLCC’s coalition-based structure was inspired by other transit collaboratives that were emerging around the country, such as Mile High Connects in Denver, Elevated Chicago, and the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative in Minneapolis, which were coalescing groups around concrete equitable development goals.
NCSG seeded PLCC with basic administrative capacity and facilitated conversations that helped establish clear coalition goals. Founding coalition partners included CASA – a local immigrant advocacy group that had already become a leading grassroots voice on the Purple Line’s displacement impacts; Enterprise Community Partners – a national affordable housing nonprofit; the two county planning departments; and elected leaders from the two counties. Each group brought their networks and assets to gain attention and build local momentum. PLCC has since grown into a well-known regional effort, with involvement from elected officials, public agencies, local and regional nonprofits, community leaders, developers, and a major healthcare system.
PLCC’s work to build and sustain collective will has become more sophisticated over the years. Detailed action plans, such as the PLCC Housing Action Plan, are the culmination of intensive and thoughtful engagement processes. Such plans provide direction for the work of “action teams,” composed of cross-sector partners and community leaders committed to equitable development progress. In the case of housing, the coalition established a north star of no net loss of homes affordable to households earning $72,000 annually – which was 60% of area median income in 2019 and closer to 50% now. PLCC also has a Small Business Action Team that is supporting locally owned microbusinesses in six commercial districts across the transit corridor. Similarly, PLCC is anchoring collaborative initiatives focused on issues such as cultural preservation and walkability.
Underlying the coalition’s work is an understanding that communities along the line are seeking benefits that can take many forms. Some seek stable and affordable housing that will allow them to benefit from new transit, rather than being priced out of the community. Others seek safe and easy access to new employment opportunities. Still others are hopeful that the Purple Line will lead to new investment in their neighborhoods – bringing change while honoring the strong local identities of the neighborhoods along the line. PLCC’s work cuts across jurisdictional boundaries and individual agendas, creating connections and solutions that address these multiple goals and respond to varied local contexts.
Success Stories in Progress
With less than three years remaining before the Purple Line is operational, the coalition has contributed to important equitable development wins. Collectively, PLCC has strengthened a local right of first refusal policy that has become a crucial tool for preserving affordable housing; provided hands-on support to place-based nonprofit organizations on proven models for small business support; offered trainings to community groups on how to participate in creating equitable housing near transit; raised and deployed millions of dollars in private philanthropic capital to support the creation of nearly 1,000 affordable homes – and spearheaded continued fundraising to pursue goals that no one entity can achieve alone. PLCC has attracted capacity and resources to achieve concrete progress, and the community response is still unfolding. Following are a few stories that help paint a picture of the coalition’s impact and continued vision.
Story in Progress: Community Ownership at The Leeland
In 2020, PLCC began offering technical assistance to affordable housing development projects, fulfilling a need that long-standing PLCC housing partners had articulated. Early-stage projects led by market rate developers, congregations, and others without affordable housing expertise were hitting barriers that they could not surmount. Since that time, PLCC’s specialized assistance has supported several projects that advance the coalition’s no net loss housing goal.
For example, in 2022, tenants at The Leeland, a 15-unit building in Takoma Park, faced potential displacement when the property was put up for sale. This diverse group of artists, teachers, and service workers turned to the City of Takoma Park for help, seeking to exercise their rights under the City’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act.
With limited time to secure funding, PLCC stepped in to assist the tenants and their nonprofit partner, Mi Casa, Inc. Specifically, PLCC supported the tenant union in preparing grant applications, identified key funding opportunities, and helped overcome barriers to public financing, reframing the purchase as a model for community land ownership. In 2023, the tenants successfully purchased the building. PLCC has continued helping the Leeland to raise significant funds for renovations and energy upgrades.
Since engaging with the Leeland, PLCC has begun supporting a growing movement of tenants seeking to purchase their buildings along the Purple Line. PLCC helped the City of Takoma Park establish a $500,000 fund to support future tenant acquisitions. The coalition is now assisting tenants of two other rental complexes, as they explore the opportunity to purchase their buildings. In this example, PLCC’s development technical assistance supported preservation of 15 affordable homes, while helping to make tenant purchase a more viable pathway to housing stability along the Purple Line.
Story in Progress: Place-based Investments in Long Branch
Long Branch, a gateway community for a diverse immigrant population, will soon have two Purple Line stations. In 2012, Montgomery County contracted with Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP), a local nonprofit housing developer, to revive the area’s business league and support a struggling main street. MHP, with partners including the University of Maryland, began investing in small-scale, low-cost, but highly visible improvements. This kick-started stronger buy-in and leadership from the business community. Since that time, the Long Branch Business League (LBBL), staffed by MHP, has organized community events, launched a “Discover Long Branch” shared social media platform, and invested in murals that give the neighborhood a uniquely visible identity.
Meanwhile, PLCC began organizing its Small Business Action Team in 2018, with MHP as an early partner. The team established place-based management models, such as Main Streets, as a key strategy for commercial district management led by organizations with deep neighborhood ties. For the past five years, PLCC has been working to strengthen local capacity for proven place-based management models, putting more power into the hands of community partners and small business leaders to shape their neighborhoods and local economies. PLCC has offered training to community-based groups, organized Main Streets walking tours for local leaders, raised funds for specialized and coordinated technical assistance to businesses, and facilitated partnerships with UMD design courses to activate the commercial district. In 2023, Montgomery County created a new place-based management grants program to support the organizations like the LBBL. PLCC’s platform enables neighborhood-based groups across the transit corridor to share lessons, expand their work, and achieve goals established by local businesses.
Story in Progress: Queensway Restaurant Tipping the Scales
Queensway Restaurant has fed the local community award-winning Nigerian food for nearly three decades. The restaurant is housed in Riverdale Plaza, an 11-acre aging strip mall site just steps from the future Riverdale Park-Kenilworth Purple Line station. The Purple Line is expected to bring new value to this land, and the community knows that redevelopment is likely.
Tinu, Queensway’s owner, wants to stay in the community. PLCC partners like Latino Economic Development Center initially connected with Queensway through technical assistance in 2020. This led to a long-term relationship with the coalition, involving multiple partners. Over time, partners have supported Queensway to establish a social media presence, strengthen the restaurant’s catering operation, and assist with branding and retail strategy – all of which enhances the business’s resilience in case Queensway is displaced from its current location.
In 2022, after being notified that Queensway’s air conditioning was not operating during peak summer, PLCC organized a walk-through of the site with local leaders. The team sampled Queensway’s delicious food offerings – amid heat, peeling paint, and unkempt sidewalks. Representatives of the Town of Riverdale Park attended the walk and notified the group that there was a new commercial code enforcement policy that could address some of these issues. Within a few months, basic repairs had taken place that improved the daily experience for Tinu and her customers.
The walk also inspired PLCC to ask questions about how communities can benefit from the eventual redevelopment of the many single-story suburban-style strip malls that occupy much of the land near Purple Line stations. PLCC is now identifying strategies to influence equitable redevelopment of these sites, with input from community groups, developers, and data experts. With support from PLCC’s established network of organizations, Tinu is continuing to anchor her community with good food – and pushing her ecosystem to find solutions for legacy businesses that wish to stay in their changing Purple Line communities.
Moving Forward in 2025
Media coverage of the Purple Line often focuses on the project’s failures, including its high price tag. But the Purple Line is also a story of collaboration, persistence, and tenacity. Advocates fought for decades to bring this transit investment to the Maryland suburbs, facing political battles and lawsuits along the way. Similarly, organizers and local leaders came together in new ways when it became clear that the Purple Line would bring unprecedented change to the communities along the Line. PLCC emerged as an important local force through hard-won battles and a network of people willing to work toward new possibilities, even against great odds.
Over the past decade, the Purple Line corridor has faced a pandemic, unplanned work stoppages, and extended construction delays. Each of these moments could have ended the work, but instead served as an inflection point and an opportunity to drive progress forward in ways that met the challenges of the moment.
As PLCC plots its work in 2025, political changes once again bring uncertainty and fear to Purple Line communities. The coalition is actively organizing conversations with partners about how to navigate an environment where threats of funding losses and immigration raids loom large. Although solutions in this work are rarely easy, the coalition will continue leaning on its greatest strength – a resilient and creative network of groups working toward a common vision. The path PLCC is carving along the Purple Line corridor – along with other similar efforts that have taken root around the country – requires commitment that transcends the politics of a particular moment in time. Ultimately, success along the Purple Line contributes to a larger movement that will help other communities benefit from major infrastructure investments long into the future.
References
Bowers, D., & Somashekhar, S. (2024, July 19). Purple Line must not jeopardize affordable housing. The Baltimore Sun. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/07/19/purple-line-must-not-jeopardize-affordable-housing/
Center for Community Investment. (2023). Preserving affordable housing along the Purple Line corridor in Washington, DC’s Maryland suburbs. https://centerforcommunityinvestment.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Purple-Line.pdf
Chava, J., & Renne, J. L. (2022). Transit-induced gentrification or vice versa? A study of neighborhoods around light rail stations from 1970–2010. Journal of the American Planning Association, 88(1), 44–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2021.1920453
Enterprise Community Partners. (2024). Purple Line Equitable Housing Training Series: Information Sheet. https://www.enterprisecommunity.org/sites/default/files/2024-03/Purple-Line-Training-Application-Info_1.pdf
Finio, N. (2023). Gentrification and business closures in Maryland’s Purple Line corridor. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 45(1), 81-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X231187119
Nunna, T., Harvey, D., Bogle, M., & Tatian, P. A. (2023). Preserving communities along the Purple Line: Year 3 evaluation of the JPMorgan Chase PRO Neighborhoods grant. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/preserving-communities-along-purple-line
Peng, Q., Knaap, G., & Finio, N. (2023). Do multifamily unit rents increase in response to light rail in the pre-service period? International Regional Science Review, 47(5-6), 566-590. https://doi.org/10.1177/01600176231162563
Purple Line Corridor Coalition. (2023). Housing Action Plan: 2023–2027. https://purplelinecorridor.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/HAP_11-20-23-ss.pdf
Purple Line Corridor Coalition. (2017). Community Development Agreement. https://purplelinecorridor.org/agreement/
Somashekhar, S. H., & Weissman, N. (2023). Preventing small business displacement in six neighborhoods along Maryland’s Purple Line light rail corridor. Purple Line Corridor Coalition, National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland. https://purplelinecorridor.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2023-SBAN_chapter-4_final-2.pdf
Sheila Somashekhar is the Director of the Purple Line Corridor Coalition, National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland (ssomashe@umd.edu); Kathryn Howell is Director of the National Center for Smart Growth and Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, University of Maryland; Gerrit-Jan Knaap is Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, University of Maryland.
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