Density without transit is gridlock, but transit without density is underutilization and operating losses for the transit system. We need density near subway stations. We need subway stations near density.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)
During an April 2019 House Financial Services Committee hearing on the infrastructure needs of America's housing stock, Rep. Brad Sherman put his finger on a fundamental disconnect between federal transportation investment and local land-use policy.
Just before making that observation, Sherman identified the underlying problem: Congress funds transit infrastructure without adequately considering the zoning and land-use decisions that determine what can actually be built around it.
The distinction matters. The federal government provides substantial capital for transportation infrastructure, but state and local governments largely determine whether sufficient housing can be built to take advantage of that investment. We make these decisions through separate institutions, with different priorities and little assurance that one investment will reinforce the other.
The read
The federal government invests billions in transportation infrastructure, but state and local governments control the land-use decisions that determine how effectively those investments serve communities. Sherman's observation gets at the fundamental problem: we make these decisions separately, even though the success of one depends on the other.
The next generation of federal infrastructure policy should make that coordination an explicit condition of investment. When federal dollars support new or expanded transportation capacity, communities should demonstrate a credible commitment to allowing the housing production needed to take advantage of it.
That doesn't mean withholding infrastructure funding from communities with restrictive zoning. It means using discretionary grants, project selection, financing terms, and other federal incentives to better align public infrastructure investment with local land-use policy. The objective is straightforward: ensure that federal transportation dollars and private housing investment reinforce one another, rather than allowing decisions made at different levels of government to undermine both.