TOD Additional Resources
Table of Contents:
Non-Federal Resources
The Bureau is sharing information provided by non-governmental entities as an optional educational opportunity and is not endorsing any company or agency or implying utilizing these resources will influence the approval of a potential loan.
S&P Global Ratings Webinar - The Ratings Process for Transit-Oriented Development Projects: An Overview and Case Study: On September 26, 2024, S&P Global Ratings provided an overview of the credit rating process for project finance. Please fill out the registration form to automatically gain access to the recording and slides, available to all at no cost. For questions, please contact eventsmarketing@spglobal.com.
Fitch Ratings - Understanding Fitch's Approach to Rating TIFIA and RRIF Loans for Transit-Oriented Development: In this comprehensive webinar, Fitch Ratings delves into its methodology for assessing Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement Financing (RRIF) loans, offered by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for transit-oriented development (TOD). For questions, please contact: fitchtodinquiries@fitchratings.com.
U.S. DOT Resources
Build America Bureau Technical Assistance: The Build America Bureau offers technical assistance to project sponsors during every stage of project development, from concept and planning up to pre-construction. The Bureau educates sponsors on innovative financing and project delivery, and offers several technical assistance programs, including grant opportunities, that assist sponsors in exploring and advancing transportation and community development investments.
DOT Navigator: The DOT Navigator is a valuable resource designed to help communities understand the best ways to apply for grants, and to plan for and deliver infrastructure projects and services. Its repository of information includes general grant development, frequently required documents, contacts to DOT offices, and a searchable menu of technical assistance resources to promote safe and efficient transportation solutions.
Build America Center: The Build America Center (BAC) at the University of Maryland (UMD) was established through a cooperative agreement and $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The BAC serves as a hub for innovative financing, funding, project delivery, procurement, and contracting solutions. It fosters new approaches to transportation infrastructure development and delivery through the creation of a knowledge hub. This hub provides cutting-edge research, delivers innovative training, and offers customized technical assistance in support of the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
TOD at FTA: FTA plays a vital role in supporting TOD and transit-oriented communities (TOC) through several initiatives focused on improving public transportation infrastructure, encouraging community engagement and stimulating public and private investment in transit systems and corridors. Through targeted improvements including funding transit lines, upgrading existing ones and making them more accessible, FTA is facilitating the development of equitable communities through affordable and convenient mobility alternatives linking housing, jobs and public services.
FTA Joint Development Guidance: Joint development refers to the coordinated development of transit facilities with non-transit private development, including residential, commercial, and mixed-use development. Joint development projects physically and/or functionally integrate transit and non-transit improvements and leverage public and private contributions to share benefits and costs. FTA-assisted joint development features the use of FTA financial assistance in the form of FTA funds or FTA-funded real property and for which FTA guidance applies. In January 2024, FTA published an updated Joint Development Guidance (Circular C 7050.1C). The updated Circular provides guidance to FTA grant recipients on how to use FTA funds or FTA-funded real property for joint development – the coordinated development of transit facilities with non-transit commercial and residential projects.
FTA TOD Planning Grant Program: The Pilot Program for TOD Planning provides funding to local communities to integrate land use and transportation planning with a new fixed guideway or core capacity transit capital investment. Comprehensive planning funded through the program must examine ways to improve economic development and ridership, foster multimodal connectivity and accessibility, improve transit access for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, engage the private sector, identify infrastructure needs, and enable mixed-use development near transit stations.
FTA Value Capture Overview: Value capture strategies generate sustainable, long-term revenue streams that can help repay debt used to finance the upfront costs of building infrastructure, such as transit projects. Revenue from value capture strategies can also be used to fund the operations and maintenance costs of transit systems. Value capture strategies are public financing tools that recover a share of the value transit creates. Examples of value capture strategies used for transit include: tax increment financing, special assessments, and joint development.
FTA Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program: CIG is a competitive and discretionary grant program that provides matching funds for transit capital investments. FTA assigns project ratings based on two categories of statutory criteria: project justification and local financial commitment. Existing land use and economic development effects are two of the six measures that factor into FTA’s rating on project justification. Subfactors for these measures include transit-supportive land uses, plans, policies, and tools, as well as evidence of their performance and impact. FTA guidance notes that joint development is a particularly important strategy for promoting station area development. In addition, CIG funds may be used to support joint development expenses as a component of the transit capital project.
FHWA Value Capture Overview: The FHWA Center for Innovative Finance Support provides information and case studies on value capture mechanisms and innovative financing strategies for transportation projects, including transit, transit-oriented development, and joint development. Bureau loans for TOD projects may be leveraged to support land value capture or, conversely, serve as the financing instrument through which land value capture tools are leveraged to construct public infrastructure.
Other Federal Resources
EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GHGR) Fund: The GHGR Fund, established through appropriations in the Inflation Reduction Act, comprises $27 billion in funding. It’s primary objectives are to mobilize financing and private capital to ensure the United States’ economic competitiveness and promote energy independence while delivering lower energy costs and economic revitalization to communities. The mechanisms by which it achieves these goals include project financing and investment, and private capital mobilization.
EPA Smart Growth Network (SGN): The Smart Growth Network is a national alliance of advocates, practitioners, policy makers, and local leaders working towards a shared vision for land use and infrastructure policies and actions that result in healthy and prosperous communities for all. EPA was one of the founding partners of the SGN when it was created in 1996 and continues to play a leadership role by supporting the SGN Steering Committee in the development of activities, such as in-person convenings, quarterly discussions, webinars, and sharing of resources across the SGN.
EPA Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities: Founded in 2011, the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program works with local communities across the United States, including tribes and territories, to develop smart growth solutions and strategies in ways that benefit human health and the environment. The program uses a locally-led process that strengthens local capacity, facilities partnerships and creates a path forward to achieve community-identified goals.
HUD PRO Housing Grant Program: Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) supports communities who are actively taking steps to remove barriers to affordable housing. These barriers may include outdated local regulations and land use policies, inadequate infrastructure, lack of available financing for development, and risks associated with extreme weather and an aging housing stock. Winners of the inaugural PRO Housing competition will update state and local housing plans, revise land use policies, streamline the permitting process, provide construction funds, and take other actions to create more housing-forward communities.