BOSTON — After years of living on the street and crashing on friends’ couches, Quantavia Smith was given the keys to a Los Angeles studio apartment that came with an important perk — easy access to public transit.

The 38-year-old feels like she went from a life where “no one cares” to one where she has a safe place. And the metro station the apartment complex was literally built upon is a lifeline as she searches for work without a car.

“It is more a sense of relief, a sense of independence,” said Smith, who moved into the unit in July. She receives some government assistance and pays 30 percent of her income for rent — just $19 a month for an efficiency apartment with a full-market value of $2,000.

“Having your own space, you feel like you can do anything,” she said.

Metro areas from Los Angeles to Boston have taken the lead in tying new housing developments to public transit, often teaming up with developers to streamline the permitting process and passing policies that promote developments that include a greater number of units.

Building housing near public transit helps energize neglected neighborhoods and provide affordability, city officials say, while ensuring a steady stream of riders for transit systems and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the number of cars on the road.

“Transit-oriented development should be one of, if not the biggest solution that we’re looking at for housing,” said Urban Institute Land Use Lab research director Yonah Freemark, who has written extensively on the topic. “It takes advantage of all of this money we’ve spent on transportation infrastructure. If you build the projects and don’t build anything around the areas near them, then it’s kind of like money thrown down the drain.”

The Santa Monica and Vermont Apartments, where Smith lives, is part of an ambitious plan by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 10,000 housing units near transit sites by 2031 — offering developers land discounts in exchange for affordable housing development and other community benefits.

In Washington, D.C., the transit authority since 2022 has completed eight projects that provided nearly 1,500 apartments and a million square feet of office space. About half were in partnership with Amazon, which committed $3.6 billion in low-cost loans and grants for affordable housing projects in Washington, as well as Nashville, Tennessee, and the Puget Sound area in Washington state. Almost all are within a half-mile of public transit.

“Big cities face the greatest challenges when it comes to traffic congestion and high housing costs,” Freemark said. “Building new homes near transit helps address both problems by encouraging people to take transit while increasing housing supply.”

In Boston, the Pok Oi Residents in Chinatown is a 10-minute walk to the subway and a half-dozen bus stops. That’s a draw for Bernie Hernandez, who moved his family there from a Connecticut suburb after his daughter was accepted into a Boston university.

“The big difference is commuting; you don’t need a car,” said Hernandez, who said he can walk to the grocery story and pharmacy. His 17-year-old daughter takes the subway to school. Now, his car mostly sits idle, saving him money on gas and time spent in traffic.

“You get to go to different places very quickly,” Hernandez said. “Everything is convenient.”

States across the country are passing laws targeting restrictive zoning regulations that for decades prohibited multifamily construction and contributed to housing shortages.

Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a state law allowing taller apartment buildings on land owned by transit agencies and near bus, train and subway lines.

“Building more homes in our most sustainable locations is the key to tackling the affordability crisis and locking in California’s success for many years to come,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, who authored the bill.

California joins Colorado, which requires cities to allow an average of 40 housing units per acre within a quarter-mile of transit, and Utah, which mandates about 50 units per acre. In Washington, the governor this year signed a bill allowing taller housing developments in mixed-use commercial zones near transit.

“We want to ensure that there are mixed-income, walkable, vibrant homes all around those transit investments and that people have the option of using cars less to improve the environmental health of our communities,” said Rep. Julia Reed, who authored the Washington bill. “It’s about giving people the opportunity to drive less and live more.”

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has made housing a priority. Among her most potent tools is a 2021 law that requires 177 towns or communities nearby to create zoning districts allowing multifamily development. The state provided nearly $8 million to more than 150 communities to help create these zones and threatened to cut funding for those that don’t. More than 6,000 housing units are in development as a result.

“You put housing nearby public transit (and) it’s great for people,” Healey said. “They can literally get up, leave their home, walk to a commuter rail and get to work.”

Among the first to comply was Lexington, which has approved 10 projects, including a $115 million complex with 187 housing units and retail space.

Walking past earth-moving equipment and dump trucks at the construction site earlier this year, project manager Quinlan Locke said: “This is a landscape yard. It’s commercial. It’s meant for trucking. Two years from now, it’s going to be meant for people who live here, work here and play here. This is going to become someone’s home.”

Some advocates argue the lofty goals of transit-oriented housing are falling short due to fierce local resistance and lack of funding and support at the federal and state levels.

Higher mortgage interest rates, more government red tape, rising construction costs and lack of investment at transit stations also have contributed to a troubling trend — nine times more housing units built far from public transit versus near it in the past two decades, according to a 2023 Urban Institute study.

In Massachusetts, 19 communities still haven’t created new zones. Some unsuccessfully sued the state to halt the law, while residents rejected new zones in others. Lexington eventually shrank its zone from 227 acres to 90 acres after residents complained.

“If we allow the state to come in and dictate how we zone, what else are they going to come in and dictate?” said Anthony Renzoni, a selectman from the town of Holden, which sued the state and is drawing up a new zoning map after residents rejected the first one.

In Los Angeles, the six-story complex where Smith lives in East Hollywood is home to 300 new residents since opening in February. The area has gained a Filipino grocery and a medical clinic. A farmers market is set to open early next year.

Half of the building’s 187 units are reserved for formerly homeless residents like Smith, who had been living in a rundown motel via a voucher and before that on the street. She’s been assigned a case worker and is getting help with basic life skills, budgeting and finding work.

Equally important: Smith, who can’t afford a car, doesn’t need one.

“I’m very, very fortunate to be somewhere where the transit takes me where I want to go,” she said. “Where I want to go is not that far.”

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Project name: Francis + Clare Place

Location: Portland

Completion: September 2024

Size: 35,844 square feet

Owner/Developer: Catholic Charities

Architect: Holst Architecture

Engineers: Valar Consulting Engineering, Vega Civil Engineering, O’Neill Construction Group

General Contractor: O’Neill Walsh Community Builders

Submitting Company: Walsh Construction

Other Key Associates: Caritas Housing/Catholic Charities of Oregon, Cascadia Health, Edlen & Co., Guardian Property Management, Home Forward, Joint Office of Homeless Services, Native American Rehabilitation Association, Portland Clean Energy Fund, Portland Housing Bureau, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Subcontractors: Academy Specialties, Ambrose Glass, American Heating, Andres Landscape, Asbestos Abatement Contracting, Axiom Roofing Oregon, Bridgeport Interiors, Brothers Construction, Brown’s Architectural Sheetmetal, Bryker Enterprises, Builders Appliance Supply, Burgener’s Woodworking, Central City Concern, Christenson Electric, Civic Construction, Compaction and Recycling Equipment, Contemporary Visions Signs & Wayfinding, Elemental Energy, Grant Painting, Hillebrand Construction, Interior Technology, Kodiak Pacific Construction, Kone, Lanz Cabinet Shop, Lauzon Contracting, Mid-Valley Glass & Millwork, MLS Interiors, Northstar CG, Northwest Millwork, O’Neill Construction Group, PARCA Floors, Pioneer Waterproofing, Precision Countertops, RDF Builders, Tikka Masonry, Triad Fire Protection, Ultra Quiet Floors, Vale Insulation Group, VPI Quality Windows, Zion Metal Work,

Francis + Clare Place, a new 61-unit supportive housing development in Portland’s Central Eastside, is working to redefine the transition out of homelessness by combining stable housing with extensive wraparound services.

The development provides permanent homes for adults with complex physical and behavioral health challenges, featuring 54 studios and seven one-bedroom apartments. All units receive rent subsidies through Project-Based Section 8 vouchers.

Francis + Clare Place serves households who may face challenges finding and maintaining stable housing in the private rental market. The project aims to help residents settle into a stable and comfortable home they can call their own. What distinguishes the development is its comprehensive approach to ending homelessness. The ground floor houses offices for supportive services and property management, along with a food pantry, bike room and community room that serves as a gathering space with a communal kitchen.

Catholic Charities partnered with Native American Rehabilitation Association (NARA), which specializes in culturally-specific recovery services, and Cascadia Health, which focuses on behavioral health. Together, the organizations provide case management, housing stabilization and peer support.

The new building goes beyond giving people a room. Residents have direct access to case managers who provide one-on-one support and connect them to outside resources. Through donations from local organizations and funding from the Joint Office of Homeless Services, Catholic Charities provides residents access to healthy food, clothing, household supplies, hygiene products and other necessities.

Community activities are central to the project’s mission. The communal area hosts daily events including morning coffee gatherings, bingo, movie nights, open mics, arts and crafts, and potluck dinners.

The building’s design incorporates trauma-informed elements featuring ample light, clear wayfinding, soothing colors and connections to nature. All residents are referred through Multnomah County’s Coordinated Access system.

Catholic Charities used Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars to install heat pumps and a photovoltaic solar array to ensure energy efficiency and eliminate electrical billing for residents. Each unit includes air conditioning.

The L-shaped building maximizes units on the tight site, which was purchased from St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. The project complements the adjacent public courtyard and St. Francis Park Apartments, also developed by Catholic Charities.

To enhance on-site safety and improve operational efficiency on the jobsite, Walsh Construction developed a proprietary AI-powered chatbot app specifically for the construction field. This tool offered instant, real-time answers to safety-related questions.

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