Policy needs a supportive ecosystem to be most effective—build one 

Crafting a stronger policy vision is only the first step. Changing zoning codes creates opportunity, but it does not automatically produce equitable projects. Community-rooted developers—particularly in historically disinvested neighborhoods—face many barriers long before construction begins: securing predevelopment financing, assembling land, navigating approvals and accessing the technical expertise needed to move community visions from concept to construction. 

Recognizing this, Elevated Chicago focused on building the ecosystem of support needed to translate policy into projects. The coalition successfully advocated for dedicated ETOD funding through American Rescue Plan Act investments while incorporating ETOD principles into city grant scoring and expanding predevelopment funding. Between 2022 and 2024, dozens of developers received up to $150,000 in predevelopment grants and $250,000 in development funding totaling more than $5.5 million—early investments that helped unlock significantly larger public, private and philanthropic financing. 

Capital alone, however, wasn't enough. 

Elevated Chicago launched Elevated Works, a city-funded and philanthropically supported initiative that operated from 2023 through 2025 to help community-rooted developers navigate the barriers that often delay or derail projects. The program paired 36 developers with 18 technical assistance providers specializing in architecture, zoning, financing, legal services and more while every project received a dedicated real estate coach, available by phone or Zoom. In 2024 alone, Elevated Works delivered more than 2,000 hours of technical assistance and nearly 850 hours of coaching. 

The impact was tangible. More than 30 projects reached milestones such as site acquisition, groundbreaking or opening with fewer delays, with technical assistance helping developers secure reduced parking requirements, secure more funding and assess project readiness.  

Tracking this pipeline of capital projects brought additional upstream benefits. It helped show the impact of policy change—like the Connected Communities Ordinance—in neighborhoods while surfacing common barriers to inform future systems change efforts.  

The lesson extends well beyond Chicago. If cities want ETOD, they must invest in more than projects. They must invest in the people, organizations and systems capable of delivering them. Policy creates opportunity. Capital creates momentum. Capacity turns both into lasting community investment. 

Looking ahead 

Chicago has made meaningful progress over the past five years, but the work is far from finished. While significant advances have been made on many recommendations in the ETOD policy plan, nearly half remain incomplete and challenges around housing affordability, displacement and equitable access to transit persist. 

Fortunately, the opportunities ahead are just as significant. 

The Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act—which brings the Chicago region's three transit operators under unified oversight and gives the new agency authority to partner to support development on agency-owned land—creates an unprecedented opportunity to better align transit investment with housing and economic development. At the same time, the Red Line Extension, which will bring rail service to the Far South Side by 2030, offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pair transformative transit investment with equitable community development from the outset. 

Five years ago, Chicago set out to redefine what TOD could look like. Today, it is a national leader in ETOD—not because the work is finished, but because it has shown that equity can move from aspiration to implementation. Through sustained collaboration, bold policy reforms and strategic investments in community-rooted developers, Chicago has built a model other cities can adapt to their own communities. 

As regions across North America look to reimagine transit’s role in economic development and housing affordability, Chicago's experience offers a clear lesson: successful ETOD requires more than good transit and good policy. It requires sustained partnerships, political will, public investment and community leadership. 

The next generation of transit investment shouldn't simply ask how we move more people. It should ask how we create more communities where people of all incomes can afford to live, thrive and benefit from that investment. That's the promise of ETOD—and one Chicago is helping define.