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| Melody Barnes, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, at a press conference on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities today. |
Leaders of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House joined together today to discuss the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a joint effort between the three agencies to use taxpayer money more efficiently by coordinating federal investments to meet multiple economic, environmental, and community objectives with each dollar spent. This week, the Partnership has awarded a combined $400 million to communities across the country to help plan and build sustainable communities. Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, called this an “unprecedented collaboration.”
Speaking on the tremendous power of federal grants, U.S. Secretary for HUD Shaun Donavan explained that sustainable communities should be the rule, rather than the exception:
The disconnect from where people live and work result from decades of poor planning and misplaced priorities. But by acting now, we can create good jobs today. We can ensure parents spend less time driving, and more time with their children, that more families live in safe stable communities near good schools and jobs, and that more businesses have access to the talent and capital that they need to grow and prosper. Above all we can lay the foundation for sustainable economic prosperity for generations to come.
The unique partnership means the agencies can move farther and faster to achieve their mutually-beneficial goals. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson spoke on the economic importance of environmental improvements:
In too many places across the country, poor and minority communities are suffering disproportionately from the impact of pollution and environmental degradation. These are the places we see in the starkest possible terms that environmental problems are also economic problems. Poison in the ground, means poison in the community. A weak environment means a weak consumer base. Unhealthy air means unhealthy atmosphere for investments. But a clean green healthy economy and community, is a better place to buy a home and raise a family. It’s more competitive in the race to attract new businesses. And it has the foundation it needs for prosperity. And it’s even better when the housing and transportation pieces of the puzzle are in place as well.
With the 2010 elections mere days away, the speakers emphasized the fact that investing in sustainable communities is a bipartisan issue. Melody Barnes, White House Domestic Policy Council Director explained, “The objectives we have here are for economic growth and those are objectives everyone can share. These grants go out to all sorts of communities, from communities across all ideological lines.” Secretary LaHood added, “There’s no partisanship when it comes to what we’re doing. This is the most bipartisan initiative the administration has ever done.”
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities was launched by President Obama in June 2009. Guided by six livability principles, the partnership is designed to remove the traditionally federal government silos that exist between departments and strategically target the agencies’ transportation, land use, environmental, housing, and community development resources to provide communities the resources they need to build more livable, economically vibrant, sustainable communities.