Today, we officially launch the Rebuild America’s Neighborhoods campaign to organize developers and investors to advocate for a federal tax and budget plan that increases private capital investment in public infrastructure, affordable housing and economic development.
In late April Smart Growth America released three new toolkits for smart growth in rural places. Our Community Facilities Location toolkit helps communities make the most of new facilities like hospitals or post offices. Our Well-Placed Affordable Housing toolkit looks at creating centrally located housing infrastructure. And our Fiscal Impact Analysis toolkit looks at how local government can better understand the long-term financial implications of decisions about new development.
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In rural places, a smart growth approach can mean putting a new post office near the elementary school, creating more affordable homes near jobs, or analyzing the long-term financial impact of development decisions.
The White House made a bold statement earlier this week, taking on the outdated zoning codes and laws, housing and parking regulations, and tax structures that all play a part in discouraging cities — and developers — from building more affordable housing and meeting the demand for more walkable, connected neighborhoods. Because of the way … Continued
This briefing book has been put together to summarize the extensive research, planning, and visioning work that has taken place over several years during the process of planning for Union Square’s redevelopment.
On Friday California Governor Jerry Brown signed into a law a bill that will help create more affordable housing by easing parking requirements for developers.
The legislation, Assembly Bill (AB) 744, Planning and Zoning: Density Bonus, will allow developers to request reduced minimum parking requirements within affordable housing projects. It also amends the parking ratio for affordable housing and senior housing to require no more the 0.5 parking spaces per unit, and amends the ratio for special needs housing to require no more than 0.3 parking spaces per unit.
Developers seeking to use these ratios must meet established guidelines regarding percentage of affordable units in the project, distance and access to a transit stop, availability of paratransit services, and access to fixed bus route services. The emphasis on transit access will bolster other efforts to make public transportation and active transportation options safer, more convenient, and more accessible for low-income families.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced a new initiative to offer green building training to their grantees and other affordable housing organizations. The free courses include Introduction to Green Building for Affordable Housing, Executive Decision Making, Best Practices for Green Building Operations and Maintenance, Financing Green Building, and Energy Performance Contracting for Small PHAs.
Thank you to everyone who attended Smart Growth America’s Sustainable Communities Network webinar “Promoting Affordable and Fair Housing near Transit, Jobs, and Town Centers” last week. This webinar was hosted by Smart Growth America, PolicyLink, Reconnecting America, and the National Housing Conference.
Included on this webinar are practitioners taking steps to ensure that housing for families at all income levels is available in location-efficient and opportunity-rich areas. Following an overview of tools available to create and preserve affordable homes in areas where transportation costs are likely to be low, learn how some of these tools have been implemented in Denver, Colorado as Denver expands its public transportation system. Included is a discussion of policies and legal decisions that help to ensure communities create their fair share of homes for low- and moderate-income families in New Jersey, as well as strategies to build public support for well-located affordable homes.
The U.S. Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) jointly announced today the award of $68 million to 62 communities across the country for projects that integrate affordable housing, create more good jobs and support better public transportation options.
HUD’s Sustainable Communities Challenge Grants and DOT’s TIGER II Planning Grants are the latest examples of interagency federal programs that aim to create economically robust and sustainable communities through better transportation, housing and development coordination – helping communities make themselves even stronger through a more thoughtful use of every available dollar for their local economy.
Senate Lawmakers Working on New Climate and Energy Bill
LEGISLATION EXPECTED TO BE INTRODUCED MID-APRIL
After months of meetings with congressional members, stakeholders and industry leaders, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) have decided to wait to release their climate and energy bill for a few more weeks to ensure they have broad support for the proposal. Senator Kerry has indicated that the bill could be introduced the week of April 19, although any concrete timeline for its passage remains uncertain.