Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT), along with fellow Committee members Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dan Akaka (D-HI) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), introduced legislation to help areas across the country plan and implement development projects that better integrate their community’s needs for transportation, housing, land use, and economic development. Key provisions in the legislation include:

  • Incentives To Plan For Livable Communities. The Comprehensive Planning Grant Program will help communities develop comprehensive regional plans that incorporate transportation, housing, community and economic development, and environmental needs. Grantees must demonstrate a commitment to integrated planning and sustainable development. The Act authorizes $400 million in competitive grants over four years.
  • Funding to Implement Sustainable Development Projects. The Challenge Grant Program will enable communities to implement cross-cutting projects according to their comprehensive regional plans. With $3.75 billion authorized for competitive grants over three years, these projects will help communities create and preserve affordable housing; support transit-oriented development; improve public transportation; create pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfares; redevelop brownfields; and foster economic development.
  • Partnering with Local Communities. The legislation ensures that the federal government is a supportive partner for communities’ sustainable development efforts, offering technical assistance to regions that apply for Livable Communities grants and giving special assistance to smaller communities that may need additional help to get started. As a resource for sustainability best practices and technical assistance, the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities will ensure that communities learn from each other’s successes.

The proposed legislation would also eliminate barriers to federal agencies attempting to work together to facilitate sustainable development through the following provisions:

  • Interagency Council on Sustainable Communities. By bringing together the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies, the Interagency Council on Sustainable Communities will coordinate federal sustainable development policies; coordinate federal sustainability research; coordinate with HUD to implement Livable Communities grants; identify barriers to sustainable development; and promote coordination of transportation, housing, community development, energy, and environmental policies.
  • Office of Sustainable Housing And Communities. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will establish the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities to coordinate federal policies that foster sustainable development and administer HUD’s sustainability initiatives; recommend and conduct research; implement and oversee Livable Communities grant programs in coordination with the Interagency Council; and provide guidance, best practices and technical assistance to communities seeking to plan for the future.

Legislation on this topic has not yet been introduced in the House of Representatives. Text of the legislation is not yet publicly available. Last month, Dodd chaired a hearing at which Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a new interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities that will help improve access to affordable housing, expand transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment and combating climate change in communities nationwide. The three departments will be working together to create a coordinated approach to transportation, housing, energy and environmental policies. In February, Chairman Dodd sent a letter to President Obama calling for the creation of such an entity. read more…