The Senate Banking Committee has approved the Livable Communities Act (S. 1619), a bill proposed by Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) to improve the coordination between federal housing, community development, transportation, energy, and environmental policies. The legislation would authorize the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, and create a more coordinated and comprehensive approach to building better communities by establishing an interagency workgroup to better align the community planning and development functions of HUD, the U.S. Department of Transportation and other agencies. Read More…