This document summarizes a presentation on emerging urban policy opportunities at the federal level in the United States. It reviews recent actions by the federal administration and Congress that support urban policy, identifies resources for near-term local action, and suggests priorities for the Congress for New Urbanism. Key points discussed include funding for public housing retrofits in the economic stimulus package, strategies to green the federal housing portfolio and make housing more location efficient, and positioning the retrofitting of existing buildings as an economic development strategy. Challenges and opportunities for furthering urban policy at both the federal and local levels are also examined.

1. Feeling Hopeful?
A Status Report on
Emerging Urban Policy
Scott Bernstein, CNT
June 12, 2009
CNU 17, Denver
http:/htaindex.cnt.org
scott@cnt.org

2. Presentation Goals
•! Review recent federal Administration and
Congressional actions that might support
urban policy
•! Identify some resources you can use for
near-term action
•! Suggest a priority agenda for CNU

3. RETOOLING HUD
for a Catalytic Federal Government:
A Report to Secretary Shaun Donovan
HOUSING THE NATION

4. Facilitating Green Housing and Communities
Report to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan
•! Scott Bernstein Center for Neighborhood
Technology
Task Force Members—
•! Co-Chairs: John Cleveland, Innovation Network for
Communities and Anne Evens, Center for
Neighborhood Technology
•! Members: Bracken Hendricks, Center for American
Progress; Stockton Williams, Enterprise Community
Partners; Jonathan Rose, Rose Companies; Ben
Hecht, Living Cities, Joel Rogers, Center on
Wisconsin Strategy
RETOOLING HUD

5. Assumptions and Opportunities
•! HUD has direct influence •! Energy price spikes
over 10% of nation’s housing contributed to economic
•! It is the largest direct crisis and energy/trans costs
residential bill payer will limit current solutions’
•! To help people, strategy effectiveness
must address both people •! Economy is 18-36 mos.
and places From next spike
•! Growth of population and •! Green building retrofit is a
housing ~1%/year> focus $640 billion, 7 million job
mostly on existing stock market
•! Work that needs doing is in
the places that need work
RETOOLING HUD

6. Strategies
1.! Aggressively Green the HUD Portfolio
2.! Make HUD a Leader in Developing the
National Building Retrofit Market
3.! Locate Housing to Create Transit-
Oriented, Walkable, Accessible
Communities
4.! With White House Leadership, Organize
a Cross-Department Strategy for Retrofits
as an Economic Development Strategy
RETOOLING HUD

7. Strategy 1—
Aggressively Green the HUD Portfolio
•! Direct investments in Public Early actions include—
Housing, Sections 8/202/811/ MOU between HUD and DOE to
HOPE VI, HOME Grants, and also coordinate home retrofit activities
Green Retrofit for Lead Hazard for working families (ann. Feb 27)
Homes $4.75 Billion in ARRA funds for public
•! Grants, loans, incentives, regs housing ($4B), MF retrofit ($250M)
(e.g. manufactured housing), green + Native American ($510M) to
standards, including increase in match $11.5 billion at DOE
allowable Total Development Proposed reorganization to include
Costs for green new Office of Sustainable Housing
•! Disclose energy costs and change & Communities led by Deputy
the way HUD pays for energy Secretary
•! Lead demand-side strategies, e.g. Major initiative to support Energy
w/smart grid & advanced metering Efficient Mortgages and home
investments energy cost disclosure and local
capacity building (FY2010 budget
initiative, pending)
RETOOLING HUD

8. Accomplishments and Opportunities
ARRA Accomplishments Strategic Opportunities:
HUD Programs
•!Leverage energy efficiency investments
$4 billion PHA retrofits to stimulate the private retrofit market
$250 million HUD assisted retrofits •!Screen investment decisions to assure
$510 million Native American Housing that combined housing and
transportation costs are optimized
$1.5 billion HOME green units •!Collaborate across agencies on building
$10 million Non-profit housing retrofits the energy efficiency economy
Related Programs •!Support the development of a national
network of regions investing in
$5.0 billion Low income weatherization aggressive energy efficiency retrofitting
$3.2 billion Energy Efficiency & Conservation
Block Grants
$3.4 billion State Energy Programs
$4.3 billion Home energy efficiency tax credits
$0.5 billion Green Job Training
$300 million Energy Efficiency Appliance Rebates
RETOOLING HUD Facilitating Green Housing

9. Strategy 2—
Make HUD a Leader in the Building Retrofit Market
•! Create a $5 Billion Building Early Actions Include—
Energy Efficiency (BEEF) •! Requested appropriations for
Fund these activities in the HUD
•! Create a national capacity FY2010 Budget request
building network of public, •! Proposed creating an Office
private and community of Sustainable Communities
institutions to support led by Deputy Secretary
regional retrofit strategies •! Budget proposal includes an
•! Create a HUD Office of “Energy Innovations Fund”
Sustainable Development •! Budget proposal to boost
•! Invest in R& D to support PD & R support beyond
development of the housing traditional functions
retrofit market
RETOOLING HUD

10. Strategy 3—
Locate Housing to Promote
Walkable, Transit-Oriented Communities
•! Reward location efficiency in Early actions include—
new construction and retrofit •! MOU by HUD + DOT to
•! Raise Total Development support transit & livable
Costs for higher density, infill, communities, regional
TOD and brownfield planning, redefine
redevelopment affordability, harmonize
•! Redefine “affordability” to programs
include both housing and •! Proposed initiatives in FY2010
transportation costs budget and in new OSHC
•! Utilize Location Efficient •! Regular mentions by
Mortgages
President Obama and USDOT
•! Support local and regional Sec. LaHood linked to “urban
planning that advances these policy” (e.g. April 16 HSR event)
objectives
RETOOLING HUD

11. Chicagoland MSA
Housing Affordability at <30% of AMI vs
Housing + Transport Affordability at <45%
Drop of 977,000 HHs from Affordability
When Transportation is Counted,
= Drop of 29.6% of Total Stock
H = 13.25 to 72.07 Percent of AMI H + T = 34.68 to 119 Percent of AMI
RETOOLING HUD

12. Ten Years of Foreclosures in
Metro Chicago
1998 2008
RETOOLING HUD

13. It’s Not Over Yet—
-Gas Costs Keep Climbing,
-12 month’s foreclosures
Up 5% in Cook County
-Up 70% in surrounding collar
counties
-Worst where income is low &
both sub-prime +VMT exposure
is high

14. Strategy 4—Retrofits as an Economic Sector
Development Strategy Early actions include—
•! EECBG funded in ARRA at $3.2
•! Fully fund the proposed Energy B, inc. planning as “strategy
Efficiency and Conservation development”
Block Grants and use to •! EECBG funded from DOE, not
support regional strategies familiar with cities or with energy
•! Use HUD’s leadership in planning, program desperately
greening to create green, needs to add a TA network
higher wage jobs for public •! ARRA included residential
housing residents energy tax credits, & increases in
•! Expand residential energy qualified energy bonds
efficiency tax credits •! Multi-agency and public-private
•! Build national capacity and discussions under way to build
supply chains to serve the retrofit market support
retrofit market •! HUD Secretary included in
regular meetings of White House
Office of Energy & Climate
Change
RETOOLING HUD

15. Other Supportive Actions
•! Supportive legislation—HR6078, •! Ownership taken by President
the GREEN Act, passed last year Obama on green jobs, 21st century
as part of HR6899, Energy Bill, economy, and transit/livable
about to be reintroduced, supports communities
standards, green retrofit, and both
Energy Efficient and Location •! Supportive press response to
Efficient Mortgages and upgrading HUD-DOT collaboration
Consolidated Plans to include •! Large networks of labor unions,
sustainable development, community developers and cities
transportation coming together around retrofit and
•! Supportive hearings— green jobs markets
Transportation & HUD •! Innovative uses of Build America
Appropriations, two supportive Bonds and related tools aimed at
hearings on coordinating housing building retrofit
and transportation
•! Supportive hearings—Senate
Banking symposium on livable
communities
RETOOLING HUD

16. Possible Problems
•! While much of this can be •! HUD’s federal partners, other
implemented under current than DOT, lack a focus on and
authority, much cannot experience with place
without new legislative •! Proposals that may ultimately
authority for both budgetary reduce risk are still seen as
and non-budgetary items risky for financial markets
•! Appointments process has •! Assumes an unprecedented
been slow level of regional and local
capacity
•! Unprecedented amount of •! Readiness to plan effectively—
coordination required only 12 states have planning
statutes, these were the ones
with most integrated stimulus
proposals but most of America
may not be ready
RETOOLING HUD

17. Signs of Life in Congress
•! Recent reorganization puts •! Nominations process is very
HUD and DOT in same slow
appropriations subcommittees •! Few hearings of substance,
in both houses and overshadowed by
•! Modest increases over FY2008 economic situation and
in FY2009 budget stimulus package
•! Supportive hearings on HUD •! House Transportation and
and DOT Coordination in Infrastructure Chairman to
Transportation/HUD introduce transportation bill
Appropriations Subcommittee shortly
3/18 and 3/19
•! No agreement on revenue
•! In-depth symposium on transit sources, especially for
and livable communities held transportation, probably
by Senate Banking on March
means continuing resolution
26
RETOOLING HUD

18. Framing that Seems to Help
•! Economic success requires both higher incomes and
lower cost of living
•! America is a nation of communities and regions and
success requires place-based partnerships
•! We cannot win on climate change and energy
independence without deep retrofit and location
benefits
•! We’re running out of time—gas prices will spike again
soon, no time to waste
•! The “stimulus” was both the American Recovery AND
Reinvestment Act, we’re doing the first, need the
second
•! Cities and metro areas are the solutions to climate,
energy, and economic problems
•! Transforming HUD into this kind of leader is essential to
getting us where we need to be fast enough
RETOOLING HUD

19. Two Views of Chicago and CO2—
Location Efficiency Reduces Financial Risk AND
Per-Household Emissions, Changes “Cities are the
Problem” to “Cities can be the Solution”
RETOOLING HUD

20. 9.7-1 Transport Carbon in Tons of CO2/HH/Year
4.6
5.8-
10.7 This Place
3.9-6 Has the
.1 2.4-
0-2.4 Disappearing
4.4
3 Carbon
Blues…!
Source: Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company
Location Efficiency & the
Transect Reveals
Carbon Benefits of Good
Urban Form

21. Federal updates
•! Banking Committee •! HUD – FY2010 budget
symposium, dates proposal includes several
•! Upcoming hearings next hundred million dollars for
week metro, TOD, mortgage
•! House FSC GREEN Act, innovation, R&D in
support of the HUD-DOT
HR2336, Hearing June
11, record open 30 days, partnership agreement
Senate to introduce •! Nothing yet on DOT
shortly
•! House FSC, HUD will
testify June 16

22. Federal updates cont.
•! Much energy consumed by the •! Transportation reauthorization
climate bill (ACES) —not likely to happen this year
•! Very little in it for spatial •! Marker bills
planning, Section 841 reqs •! National transportation
States and MPOs to submit planning—Lautenberg/Rock in
plans for achieving national Senate, Carnahan/Inslee in
GHG reduction goals from House, latter has H/T
transportation and land use •! Support for H+T affordability—
investments Blumenauer, pending
•! One small provision for MPOs •! Federal “patch” on Trust Fund
•! Supreme Court has upheld from General Fund of $8 B last
right of EPA to regulate GHGs year, $18 to $34 this year
as pollutants under the CAAA

23. Stimulus provided some important
openings
•! High speed rail--$8B, three rounds of funding
•! Green infrastructure set aside—20 percent of $
into state revolving funds must be for green
infrastructure
•! Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block
Grant--$2.8 Billion entitlement for CDBG cities
and balance of states—one-third States, two-
thirds cities, +$400M competitive

24. Resources Available
•! Re-Tooling HUD—www.upenn.edu
•! EECBG Guide—www.cnt.org
•! T4America—www.t4america.org
•! STPP—www.transact.org
•! Affordability Index—http://Htaindex.cnt.org

25. Possible CNU Actions
•! Form a policy agenda and partnerships
with key coalitions
•! Market New Urbanism as a pathway to
sustainable urban policy
•! Translate the networks project into a near
term action agenda
•! Pick some States and metro areas and
work them

26. Thank You!
•! Scott Bernstein
•! www.cnt.org
•! scott@cnt.org
RETOOLING HUD