HUD Announces Office Of Sustainable Housing And Communities Directed By Shelley Poticha

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan has launched HUD’s new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities under the management of former Reconnecting America President and CEO Shelley Poticha. He told an audience at the New Partners smart growth conference in Seattle on Feb. 4 that this new office would be the center of HUD’s sustainability efforts, and would work toward connecting housing to jobs, fostering local innovation and building a clean energy economy. The three agencies have not coordinated their policies and funding in the past.

HUD, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection agency announced an interagency partnership for sustainable communities on June 16, 2009. The three agencies have not coordinated their policies and funding in the past.

“When it comes to federal transportation, housing and environmental policy it’s time for the federal government to speak with one voice,” Donovan told the audience of 1,500 planners, developers, public health officials, agency staff and elected officials. He was alluding to the interagency partnership between HUD, the U.S. DOT and EPA, which he called “the Green Cabinet.” The partnership is working together to coordinate their policies, programs and resources toward the common goals of sustainability and livability.

Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith praised the Secretary’s commitment to sustainability.

“Secretary Donovan’s announcement takes on even greater meaning because these are lean economic times,” Smith said. “Other administrations might have put this off, but the Secretary understands that these investments are critical if we want to create jobs and a sustainable quality of life and to save cities large and small.”

Donovan referenced Smith in his speech, saying: “I want to talk about what sustainability means. Not just to us at HUD, but more importantly to the communities with which we partner,” he said. “If you ask John Robert Smith, the former mayor of Meridian Mississippi, he'll tell you sustainability is about choice and quality of life. It's about overcoming state and federal barriers, to create more walkable, accessible job centers so that people can live near where they work.”

Secretary Donovan also announced HUD will spend $10 million developing an Affordability Index that measures the costs of where a home is located in relation to transportation, jobs, and schools. Donovan said that the distances between where Americans live and work is a fundamental problem, and that the fact that homebuyers have to “drive until you qualify” to find a home they can afford has had dramatic consequences. The Center for Transit-Oriented Development, a partnership of Reconnecting America, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and Strategic Economics, developed an Affordability Index several years ago.

Donovan told the New Partners audience that $100 million of the $150 million that Congress provided for the Sustainable Communities Initiative will be available for integrated regional planning initiatives through its Sustainable Communities Grant Program. He added that a description of that program is available for comment on HUD’s website. Donovan said he intends to use every dollar of HUD’s $44 billion budget to drive sustainability initiatives.

He said that the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities will provide funding to a wide variety of multi-jurisdictional and multi-sector partnrships, from metropolitan planning organizations and state governments to nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. These grants are to encourage regions to build capacity to integrate economic development, land use, transportation, and water infrastructure investments, and to integrate workforce development with transit-oriented development. He said he would help communities find new financing tools for TOD.

HUD is also creating a $50 million Energy Innovation Fund for energy-efficient homes and buildings.