HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities

Updates
Background
Livability Principles
Partnership Agreement
Resources for Communities

Please see the Partnership for Sustainable Communities’ grant page to learn about grants and other assistance opportunities.

Updates

The Partnership for Sustainable Communities has launched a website, www.sustainablecommunities.gov, to make it easy for communities to find resources and grant announcements and to learn about the Partnership's accomplishments. The website includes contact information for each agency's sustainable communities office, ongoing project updates for sustainable community grantees around the country, and recent news and grant information from the Partnership.
On June 16, 2011, the Partnership celebrated its two-year anniversary. On the White House blog, Secretary Shaun Donovan, Secretary Ray LaHood, and Administrator Lisa P. Jackson wrote about the Partnership's accomplishments and shared the stories of two communities receiving Partnership assistance: Ranson, West Virginia, and the Fairmount Corridor in Boston.
EPA press release: EPA, HUD, DOT Mark Partnership for Sustainable Communities Second Anniversary
On October 21, 2010, Director of the White House Policy Council Melody Barnes, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan held a joint press conference to highlight the grants and other assistance recently announced by the Partnership agencies.
Partnership Publications
- Supporting Sustainable Rural Communities
- Partnership in Action February 2011 (PDF) (2 pp, 588K)
- Partnership for Sustainable Communities: Supporting Environmental Justice and Equitable Development (PDF) (4 pp, 665K, About PDF)
- Partnership for Sustainable Communities: A Year of Progress for American Communities (PDF) (16 pp, 1.8MB, About PDF)
- Partnership In Action April 2010 (PDF) (2 pp, 345K, About PDF)
- Partnership In Action February 2010 (PDF) (2 pp, 294K, About PDF)
- Partnership In Action January 2010 (PDF) (2 pp, 290K, About PDF)
White House press release: Partnership for Sustainable Communities Awards Grants to Build Infrastructure Nationwide
White House blog post: Building Stronger, Sustainable Communities Through Strategic Coordination
Assistance announced in October 2010: HUD press release: HUD and DOT Award $68 Million to Create Sustainable Livable Communities
DOT press release: Secretary LaHood Announces More Than 70 Innovative Transportation Projects Competitively Funded Under TIGER II
Press release: EPA to Provide Technical Assistance on Sustainable Growth and Development
Press release: EPA Awards $4 Million For Brownfields
HUD press release: HUD Awards Nearly $100 Million in New Grants to Promote Smarter and Sustainable Planning for Jobs and Economic Growth
On July 15, 2010, the White House hosted an online chat to discuss the progress that the Partnership for Sustainable Communities is making. Derek Douglas, Special Assistant to the President on Urban Policy at the White House, moderated the panel, which included Shelley Poticha, Director for the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities at HUD; Beth Osborne, Deputy Secretary for Policy at DOT; and Tim Torma, Deputy Director of the Office of Sustainable Communities at EPA. The panel took audience questions that ranged from creating more affordable homes near transit stations to improving stormwater management. Video of the hour-long chat is available here.
On July 9, 2010, HUD, DOT, and EPA representatives posted an update on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities on the White House blog.

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Background

On June 16, 2009, EPA joined with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to help improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. Through a set of guiding livability principles and a partnership agreement that will guide the agencies' efforts, this partnership will coordinate federal housing, transportation, and other infrastructure investments to protect the environment, promote equitable development, and help to address the challenges of climate change.

Read the Partnership Agreement (PDF) (2 pp, 60K, About PDF)
Read the EPA Press Release
Read Administrator Lisa Jackson's testimony of June 16, 2009 (PDF) (13 pp, 45K, About PDF)
Read HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan's testimony of June 16, 2009 (PDF) (9 pp, 59K, About PDF)
Read DOT Secretary Ray LaHood's testimony of June 16, 2009 (PDF) (10 pp, 57K, About PDF)
Watch the June 16 Senate Banking Committee hearing with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, and DOT Secretary Ray LaHood (Video).
In September 2009, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan visited Chicago, Dubuque, and Denver on a Sustainable Communities Tour. Read the press releases about the tour:
- Administration Officials Visit Chicago, Dubuque on Sustainable Communities Tour (9/17/09)
- Administration Officials Wrap Up Sustainable Communities Tour with Denver Visit; EPA, DOT, HUD and White House Urban Affairs officials announce additional proposals to support sustainable communities (9/18/09)

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Livability Principles

Provide more transportation choices. Develop safe, reliable, and economical transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote public health.
Promote equitable, affordable housing. Expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races, and ethnicities to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.
Enhance economic competitiveness. Improve economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services and other basic needs by workers, as well as expanded business access to markets.
Support existing communities. Target federal funding toward existing communities—through strategies like transit oriented, mixed-use development, and land recycling—to increase community revitalization and the efficiency of public works investments and safeguard rural landscapes.
Coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment. Align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding, and increase the accountability and effectiveness of all levels of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy choices such as locally generated renewable energy
Value communities and neighborhoods. Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe, and walkable neighborhoods—rural, urban, or suburban.

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Partnership Agreement

The HUD/DOT/EPA partnership will:

Enhance integrated planning and investment. The partnership will seek to integrate housing, transportation, water infrastructure, and land use planning and investment. HUD, EPA, and DOT propose to make planning grants available to metropolitan areas and create mechanisms to ensure those plans are carried through to localities.
Provide a vision for sustainable growth. This effort will help communities set a vision for sustainable growth and apply federal transportation, water infrastructure, housing, and other investments in an integrated approach that reduces the nation's dependence on foreign oil, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, protects America's air and water, and improves quality of life. Coordinating planning efforts in housing, transportation, air quality, and water—including planning cycles, processes, and geographic coverage—will make more effective use of federal housing and transportation dollars.
Redefine housing affordability and make it transparent. The partnership will develop federal housing affordability measures that include housing and transportation costs and other expenses that are affected by location choices. Although transportation costs now approach or exceed housing costs for many working families, federal definitions of housing affordability do not recognize the strain of soaring transportation costs on homeowners and renters who live in areas isolated from work opportunities and transportation choices. The partnership will redefine affordability to reflect those costs, improve the consideration of the cost of utilities, and provide consumers with enhanced information to help them make housing decisions.
Redevelop underutilized sites. The partnership will work to achieve critical environmental justice goals and other environmental goals by targeting development to locations that already have infrastructure and offer transportation choices. Environmental justice is a particular concern in areas where disinvestment and past industrial use caused pollution and a legacy of contaminated or abandoned sites. This partnership will help return such sites to productive use.
Develop livability measures and tools. The partnership will research, evaluate, and recommend measures that indicate the livability of communities, neighborhoods, and metropolitan areas. These measures could be adopted in subsequent integrated planning efforts to benchmark existing conditions, measure progress toward achieving community visions, and increase accountability. HUD, DOT, and EPA will help communities attain livability goals by developing and providing analytical tools to evaluate progress, as well as state and local technical assistance programs to remove barriers to coordinated housing, transportation, and environmental protection investments. The partnership will develop incentives to encourage communities to implement, use, and publicize the measures.
Align HUD, DOT, and EPA programs. HUD, DOT, and EPA will work to assure that their programs maximize the benefits of their combined investments in our communities for livability, affordability, environmental excellence, and the promotion of green jobs of the future. HUD and DOT will work together to identify opportunities to better coordinate their programs and encourage location efficiency in housing and transportation choices. HUD, DOT, and EPA will also share information and review processes to facilitate better-informed decisions and coordinate investments.
Undertake joint research, data collection, and outreach. HUD, DOT, and EPA will engage in joint research, data collection, and outreach efforts with stakeholders to develop information platforms and analytic tools to track housing and transportation options and expenditures, establish standardized and efficient performance measures, and identify best practices.