Smart Growth Around America

President Obama’s budget for the 2011 fiscal year, released this morning, contains more than $1 billion in programs and grants that will help create and support livable, sustainable communities and neighborhoods across the country. “This is good news for anyone looking to cut their transportation costs, find an affordable home in a walkable neighborhood, or live in a community with a multitude of transportation options,” said SGA President Geoff Anderson.

One of the biggest reasons to break down barriers and allow the market to deliver more compact, walkable development in the coming years is the changing demographics (and consumer preferences) resulting in growing segments of people preferring that lifestyle — especially the rapidly-growing group of people over the age of 65. By just 2030, nearly 1 in 5 Americans will be over age 65. David Alpert of Greater Greater Washington writes that walkable urbanism is great for empowering seniors who can no longer drive:

Liberty Harbor Townhomes in Jersey City Originally uploaded by Hoboken Condos

Facing budget shortfalls, Washington, D.C. is making cuts to homeless services to the tune of some $20 million. But the District isn’t alone in either the problem or the solution — San Fransisco is also reducing shelter and employment service funding by nearly $3 [...]

There’s some exciting news out of Washington, DC to report this morning, where US EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced in Senate testimony this morning that EPA is joining with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Transportation (USDOT) in a special partnership to work together to promote smart growth and more livable, sustainable communities across America.

A new study, released by the Center for Housing Policy, compares housing costs in over 200 U.S. metropolitan areas with the wages earned by workers in 60 occupations — and finds that often, workers in key professions are unable to afford buying a house even after the recent drop in housing prices. Some in [...]

Last spring, Chris Leinberger wrote in The Atlantic that the pendulum was slowly shifting away from suburban life due to our country’s changing demographics, growing public demand for “urban” amenities like walkable neighborhoods and better transportation options, and the overbuilding of exurban housing — far from jobs and highly inconvenient when gas gets expensive.

You’ve probably seen some of the anecdotal evidence in newspaper stories or other outlets recently about how many center cities have experienced a resurgence of residential growth within their borders over the last 10 to 20 years.
Many of us had wondered if there had been any systematic examination of building permit trends to document the [...]

There’s an old problem in government — probably at all levels, but most notably at the federal level — of agencies working at cross purposes with each other.
For example, new transportation investments in unneeded highways in exurban areas works against the EPA’s effort to reduce emissions and satisfy the Clean Air Act. Sometimes this happens [...]

Good story today in the Washington Post as part of their ongoing “Oil Shock” series, with this one focusing on the consumer impacts of rising prices. If it’s not already, this is beginning to sound like the theme of 2008, as rising energy prices are like a rudder in the water turning the ship of [...]

The CEO’s for Cities study from a few months ago, “Driven to the Brink,” has gained some traction, this time in video form. YouTube’s editors picked it up last week to highlight on the main page, and as a result, it’s gotten over 120,000 plays and nearly 800 comments.
Do check it out below. From the [...]

updated 6/27: The NYT changed the previous headline from “country living” to the “far suburbs.”
Good piece today in the New York Times, surveying the scope of changing preferences for buying in the suburbs as energy prices continue rising:
Suddenly, the economics of American suburban life are under assault as skyrocketing energy prices inflate the costs of [...]

Unfortunately for the owners of either, they’re both losing value.
That’s the connection — echoed by SGA — in a Wall Street Journal piece this morning on today’s front page by Ana Campoy on gasoline consumption and miles driven trending downwards, and how it’s beginning to drastically affect Americans’ housing and transportation choices:
Meanwhile, people have begun [...]

Almost overnight, it has become the most pressing issue in the minds of most Americans. CNN’s most popular topic this week? “Fueling America.” Gas prices are now competing with Iraq, the economy at large, and even Angelina Jolie for primacy in the national consciousness. If you’re interested in the numbers, do check out Google Trends. [...]

Another tale of two cities: One is up, one is down.
We’ve noted with regularity for the last few months how rising gas prices were complicit in the housing crisis. (here and here, for example). With every escalation in the cost of fuel, new subdivisions and neighborhoods already in a struggling market face another hit as [...]

Chart on housing prices against gas prices from the CEO’s for Cities report, Driven to the Brink (2001 recession shaded)

If you look back over the last two weeks at what we’ve been pointing to in the news and circulating on the blog, there was a clear trend emerging: Rising gas prices and escalating transportation [...]

To the old conventional wisdom for real estate,

…you have been replaced:

You may have already read about WalkScore when we covered it last year, or seen the widget in our sidebar here on the blog. (SGA office = Walk Score 100!) It’s been a good year for Matt Lerner and the other Seattle developers who created [...]

High gas prices are squeezing the housing market on the fringes of metro regions.

It can be scary to turn on CNBC or CNNMoney these days. Watch for just a minute or two, and you’re likely to hear that not only is the housing market in trouble, but we might not be able to see the [...]

Last week, we mentioned the release of a new tool from the Center for Neighborhood Technology that measures the true cost of housing affordability, by also considering the transportation costs of each area. (Note: the Washington Post had a good story about the index here.) A few other outlets have done their own local test [...]

What’s in store for newly-created exurban neighborhoods like these, far from the city’s core?
Perhaps for the first time since the late 1940s, when the country emerged from depression and world war to launch the national project of settling the countryside surrounding its beleaguered cities, our culture appears to be entering a critical examination of [...]

The APA Advocate tells us today that the House passed a reauthorization of the HOPE VI housing program, with some important additions and improvements. The passage will extend and increase the funding for the program, as well as making some progressive changes.
(UPDATE: CNU posted a few words about the passage as well)
The program, which has [...]

First of all, happy new year and welcome back! All of us here at SGA are excited about the prospects for 2008, including the transition to a new President and CEO, which you can read here in case you missed it. We’ll be posting Geoff Anderson’s full bio shortly, with perhaps a short Q&A on [...]

Atlanta has been a region typically known for its affordable housing stock and rapidly-growing suburbs and exurbs. But a new study being released in Atlanta this week chronicles affordability in the region and finds that not only is there a dearth of affordable housing, there is a disconnect between affordable housing and its major job [...]

Many of us watching the last few decades of development in America have been repeating the mantra that the weight of crushing commutes, skyrocketing fuel and energy prices, overly large and costly houses and understated demographic changes were converging on us with serious ramifications and that changing the rules to create more affordable, smaller footprint [...]

With limited publicity, a 60-day window to apply, and only 120 slots available, 370 developers across the country submitted proposals for the new LEED-ND pilot program, displaying a massive interest in the new groundbreaking rating system that rewards implementation of smart growth principles.