Legislative Brief: Livable Communities Act of 2009
Title
Livable Communities Act of 2009 (S. 1619) - Establishes in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) an Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities (OSHC)
Sponsor
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
Summary
The National Trust for Historic Preservation supports the creation of programs to integrate historic preservation in comprehensive planning efforts that take into account sustainability and smart growth principles.
S. 1619 establishes in the executive branch an independent Interagency Council on Sustainable Communities and requires the OSHC Director to establish a program to make comprehensive planning grants and sustainability challenge grants to eligible entities (partnerships between a consortium of units of general local government and an eligible partner, which may be a metropolitan planning organization, a rural planning organization, a regional council, or a state). Challenge grants would be required to promote integrated transportation, housing, energy, and economic development activities carried out across policy and governmental jurisdictions; promote sustainable and location-efficient development; and implement projects identified in a comprehensive regional plan. The bill also directs the OSHC Director to study and report to specified congressional committees on incentives for encouraging lenders to make, and homebuyers and homeowners to participate in, energy-efficient mortgages and location-efficient mortgages.
Eligible Grant Activities
Sustainability Challenge Grants would be used for comprehensive planning to: coordinate land use, housing, transportation, and infrastructure planning processes across jurisdictions and agencies; identify potential regional partnerships for developing and implementing a comprehensive regional plan; conduct or update housing, infrastructure, transportation, energy, and environmental assessments to determine regional needs and promote sustainable development; develop or update a comprehensive regional plan or goals and strategies to implement an existing comprehensive regional plan; and implement local zoning and other code changes necessary to implement a comprehensive regional plan and promote sustainable development.
Authorization
The bill authorizes $750 million in FY'10, $1.25 billion in FY'11, and $1.75 billion in FY'12 for Sustainability Challenge Grants.
