2011 Obama Budget Continues
Funding for Sustainable Communities
Despite the Obama Administration’s new-found desire to appear more
fiscally conserative, sustainable communities will get not just equal
but slightly increased support in 2011 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Transportation (DOT). The federal budget for fiscal 2011 (see White House fact sheet),
which starts October 1, keeps HUD funding for planning grants stable and
expands funding for the new Choice Neighborhoods program, and it provides
substantial funding for a new sustainability initiative.
According to a HUD press release, “The budget includes $150 million for a second year of the Sustainable
Communities Initiative, which will expand upon HUD’s partnership with
the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection
Agency to stimulate more integrated regional planning to guide state,
metropolitan, and local decisions to link land use, transportation and
housing policy. The budget proposes to expand Choice Neighborhoods from
its $65 million funding level in 2010, for a demonstration of this
important initiative, to $250 million in 2011. This will enable HUD and
our local partners to transform distressed neighborhoods and public and
assisted housing into functioning, sustainable mixed-income
neighborhoods by linking housing improvements with appropriate
services, schools, transportation, and access to jobs.”
At DOT, Secretary LaHood "highlighted the importance of livable
communities, and providing greater choices for transportation users
through the integration of transportation, housing and commercial
development decisions. This budget provides $527 million for livable
communities by establishing an Office of Livable Communities, creating
a program to improve local and state project planning and development
capabilities, and funding programs that expand transit access for
low-income persons.”
Getting
Congress to approve the funding is another matter. Given the partisan
conflicts gripping Congress, appropriations may be delayed until well
after the mid-term elections in November.