It gives us an opening to chip away at the many obstacles that confront affordable housing development and to get more cities and more of the public to recognize the merits of affordable housing. It gives us the chance to get serious traction on reforming local land use and zoning policies to encourage high-density, infill development as opposed to carbon-spewing sprawl, and to bring down the cost of housing.
PSC was formed to help people like you take advantage of these opportunities.
In California and other areas where land use policy is already changing, PSC will help affordable housing professionals understand and adapt to the changes. In the many cities and regions where change will come more slowly, PSC will help people like you make the case for change.
Most important, PSC will help developers win greater community acceptance of affordable housing as a key component of what makes for a healthy city, and will help combat NIMBYism and badly outdated stereotypes.
On a national basis, PSC will monitor and help shape emerging state and federal policy initiatives about sustainable communities. It will reach out to government and policymakers to define sustainability as being about much more than just “green building”—to make sure the definition of sustainability includes:
Zoning and land use policies that discourage sprawl and encourage high-density development near transit and jobs
Availability of housing affordable to people of all incomes near transit and jobs.
Policies that encourage rather than obstruct the development of targeted affordable housing.
Finally, PSC will help developers enhance the sustainable aspects of their developments and deal with design and financing challenges.
Why do developers need a new organization? First of all, NIMBYism is getting worse, not better. Affordable housing projects face growing opposition, longer delays, and more added costs. The traditional arguments and statistics generated by advocacy groups and trade associations have not produced substantial improvements in public and political acceptance. PSC brings a much needed new approach to address the industry’s “image problem.”
Likewise, despite lots of talk about smart growth and the costs of outdated land use policies, reform is not happening in most states. Unlike most housing industry groups, PSC is focused entirely on planning and land use issues. It will use all its resources to generate powerful research and make compelling arguments for favorable changes in land use policy.
With the decline in home values and greater awareness of the environmental impact of sprawl and overconsumption of housing, now is the time to work together to bring about fundamental change. If developers put a fraction of the time and money they spend on individual land use battles into a collective effort to change policies and practices, real progress can be made.
Here are some examples of the services PSC will provide for developers:
Research, survey data, case studies, and other information that you can use to argue for changes in land use and zoning policy to encourage affordable housing and higher density
Timely information on threats and opportunities in new planning and land use policies in your region, including innovative policies that could be a model for your community
Public communication and community relations tools and training for your staff to promote the sustainable aspects of your projects during the entitlement process, stressing the benefits of affordable and mixed-income housing for communities as a whole
Guidelines, case studies, and practical advice on what makes a housing project “sustainable”
Assistance in tapping into financing from nontraditional sources that are interested in projects with green and sustainable features, such as solar energy
Education about lenders and equity sources about mixed-use and mixed-income projects to encourage the increased availability of capital
Regional conferences on strategies for dealing with land use issues for project development staff