Preview of SC 2.1

Sustainable Communities

6i-2

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NMHC PredictsRising Demand

Rental Housing:

Vol 1, No 2 • March/April 2011 • www.p4sc.org • $12

IN THIS ISSUE

California’s “anti-sprawl” planning process gets underway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 22

The battle over high-speed rail . . . . . . . . . . . p. 26

Regional Focus: North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 34

Weatherization races the clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 44

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• The impact of zoning policies • Housing cost trends and influences • Property values • The most effective economic development measures • Effects of various community development strategies • Economic contributions of inclusionary zoning and affordable housing development

The Library is a benefit of membership in

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March/april 2011 • SuStainable CommunitieS 1

14 multifamily making a Comeback:

Doug Bibby and the National Multi-housing council see a boom in apartment development coming in response to rising consumer demand.

20 Finance:The Obama administration’s plans to reform the housing finance system call for winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and cutting back Fha single-family programs. But Fha rental housing programs would be strengthened and expanded.

22 California: regional planning organizations hit high gear in public discussion of land use and transportation planning under the state’s “anti-sprawl” legislation (S.B. 375).

26 transportation & Development:

Federal funding for high speed rail development sparks debate. Find out why three governors rejected the federal money and what advocates and critics are saying about the issue.

37 Cities See High Value in “Complete Streets”

Find out how cities are making their streets much more vibrant and active without spending a lot or hurting traffic flow.

44 Financing energy efficiency:Time is running out for spending $5 bil-lion appropriated for the Weatherization assistance program. Will the money be spent before the March 2012 deadline? how much will go to improve the energy efficiency of multifamily housing? Find out with our in-depth report.

DepartmentS

2 Letter from the Editor

4 Letters to the Editor

5 New Directions

6 Around the Nation

• Florida • illinois • Oregon

• Georgia

8 Land Planning & Design

10 Green Building & Design Duany sees decline in strict green building standards

12 Urban Planning & Design apa president sets new direction

on the Cover:as president of the National Multi-hous-

ing council, Doug Bibby advocates in

Washington for rental housing, making a

strong case for the benefits to commu-

nity sustainability of properties like the

2400 M apartments in Washington, D.c.,

a project of Equity residential.

photo by Dennis Whitehead

Features

March/april 2011

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8

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contents

SuStainable CommunitieS • March/april 20112

Letter from the editor

With the presidential election of 2012 entering its early

stages and budget battles raging in Washington, americans

must choose sides.

long-term thinking has never been popular in american

government, least of all if it promises to hurt the profits of any

entrenched interests.

The Obama administration challenged that paradigm. it won

federal appropriations to fund programs and investments that

will make our communities more sustainable over the long run.

a key part of its economic stimulus package was a renewed

investment in america’s passenger rail system and other intracity transit programs. Billions

of dollars were appropriated for these programs, including the beginnings of a high-speed

passenger rail network in california, New York, illinois and other major markets.

Now, with the economy recovering and the scent of political opportunity in the air, repub-

licans in the house are attacking on a broad front, targeting spending for grants for regional

planning, energy conservation, and community Development Block Grants, among other

domestic programs.

But the pivotal issue in the fast-escalating political warfare in Washington will be the

fight over what kind of wheels to subsidize: steel or rubber.

republicans in Washington and new republican governors in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin

are trying to choke off proposed funding for passenger rail, especially the high-speed variety.

They have framed this in terms of deficit reduction. hogwash. They are quite happy to

spend billions on roads and bridges but would “zero out” trains and mass transit.

They ignore the near impossibility of spending enough on roads to serve an increasing

population without massive congestion, the wackiness of a gas tax frozen at 1993 levels and

the sheer insanity of depending so heavily on foreign oil. (We take for granted that they don’t

consider air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions to be a problem.)

The coming 20 months will have reverberations on our country for decades to come. if

republicans take the Senate or White house, they will finish what the house is starting now.

They will not just terminate Obama’s initial steps to reinvest for the long-term, they will wipe

out any sign that they ever existed.

We have to fight back, and we must fight especially hard on the threshold issue of trans-

portation. We must follow the lead of people like christine Kehoe, the california state senator

who represents San Diego.

Defying powerful political forces, Kehoe has introduced a bill (S.B. 468) that would require

mass transit to be improved in coastal communities before the state could add lanes to nearby

freeways.

if we follow Kehoe’s lead, the Obama initiatives will survive and our oil-addicted country

will be on a new path. if not, just imagine what the history books will say about the choices we

made in this pivotal decade.

Make your voice heard in the coming political battle. and if you are not already a member

of the partnership for Sustainable communities, please join today and help us make america

sustainable, one community at a time. learn more at www.p4sc.org.

America’s Choice Sustainable Communities Magazine

Editor and PublisherAndre Shashaty, [email protected]

Office & Member Services ManagerCarol Yee, [email protected]

Art DirectorKay Marshall, [email protected]

Advertising & Conference Sales ManagerWendy Chaney, [email protected]

Assistant EditorMegan Truxillo, [email protected]

Board of Directors Rev. Betty Pagett, Community

Acceptance Strategist

Todd Sears, Vice President of Finance, Herman & Kittle Properties

Patrick Sheridan, Senior Vice President for Housing Development,

Volunteers of America

Dianne Spaulding, Executive Director, Non-Profit Housing Association of

Northern California

Leadership Advisory Board Richard Baron, Chairman and CEO,

McCormack Baron Salazar

Doug Bibby, President, National Multi Housing Council

Henry Cisneros, Executive Chairman, CityView; former secretary, U.S. Dept of Housing and

Urban Development

F. Barton Harvey, Former chairman and CEO, Enterprise Community Partners

William C. Kelly, Jr., President, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF)

Kerry Mazzoni, public policy consultant, former state legislator and former

California Secretary of Education

Nicolas P. Retsinas, Director, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University

Caleb Roope, President/CEO, The Pacific Companies Mitchell Silver, PP, AICP

DirectorDepartment of City Planning for Raleigh, N.C.

Sustainable Communities Magazine is published by Partnership for Sustainable Communities (“PSC”) is a private nonprofit organization incorporated in Califor-nia. It is not affiliated with the United States federal in-teragency “Partnership for Sustainable Communities,” which is a venture between HUD, DOT and EPA. PSC is not supported by government funding. It depends entirely on membership dues and charitable donations to cover its costs. To make a donation, go to www.p4sc.org and click on the “donate now” button at the top of your screen in the green bar on the left. To join our cause, click on “become a member” also in the green bar.

900 Fifth Ave, Suite 201, San Rafael, CA 94901 415 453 2100 ext 302 www.P4SC.org

Sustainable Communities

6i-2

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By Andre Shashaty

Vol 1, No 2 • March/April 2011 • www.p4sc.org

Printed on SFI Certified 10% Recylced Paper with vegetable and/or soy based inks.

At Least 30% Certified Forest Content

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14

Housing Demand

When George W. Bush was president, homeownership rates

reached a record high of 69 percent, and everyone from the

White house to congress on down to local officials sucked

all the political advantage they could get from the growing

ranks of young homeowners. apartment operators wondered how it came

to pass that a young family could get a mortgage even if they could not

qualify for a lease. Single-family cul de sac subdivisions sprouted in outly-

ing areas of every U.S. city with a pulse.

What a difference a few million foreclosures makes. Today, the home-

ownership rate is dropping and rental housing is making a comeback that

could last for decades. it’s about time, according to apartment owners

and their association, the National Multi housing council (NMhc), which

has been arguing for years for government policies that value rental

housing.

“The single-family housing meltdown confirms that homeownership

alone is not sufficient to meet our housing and community needs,” said

Doug Bibby, NMhc president. “We need a more balanced housing policy—

and that policy needs to begin with ensuring a consistent and abundant

capital flow to rental housing.”

The shift toward rental housing dovetails perfectly with the prefer-

ence of many mayors and city planners to see growth channeled into

transit corridors and infill locations, as opposed to development of single-

family homes in subdivisions far from services or jobs.

“Not only do apartments offer housing to a wide range of households,”

66% of new households will rent, NMHC predictsAs new lifestyles tilt balance toward sustainability


By ANDrE SHASHATy

Community facilty at Northpark Apartments in Burlingame, Calif., a property of Equity Residential

▲

▲▲located within a short train or ferry ride from lower Manhattan, The Pier in

Jersey City, N.J., exemplifies the kinds of properties that Equity Residential develops: Close to transit and jobs and on infill site in existing urban areas.

>>


Congress created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make

sure there was enough liquidity in the banking industry

to provide a steady supply of mortgage lending at reasonable

rates and terms. Now, in the aftermath of the mortgage melt-

down, with the two agencies guaranteeing 90% of all home

loans, the Obama administration wants the government to

reduce its financial support for the mortgage market.

To make a long story very short, the administration is

engaging congress in a political dance that will probably end

with Fannie and Freddie closing their doors in several years,

and the federal government limiting its role to that of a guar-

antor of pools of home mortgages, rather than its current role

as a buyer and securitizer of individual loans.

The impact of the changes could be profound. Most ana-

lysts agree that home loans with fixed interest rates and long

terms will be harder to get and more expensive. That will

mean a reduction in the number of households that can buy

homes and an increase in the number who must rent.

There is some prospect that the changes will steer resi-

dential development back toward rental homes at higher

densities than the single-family subdivisions that sprouted up

during the last wave of easy mortgage money.

The biggest unanswered question is whether households

denied the safety of long-term fixed rate loans will once again

find a ready supply of short-term, adjustable rate loans – the

exact same kind of financing that caused the nation’s foreclo-

sure crisis in the first place. The Obama plan talks in general

terms about preventing predatory lending and requiring more

“transparency” in how private market players do business,

but it falls far short of a detailed plan with a clear chance of

controlling the mortgage market.

The long and very uncertain process of revamping the

federal government’s role in housing finance began in Febru-

ary, when the Obama administration released its 32-page

report to congress on “reforming america’s housing Finance

Market.”

The Obama proposal is very general, but it sets a clear

direction: Federal backing for home loans is going to be cut

back, but federal support for financing apartments will con-

tinue and might even be increased.

The administration wants to wind down Fannie Mae and

Freddie Mac and shrink the government’s current footprint in

housing finance on “a responsible timeline,” which could be

as long as ten years. The republican leaders in congress say

they want to do many of the exact same things, but faster.

They want to phase out Fannie and Freddie in four years.

currently, the U.S. government guarantees more than

nine out of every 10 new mortgages. Both Obama and the

republicans say they want to bring the private sector back as

the primary source of mortgage credit and make it bear the

burden for losses.

What will be put in place after Fannie and Freddie are

Pulling the Plug on Homeownership’s Life Support

END OF AN ERA:

by andre Shashaty

Fannie Mae headquarters


the U.S. has lagged behind other developed nations on

high-speed rail for years, and now it is falling behind

developing nations as well. a new crop of republican

governors and the GOp leadership in the house of represen-

tatives wants to keep it that way.

Newly elected republican governors in Florida, Ohio and

Wisconsin have loudly rejected federal funding for high-

speed rail that was included in the american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009 (arra). The money earmarked

for those states will be spent in regions that want the proj-

ects.

The house republicans now want to block Obama admin-

istration requests for $1 billion per year in additional funding

for its ambitious rail development plan. if they succeed, the

states that have accepted the arra funding could find it

very hard to proceed with their plans.

The Obama plan looked at the $8 billion provided in

the arra as a down payment “to jump-start a potential

world-class passenger rail system and sets the direction of

transportation policy for the future.”

“high-speed rail will modernize america’s valuable trans-

portation network, while reinvigorating the manufacturing

sector and putting people back to work in good-paying jobs,”

said Transportation Secretary ray lahood.

The administration sees high-speed rail as the key to

providing transportation for a growing population without

massive congestion on our roads, and with less pollution.

republicans and the Tea party activists who drive re-

publican positions are in a budget cutting frenzy, at least

when it comes to domestic programs supported by the Obama

administration.

But the governors who have rejected rail funding are slight-

ly more pragmatic, saying there are too many unknowns and

too many risks in the projects pursued by their predecessors.

according to the columbus Dispatch, Ohio Governor John

Kasich believes “there are too many unanswered questions

about how many people would ride the train, how fast it would

go and how much it would cost the state at a time when it

is facing an $8 billion budget shortfall -- and that he has his

own job-creation agenda to pursue.”

Kasich told the feds he would rather use the federal

funds approved for Ohio’s cleveland to columbus to cincin-

nati rail line for freight rail or highway infrastructure. his

request was rejected.

in Florida, incoming Governor rick Scott rejected federal

funding for a line from Tampa to Orlando primarily because

republicans take the offensive against high-speed rail—Governors’ rejection of grants triggers spirited debate

Federal Funding For High Speed rail Development

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March/april 2011 • SuStainable CommunitieS 33

“New opportunities to build lasting value” is the theme of the first annual San Francisco

conference on Sustainable housing and com-

munity Development, which will take place Sep-

tember 19-20, 2011.

“it’s been a challenging time for real estate

developers and city officials. Money has been

tight, and for affordable housing, resources have

diminished dramatically, “ said andre Shashaty,

conference chairman. “But this is also a time of

exciting changes in how we plan and develop our

communities – a time when we must look to the

future and forge new paths to healthier commu-

nities and a healthier environment.”

The conference combines high-level policy

discussions on new directions in policy and new

strategies for developers with nuts and bolts

sessions on getting deals done, including using

new models of public-private cooperation.

The big story in california is how to move

from the bold environmental visions of a.B. 32

and S.B. 375 to a workable strategy for more

compact development, including location of

housing affordable to all income groups closer

to job centers. Find out how planners, city of-

ficials and developers are working together to

realize the three goals of

• Environmental protection through reduction

of private vehicle usage and green house gas

emissions

• Economic development, including jobs and

more efficient use of government resources

• Equity for all income and ethnic groups

The conference is sponsored by the partner-

ship for Sustainable communities, a nonprofit

group dedicated to helping city planners and

development officials work with private real

estate interests to advance smart growth and

sustainable development.

cosponsoring is reznick Group, a top 20

national accounting, tax and business advisory

firm. Well known for our depth of knowledge

in real estate and tax credit services, we also

serve a wide range of industries that include

government, healthcare/long-term care, finan-

cial services, nonprofits, professional services,

renewable energy and technology.

Other sponsors include:

• low-income investment Fund

• local Government commission

• Nonprofit housing asssociation of Northern

california

Sustainable Housing & CD ConferenceSet for September 19-20 in San Francisco

• New directions in urban and regional planning and what they mean for developers

• Mixing uses to achieve sustainabil-ity, focusing on retail and housing (market-rate and affordable)

• implementation of new green build-ing standards including calGreen

• Financing green building and retrofits and renewable energy for homes

• New land use and zoning issues for affordable housing developers

• affordable housing weatherization and retrofits, including state and federal funding programs

• New opportunities for commercial

and mixed-use developments on infill locations

• assessing the potential and risks of transit-oriented development, includ-ing the challenges of preserving housing affordability while increas-ing density

• Strategies for coping with NiMBY and for winning entitlements

• The Green Financing Update: a re-view of sources & methods of financ-ing and equity syndication trends

• Energy and water-efficient building techniques and certifications

• renewable energy generation

• Winning zoning, design and parking concessions

The San Francisco Conference on Sustainable Housing and Community Development brings together policymakers and practitioners to explore

The preliminary line up of speakers includes:

• ophelia basgal, regional administrator, U.S. Dept. of housing & Urban Development

• Dana bourland Vice president of Green initiatives Enterprise community partners, inc.

• Cathy Creswell, acting director, ca Dept of housing & community Development

• Gary Downs, Nixon peabody

• Hasan ikhrata, Executive Director, Southern california association of Governments

• tim Kemper, regional Managing principal, reznick Group

• David reznick, principal and chairman, reznick Group

Save the Date: September 19-20, 2011and plan now to come to downtown San Francisco, ca

For details, go to www.p4sc.org/sfconference Or call 415-453-2100 x 302.To register now, send an email to [email protected] and put “conference” in the subject line. Or call 415-453-2100 ext 302.

phOTO: JM TUrEr, cOUrTESY WiKiMEDia

Focus on North Carolina

raleigh

planners

serve up

higher-density

solutions to

challenges

of growing

population,

limited land

raleigh, N.c.–if you haven’t been to North carolina lately, you might not recognize

it. New data from the 2010 U.S. census shows that North carolina’s population

swelled 18.5 percent over the last decade, making it the sixth fastest growing

state. in contrast, the total population of the United States grew at only 9.7 percent dur-

ing the same period. The state is home to 9.5 million people, putting it among the na-

tion’s ten most populous states.

To accommodate the growth, the state’s cities and towns are carefully planning land

use, zoning and public facilities investing. Even more noteworthy is the fact that they are

coordinating their efforts through the newly created statewide Sustainable communities

Task Force.

here in the state capital, a new comprehensive plan for the next 20 years was re-

cently adopted with the hope of redirecting a growth pattern that had earned the city

the nickname “sprawleigh.” The city now has over 400,000 people, and expects to add

120,000 households or 250,000 people by that year.

“We realized sprawl was not sustainable,” said Mitchell Silver, planning director. “We

realized we needed a new way to deal with growth so we had a serious conversation with

our residents.”

For one thing, projected increases in vehicle traffic would be difficult to accommo-

date, and most roads would need to be widened if the previous patterns of development

continued.

The city also had to look at demographics changes. The most fundamental trend is

With just about a year left to spend around $2.5

billion in remaining economic stimulus funds,

1,000 state and local administrating agencies

are pushing hard to meet goals for retrofitting homes

and apartments to save energy. They know the stakes

go way beyond just how much they can save low-income

families on utility bills.

in the current politically charged atmosphere, noth-

ing would please critics of federal spending on economic

stimulus more than failure to spend all the money by the

March 2012 deadline. On the other hand,

government watchdogs and cautious

housing and environmental groups are

concerned that the money will be spent

in a rush, accomplishing far too little in

the effort to cut energy use from millions

of aging single- and multifamily homes.

The federal Weatherization assis-

tance program (Wap) received an infu-

sion of just under $5 billion as part of the

2009 american recovery and reinvest-

ment act (arra) stimulus program. The

money has to be completely obligated by September 30,

2010 and spent by the end of March 2012.

Success in spending the Wap money has been care-

fully watched, largely because it represents a one-time

cash infusion to upgrade the nation’s housing stock.

after the money is gone, the most the Department of

Energy (DOE) can hope for is $320 million per year.

That’s what the Obama administration is seeking from

congress. The house of representatives has voted to

appropriate nothing for the program.

The program began in 1976 for weatherizing single-

family homes. Even though it has been allowable to do

multifamily projects since 1985, that authority has not

been widely used by local sub recipients. Until now.

With pressure on to get the money out, more states

are working to start or accelerate programs aimed at

apartments occupied by low-income households.

at press time, states had only spent about half the

stimulus money, so they will have to hustle to avoid

sending money back to the U.S. Treasury. DOE is say-

ing it expects to spend 95 percent of the money by the

deadline based on current rate of spending and pro-

duction of weatherized units. it has an official goal of

591,000 units, but is hoping to hit 700,000. it expects

DOE targets apartments for 20% of production as spending deadline nears

Green building gets all the media attention but cutting

greenhouse gas emissions from structures depends also on

retrofitting existing buildings. Is the $5 billion provided in

the 2009 economic stimulus package making a dent in the

problem of inefficient buildings? Sustainable Communities

magazine takes an in-depth look at the successes and fail-

ures of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), espe-

cially in regard to multifamily housing.

multifamily Weatherization Hits High Gear

Weatherization technicians repair and seal around windows

▲


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