August 18, 2009 -- Introduced by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) on August 6, The Livable Communities Act is designed to help local communities plan for and create better and more affordable places to live, work, and raise families. Dodd has said that “with sustainable development, our communities will cut traffic congestion; reduce greenhouse gas emissions and gasoline consumption; protect rural areas and green spaces; revitalize existing Main Streets and urban centers; and create more affordable housing.”  The bill would provide incentives to regions to make better connections among their affordable housing, transit and environmental initiatives.

The bill would create:

• Incentives To Plan For Livable Communities 
  The Comprehensive Planning Grant Program will help communities develop regional plans that incorporate transportation, housing, community and economic development, and environmental needs. Grantees must demonstrate a commitment to integrated planning and sustainable development.  The Act authorizes $400 million in competitive grant money over four years. 
  
  
• Funding to Implement Sustainable Development Projects 
  The Challenge Grant Program will enable communities to implement cross-cutting projects according to their comprehensive regional plans. With $3.75 billion authorized for competitive grants over three years, these projects will help communities create and preserve affordable housing; support transit-oriented development; improve public transportation; create pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfares; redevelop brownfields; and foster economic development.

The bill would seek to ensure cooperation by also creating an:

• Interagency Council on Sustainable Communities that will bring together the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies to coordinate federal sustainable development policies, sustainability research; Livable Communities grants; identify barriers to sustainable development; and promote coordination of transportation, housing, community development, energy, and environmental policies.
  
  
• Office of Sustainable Housing And Communities. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will establish the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities to coordinate federal policies that foster sustainable development and administer HUD’s sustainability initiatives; recommend and conduct research on sustainability; implement and oversee Livable Communities grant programs in coordination with the Interagency Council.

While the bill was the product of much input from experts across the country, it follows the reasoning of the HOMEConnecticut program by giving localities money to plan sustainable housing-transit projects and then additional grants to carry them out.

Click on these links to read a couple of recent Hartford Courant articles about this bill: Moderate-Income Housing Advocates Herald New Federal Proposal, Transit Key to Revival.