New life for US housing and urban policy

Abstract

After a decade of neglect, housing and urban issues in the United States are getting serious attention from the federal government. After 18 months, we can see a very serious urban policy framework emerging from the words and actions of the current administration. This framework isn't just about cities or distressed neighbourhoods. It's about metropolitan regions and the urgent need for city and suburban jurisdictions to start coordinating their planning and investments more systematically. And the new framework looks far beyond housing and HUD to address transportation, energy, environment, labour, and education policy. Knowledge matters to the Obama Administration; many of the initiatives now being launched explicitly reflect lessons from the past 15 years of research. Today, those of us in the research community have an opportunity to contribute hugely to the pursuit of the new urban policy agenda, but only if we are prepared to make our work genuinely useful to policymakers.

Keywords:

• US urban policy
• Obama administration
• federalism

Notes

See Katz (2000). A notable exception is federal transportation investments, which have played a major role in urban growth and form, focusing primarily on interstate highways and contributing to the decentralization of both housing and jobs.

See Executive Order –- Establishment of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, February 19, 2009. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Executive-Order-Establishment-of-the-White-House-Office-of-Urban-Affairs/.

See Remarks by the President at Urban and Metropolitan Policy Roundtable, 13 July 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Urban-and-Metropolitan-Roundtable/.

In May 2010, the White House announced that the office's director, Adolfo Carrion, is leaving (to become a regional administrator for HUD). As of late June, a replacement has not been identified.

See HUD and DOT Announce Interagency Partnership to Promote Sustainable Communities, 18 March 2009, http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-023.cfm.

See HUD's summary of the Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative at http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/neighborhoodspg/.

See the summary of HUD's 2010 budget proposal at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/Department_of_Housing_and_Urban_Development.pdf.

The 2010 budget allocates only $10 million to this new initiative, with funds intended for planning grants to local communities. Funding for the implementation of these plans remains to be determined. See the summary in the Department of Education's 2010 budget proposal at http:// www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget10/summary/edlite-section3a.html#promise.

For HUD's summary of the Transforming Rental Assistance initiative, see http://portal. hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/fy2011budget/signature_initiatives/transforming_rental_assistance. This initiative is generating vigorous debate. For example, see Peter Dreier's ‘Does Public Housing Have a Future?’ at http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/08/does_public_housing_have_a_future/?ref=c1.

See the 23 June 2009 Executive Order establishing this Council at http://www.autocommunities.gov/ExecutiveOrder.htm.

In conjunction with these federal efforts, the Ford Foundation is providing $200 million over five years to help cities and suburbs develop metropolitan housing, transportation and land-use strategies for the future; see http://www.fordfoundation.org/newsroom/news-from-ford/375.

See the guidance memorandum issued by the White House, 11 August 2009. at http://www. whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-28.pdf.

See the 8 June 2010 OMB memorandum at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-19.pdf.

See, for example, analyses of differences across metros in jobs, wages, and hardship at http://www.MetroTrends.org.

See for example, Cisneros and Engdahl 2009 and HUD Secretary Donovan's 14 July speech on the lessons from HOPE VI and their implications for Choice Neighborhoods, at http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/speeches_remarks_statements/speech_07142009.

See OMB's guidance memorandum at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_ 2010/m10-01.pdf.

See Bostic's testimony for his 13 May 2009 Senate confirmation hearing at http://www. hud.gov/offices/cir/test090513c.cfm.