FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 22, 2017

CONTACT
Cheryl Cort, Policy Director
202-251-7516 (c)
cheryl@smartergrowth.net

Tomorrow’s affordable housing crisis can be avoided with a permanent affordability commitment today

Washington, DC — Today the Coalition for Smarter Growth released a report [PDF] demonstrating how the District of Columbia could stretch its investments in affordable housing and avoid future crises in expiring use restrictions by establishing an in perpetuity affordability commitment in exchange for public dollars.

“The city of Boston has been doing this successfully for decades. It requires that any city investment in affordable rental housing comes with a commitment to make that affordability permanent. DC has similar opportunities since it too is a high cost, strong market city,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth, and author of the report.

The report recommends that the District applies a permanent affordability requirement in exchange for public subsidies provided for affordable housing developments. The report shows how a permanent affordability requirement is a practical tool that DC could use to get ahead of tomorrow’s crisis of expiring use restrictions on affordable housing. For many years, another high-cost city, Boston, has successfully implemented a policy that requires that city funds used to create or rehabilitate affordable rental homes come with the commitment of in-perpetuity affordability.

“We commend DC Department of Housing and Community Development’s big step in this direction with the draft plan for funding allocation. Just as Boston did, DC is now incentivizing applicants to commit to an in perpetuity use restriction for their housing developments. Like Boston, we expect that DC will be able to attract proposals that take advantage of the incentive and make the permanent commitment to affordability,” Cort said.

The report addresses the main concerns that are often raised about very long term and permanent affordability – acceptance by investors, and uncertainty about attracting recapitalization funds at the end of the useful life of buildings and their systems. Boston has experienced no problems attracting investors. The city also ensures that an aging building receives the recapitalization it needs. Experts cite the similarity between Boston’s strong housing market and DC’s as the basis for attracting investors in affordable housing deals that require permanent affordability.

“This is a tool for high-cost areas,” said Leslie Steen, Senior Advisor, Wesley Housing Development Corporation, a local affordable housing developer. Steen continued, “Permanent affordability is a critical tool we need in DC to be able to keep our affordable housing stock serving low-income residents for the long term. Without it, we’ll lose more and more subsidized housing to high-priced market rates as the restrictions expire.”

Permanent affordability also helps more low-income residents become homeowners. Permanent affordability has emerged as a solution to preserve affordable for-sale homes and expand the opportunity for more lower income residents to buy. One of the key challenges in affordable homeownership program is balancing wealth creation for the homeowner while preserving affordability.

“Programs have managed to find a way to balance the legitimate desire of allowing people to get some equity while also allowing for preservation of affordability,” said Brett Theodos, Urban Institute.

Jim Steck, City First Homes, a DC-based permanently affordable homeownership organization said, “Over the course of the last several decades, the District has changed dramatically. Tools previously needed to combat disinvestment and the city’s need for growth and economic development need to be updated to respond to this reality. Permanent affordability is an important tool that can help encourage equitable development and mitigate the potential displacement of long-term residents as a result of the city’s uneven economic expansion.”

The report identified the need for the District to establish a clear shared equity policy for publicly-subsidized homeownership that balances the desire to provide the assisted homeowner with wealth-building opportunity while preserving the subsidy in the unit for the next assisted homebuyer.

“DC has the opportunity to build on solid experience from Boston, and community land trusts around the country and right here in DC. Our high-cost market demands better solutions for preserving our investments in affordable homes for low-income DC families. Bringing a permanent affordability policy to all our public investments is a practical and foresighted approach,” Cort said.

The proposed incentives for the Qualified Allocation Plan by DHCD for in perpetuity affordability terms follows the recent action by the DC Council to require in perpetuity affordability for all affordable housing built as a part of public land dispositions, and the DC Zoning Commission’s earlier ruling that requires all affordable inclusionary zoning units be affordable for the life of building.

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2017

CONTACT
Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director
(703) 599-6437 (c)
stewart@smartergrowth.net

Aimee Custis, Deputy Director
(202) 431-7185 (c)
aimee@smartergrowth.net

“Fund it, Fix it” – Time for our elected leaders to provide the funding Metro needs

Washington, DC: The Coalition for Smarter Growth responded to the latest sobering news from WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld, with a call on elected officials from our Governors and Congressional Delegation on down, to provide the funding Metro needs.

“We are deeply concerned that our elected officials from top to bottom haven’t stepped up to provide both the operational and capital funding that Metro needs,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, and a Virginia resident. “At a time when Metro’s value to the region’s economy is more apparent than ever, we call upon our leaders to make spending to restore the system the top priority.”

Recently, the region attracted the Nestlé company U.S. headquarters from suburban California to the Rosslyn Metro station and Marriott Corporation announced its move from a suburban office park to the Bethesda Metro. JBG and Vornado announced a merger in which they will concentrate solely on development at Metro stations and will divest all non-Metro accessible properties. In recent years, Hilton Hotels moved its headquarters into our region and located near Metro in Tysons and Choice Hotels moved from an office park to Metro in Rockville. Meanwhile, 120,000 people have moved into the District of Columbia in just 12 years, thousands of apartments are being built near Metro, and 86% of new office development is within walking distance of Metro.

“When the entire Metro team — from the General Manager to track workers, are giving it their all to restore the system, we should be backing them up with the funding needed to get the job done and then to keep Metro in top operating condition for decades to come,” said Schwartz.

“Metro should not be forced to raise fares and cut service, which will just chase more riders away, and they also shouldn’t be forced into financial gimmicks to keep the system operating as discussed in today’s stories. So while it’s good that the jurisdictions are closing some of the operating gap, we think they should provide sufficient funding to avoid the fare hikes and service cuts,” said Aimee Custis, Deputy Director of the Coalition and a DC resident.

“The Metro safety oversight body is on its way to approval by the three states, the General Manager and his team are making solid progress, and the business community is betting on Metro as the connecting tissue of our region’s economy. So it’s time for elected officials to make Metro funding – both operating and capital, their priority focus,” concluded Schwartz

 

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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Smart Growth America
Coalition for Smarter Growth (DC/MD/VA)
Partnership for Smarter Growth (Richmond)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2017

CONTACT

Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth
(703) 599-6437
stewart@smartergrowth.net

Alexandra Dodds, Smart Growth America
(202) 971-3927
adodds@smartgrowthamerica.org

Andrew Moore, Partnership for Smarter Growth
(804) 283-6819
amoore@psgrichmond.org

Dangerous by Design

• New rankings show District of Columbia a significantly safer place to walk than metro region as a whole, but also finds big disparities in fatality rates within the city’s population
• Washington DC region and Hampton Roads region rank safer than Richmond and Baltimore regions
• Higher rates of pedestrian fatalities found among people of color, elderly, lower income and uninsured

<< Smart Growth America and National Complete Streets Coalition to hold a webinar at 1 pm today. >>

Washington, DC – Nationwide between 2005 and 2014, a total of 46,149 people were struck and killed by drivers while walking. That averages out to about 13 people per day. In the Washington DC region during the same period, 814 people were killed, an average of nearly one every four days.

Each one of those people was a child, parent, friend, classmate, or neighbor. People of color, the elderly, and those from low-income areas experience a disproportionate rate of fatalities. “We have a long way to go to achieve ‘Vision Zero’ in our communities – zero deaths and serious injuries – among road users,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive to Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which works in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

Dangerous by Design 2016, a new report released today by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition ranks the 104 largest metro areas in the country as well as every state by a “Pedestrian Danger Index,” or PDI, ranking from greatest risk (1) to the least risk (104 for the regions). PDI is a calculation of the share of local commuters who walk to work (the best available measure of how many people are likely to be out walking each day) and the most recent data on pedestrian deaths.

Comparing four regions in our urban crescent

Ranking the regions in the urban crescent between Baltimore and Hampton Roads, the Washington metropolitan area ranks 69th out of 104 metro areas, and Hampton Roads 77th (better than DC region), while Richmond and Baltimore lag, ranking 44th and 55th respectively. The Richmond region, however, showed a 14 point reduction in its PDI between 2014 and 2016. “There has been an increasing focus on walking and bicycling in the Richmond region, more people living in our walkable downtown, and major public education outreach by our partners at Bike Walk RVA,” said Andrew Moore, President of the Partnership for Smarter Growth in Richmond.

DC ranks the best locally for people walking, with a PDI of 15.4, compared to the PDI for the metropolitan statistical area as a whole of 43.5. Virginia’s PDI is 41.4, but Maryland with a PDI of 77.8 lags regionally and below the national average.

“The national report shows only incremental progress in reducing the Pedestrian Danger Index in the DC and Baltimore regions, some progress in Hampton Roads (reduction of 6.5 points) and the aforementioned progress in the Richmond region (reduction of 14 points),” said Schwartz. “Of concern is the uptick in the District of Columbia’s PDI (nearly 1 point). At a time when jurisdictions across our region and nationwide are adopting ‘Vision Zero’ policies that recognize any traffic death is one too many, it’s alarming that we haven’t made more progress over the past few years. We know that better street design, slower speeds, and better reporting and enforcement make a huge impact on how safe it is to walk in a given place.”

Cities and suburbs

“With narrower streets and slower speeds, dense, walkable cities like DC tend to have safety rates better than suburbs with high-speed arterials,” said Schwartz, “That’s what we confirmed when we did a regional version of this national report back in 2008.” (Dangerous by Design 2016 doesn’t include comparative statistics for cities and adjacent suburbs).

“Wide, high-speed arterial roads in the suburbs are particularly dangerous, but can be made safer with fewer and narrower lanes, medians, signalized crossings, better sidewalks, fewer curb cuts, and protected bicycle lanes,” Schwartz continued. “State and local departments of transportation need to make safer street and arterial design a top priority.”

Social disparities

People of color and older adults are overrepresented among pedestrian deaths locally and nationwide. In the District of Columbia, African-American residents account for 48.7% of the population but more than 64.7% of pedestrian fatalities and Hispanic Americans account for 9.9% of the population but more than 13.7% of the pedestrian fatalities. All told, people of color represent 78.4% of the pedestrian fatalities in DC. “It’s imperative that Mayor Bowser and her administration step up their efforts to change street design and other safety measures if we are going to achieve Vision Zero in the city,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Pedestrian fatality rates are also disproportionately high for African Americans in Maryland (29.0% of the population but 38.3% of fatalities), and Virginia (18.9% of the population but 30.6% of fatalities). Even after controlling for the relative amounts of walking among these populations, risks continue to be higher for some people of color—indicating that these people most likely face disproportionately unsafe conditions for walking.

Older adults also face greater risks. DC residents 65 and older represent 11.3% of the city’s population but 21.8% of the city’s pedestrian fatalities. “There are so many ways to make our streets and neighborhoods safer for older adults to navigate,” said Cort, author of CSG’s report, Moving an Age-Friendly DC: Transportation for All Ages. “Leaders can make our region safer for walking through measures like keeping sidewalks and crosswalks in good repair, bump-outs, and protected bicycle lanes, and making sure transit is accessible and usable.”

In addition, Dangerous by Design 2016 finds that PDI is correlated with median household income as well as rates of uninsured individuals. Low-income metro areas are predictably more dangerous than higher-income ones: as median household incomes drop, PDIs rise. Similar trends bear out with rates of uninsured individuals: as rates of uninsured individuals rise, so do PDIs, meaning that the people who can least afford to be injured often live in the most dangerous places for walking.

Read the full Dangerous by Design 2016 report, released today by Smart Growth America, at smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design.

About the organizations:

Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

Partnership for Smarter Growth educates and engages the communities in the Richmond region to work together to improve quality of life by guiding where and how the region grows. It connects residents in the nine jurisdiction region and focuses on land use planning, urban design, transit, and safer streets for walking and bicycling. Learn more at psgrichmond.org.

Smart Growth America is the only national organization dedicated to researching, advocating for, and leading coalitions to bring better development to more communities nationwide. From providing more sidewalks to ensuring more homes are built near public transportation or that productive farms remain a part of our communities, smart growth helps make sure people across the nation can live in great neighborhoods. For additional information, visit smartgrowthamerica.org.

The report is released in collaboration with AARP, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates. See the full report for all partner organization information.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2016

CONTACT
Cheryl Cort, Coalition for Smarter Growth
(202) 251-7516
cheryl@smartergrowth.net
Prince George’s adopts cutting-edge urban street designs to support transit-oriented development

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY – On Tuesday, November 15, the Prince George’s County Council voted to adopt state-of-the-practice urban street design standards. The new standards break with old highway rules by allowing the construction of safe, low speed streets that foster walkable streets in business districts and around transit stations.

“We applaud County Executive Rushern Baker and the Prince George’s County Council for adopting such progressive standards to help Metro station areas and other local centers thrive. These bold new street standards will allow transit-oriented development to be served by safer, low-speed streets where walking, bicycling and riding transit are easy options. The new standards also allow on-street parking on a major roadway – a first for the county. All these innovative urban street design standards are essential ingredients to creating successful walkable, transit-oriented business districts,” said Chery Cort, Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Until now, Prince George’s, like many jurisdictions, has used outdated rural road design standards that encourage high travel speeds and difficult crossings for people who are walking. Not only are these rural road standards unnecessarily dangerous in urban areas where people are walking or biking, they are also bad for business. Creating mixed use walkable places is the key to fostering high value transit-oriented development, and thriving traditional town centers. Without streets designed to slow down traffic to reasonable speeds, and create a comfortable walking environment, business districts and Metro stations will fail to thrive as places people will want to be. These new street designs solve this problem.

The new Urban Street Design Standards are intended to be used in the 8 Regional Transit Districts and 26 Local Centers, as established by Plan Prince George’s 2035 that have the necessary transit and transportation infrastructure to support future growth as mixed use centers.

The standards were adopted by the county following a law enacted last year asking the County Executive to provide proposed urban street design standards to the County Council in October 2016.

“The Baker administration took this assignment and ran with it. They have leaped ahead of other jurisdictions with its innovative urban street design standards. This a real boost for making transit-oriented development work with streets designed to encourage more walking, bicycling and riding transit,” said Cort. “Kudos to County Executive Baker and the County Council,” she concluded.

 

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2016

CONTACT
Chery Cort, Coalition for Smarter Growth
(202) 251-7516
cheryl@smartergrowth.net

GreenPlace program launches to show transportation benefits of new transit-oriented development

WASHINGTON DC – Today, the Coalition for Smarter Growth announced the launch of a new program to help decision-makers and consumers understand the positive impacts of living in new transit-oriented housing in the DC region.

The program, called GreenPlace, has already evaluated five District of Columbia projects during its pilot phase: 90-91 Blagden Alley, 15 Dupont Circle, 680 Rhode Island Avenue NE, 327 Cedar Street NW, and 1005 North Capitol Street NE. The project team hopes to evaluate more projects as soon as this November, according to Cheryl Cort, Policy Director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

GreenPlace offers people better information about the potential impact of new housing – encouraging locations, designs, and traffic reduction measures to reduce increase walking, bicycling and riding transit, and reduce traffic and pollution.

Through its certification process, GreenPlace provides people with objective, systematic evaluations of residential developments that significantly outperform regional averages in terms of:

• CO2 emissions (the leading cause of climate change)
• Traffic (vehicle-miles traveled)
• Active transportation alternatives (encouraging walking, bicycling and transit use)
• Health benefits to residents.

Households living in a GreenPlace-certified home drive only 56-67% of the regional average for daily driving (45 miles/day).

“Our region is growing. The question is how to create more homes in the right place and protect our environment,” said Cort. “GreenPlace helps answer this question by objectively assessing how much new residents will drive and how much C02 will be emitted from a new housing development. We measure the environmental performance of this new housing versus the region’s average.”

Along with community members and developers, decision-makers benefit from GreenPlace’s objective assessment. Public officials such Planning and Zoning Commissioners, Board of Zoning Adjustment members, City Council and County Board members, and other public officials need better tools for objectively evaluating the traffic and pollution reduction potential of more housing in transit-accessible locations. GreenPlace’s use of a validated land use and transportation model gives these decision-makers greater confidence in the benefits of approving more housing near transit, with the right features, making our communities and region more sustainable.

“This certification program empowers decision-makers and communities with a tool to objectively evaluate new housing. It helps assess if it’s in the right place and offering the right kinds of benefits to reduce traffic and pollution, and build a more sustainable and walkable community,” concluded Cort.

A full report detailing the methodology used to develop the program, as well as consumer-friendly one-page summaries of several pilot certifications, and information certification opportunities are available on the program’s website, smartergrowth.net/greenplace.

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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