Comment Log Display

THE MISSION OF EAH HOUSING is to create community by developing,
managing and promoting quality affordable housing. 

Affordable housing is a key component of achieving lower VMT. 

Higher smart growth goals will help to ensure that legislation
such as SB 375 will have the resources behind it to truly support
affordable housing in smart growth planning.

CARB should set a goal of 11-14 MMT and send a clear signal that
new communities should be walkable, affordable, and have great
transportation choices.

A September 2008 scientific analysis by Dr. Reid Ewing and Dr.
Arthur C. Nelson, authors of Growing Cooler, the definitive
scholarly text on urban development and climate change, finds that
a target of 11-14 MMT a year is achievable with policies California
is already contemplating (the Ewing Report is available at
www.climateplan.org).

A target of 11-14 MMT translates to a very modest reduction in
driving in 2020 – less than four miles per day per licensed
driver.

----------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND INFILL
the inclusion of affordable housing is a crucial aspect in this
model of new infill development.  

Tim Frank of the Sierra Club has said that “all affordable housing
is green,” with an awareness that mixed-income communities help
alleviate the traffic, congestion, and pollution that arise from
commuting by those pushed to the margins.  We have seen this in a
number of communities where market rate infill development has both
priced out working people and created more service jobs filled by
people who cannot afford housing nearby.

The development community is ready to meet the market demand for
infill development.  But we face barriers: local governments need
resources to plan and zone for climate-friendly development, and
developers and local governments alike lack funding and financing
options for building mixed-income infill developments and the
infrastructure needed to support them. 

The AB 32 Scoping Plan is a major opportunity to provide
leadership and set policy direction not only to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, but also to meet Californians’ demands for relief
from high gas prices through shorter commutes and affordable homes
in walkable neighborhoods.  Therefore, we urge you to:

1.	Plan for higher CO2 reductions from smart transportation and
land us planning.
2.	Focus state capital programs to provide funding to local
governments and developers that are planning for and building
development that reduces VMT.

The Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission has adopted
a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990
levels by 2035 through land use and transportation planning.  MTC
has set a VMT reduction goal of a 10% per-capita decrease by 2035,
compared to an anticipated increase of 10% if no action is taken. 
The state should match the leadership that is already happening
throughout the state by making VMT reduction a significant part of
California’s climate strategy and providing the resources needed to
make it happen. Models for these actions can be found around the
state, and those that maintain a commitment to including households
of all incomes in the planning stages hold the most potential for
everybody’s future.