Livability 101: Federal Roundtable

NCSL Legislative Summit: Sunday, July 25, 2010

Running time: 00:50:46

Speakers
John Frece, Office of Smart Growth, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
Salin Geevarghese, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C.
Beth Osborne, deputy sssistant secretary for transportation policy, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C. 
 

Overview

On June 16, 2009, the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) joined with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to help improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. Through a set of guiding livability principles and a partnership agreement that will guide the agencies' efforts, this partnership will coordinate federal housing, transportation, and other infrastructure investments to protect the environment, promote equitable development, and help to address the challenges of climate change. 

Livability 101 Seminar

NCSL convened a Livability 101 Seminar because interest in creating sustainable, livable communities is on the rise. At the federal level, an interagency partnership made up of DOT, HUD, and EPA is working to coordinate funding and planning to help create communities that offer a strong mix of housing, transportation, and service choices within a walkable area. Livable community principles will likely heavily influence the federal transportation re-authorization, so it is key legislators learn how to position their states. States, intrigued by the economic and environmental benefits of building sustainable communities, have pursued a wide range of policies that work towards livability principles. such as transportation choice and location efficiency. Visit the resources from NCSL's Livability 101 multi-media pages to learn more about the growing role of livability, and its potential to help solve problems such as traffic congestion, mobility, sustainable use of natural resources and goverment dollars, and economic competiveness.