[OKC] Lawmakers Aim to Bring ‘Sustainable Communities’ From Talk to Action

[Alig, Jennifer L.]

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 

Lawmakers Aim to Bring ‘Sustainable Communities’ From Talk to Action

 

 

by Elana Schor on July 8, 2009

 

 

When three agencies in President Obama's Cabinet -- DOT, Housing and

Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency -- banded

together to promote "sustainable communities," the initiative sounded

promising but somewhat lacking in concrete ideas.

 

Enter a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO),

who successfully attached their green housing legislation to the climate

bill that recently cleared the House. Perlmutter and his co-sponsors

took a victory lap of sorts today at the Library of Congress as a Senate

counterpart to their plan was officially unveiled by Sen. Sheldon

Whitehouse (D-RI).

 

The green housing measure aims to promote sustainable development

through several channels. Transit-oriented development gets a

substantial nod via location-efficient mortgages (LEMs), a brainchild of

Fannie Mae that offers to count transportation savings as part of a

homeowner's income when approving a loan. LEMs, therefore, help make

transit access easier for first-time, urban, and lower-income buyers.

 

Read more here:

 

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/07/08/lawmakers-aim-to-bring-sustainable-communities-from-talk-to-action/

 

 

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