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Comment 36 for Comments on the RTAC (sb375-rtac-ws) - 1st Workshop.
First Name: Connie
Last Name: Galambos Malloy
Email Address: connie@urbanhabitat.org
Affiliation: Urban Habitat
Subject: SCS - Housing Affordability
Comment:
August 20, 2009 Chairman Mike McKeever and members Regional Targets Advisory Committee California Air Resources Board 1001 I Street P.O. Box 2815 Sacramento, CA 95812 Dear Chairman McKeever and members of the RTAC: I am writing to you representing low income communities and communities of color in the San Francisco Bay Area who are active around environmental issues including but not limited to GHG reductions. We are concerned that the state’s greenhouse gas reduction targets could negatively impact the development community’s ability to offer affordable rents and mortgages to all Californians and urge you to adopt recommendations that achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and promote the development of affordable, compact homes. Multiple GHG reduction benefits will accrue if a variety of housing types and affordability levels are part of the development pattern in every Sustainable Communities Strategy. Two crucial pieces of this include pptimizing the GHG reductions achieved by an improved jobs-housing balance, and increasing the GHG reductions achieved by new transit-oriented developments. To ensure we meet not both social equity and environmental goals, Urban Habitat supports Mike Rawson’s July 31, 2009, proposal to incorporate the following factors and methodologies: • Quantification of the effect of housing affordability on GHG emissions (including affordability in relation to wage levels); • Projections, by region, of the relative increase or decrease in homes affordable to households at various income levels (particularly the availability of below-market-rate homes) and attendant effect on GHG emissions over the target period; • Crediting regions that exceed the housing affordability projections with quantified GHG reductions; and • Analysis of the potential and actual displacement from compacted development, quantification of the effect of displacement on GHG emissions, and GHG reduction credit to regions that prevent or mitigate displacement. Additionally, Metropolitan Planning Organizations need a modeling tool to measure the impacts of potential SCS development patterns on their region’s land prices and home affordability. Housing California is working with an MPO to determine how PECAS could be adapted to provide this information to policymakers. With the information, an MPO can more accurately access whether its forecasted development pattern is realistic and will achieve the region’s GHG reduction target. It is increasingly clear that cleaner air, healthier families, vibrant communities, and more affordable homes can be achieved through improved land use planning. In solidarity with such networks as Housing California, we urge you to adopt our recommendations to spread these benefits to Californians at all income levels. Sincerely, Connie Galambos Malloy, Director of Programs Urban Habitat Oakland, CA
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2009-08-20 12:11:38
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