By Ron Thaniel
March 23, 2009

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood announced March 18 a new partnership to help families gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs at a House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, hearing on Livable Communities, Transit Oriented Development, and Incorporating Green Building Practices into Federal Housing and Transportation Policy.

The average working American family spends nearly 60 percent of its budget on housing and transportation costs, making these two areas the largest expenses for American families. Donovan and LaHood said they want to seek ways to cut these costs by focusing their efforts on creating affordable and sustainable communities. To do so, HUD and DOT have created a high-level interagency task force to better coordinate federal transportation and housing investments and identify strategies to give American families more choices for affordable housing near employment opportunities; more transportation options, to lower transportation costs, shorten travel times, and improve the environment; the ability to combine several errands into one trip through better coordination of transportation and land uses; and ensure safe, livable, healthy communities.

The Conference has long urged for this type of crosscutting collaboration between key federal agencies.

Federal transportation policy does not support or provide incentives for crosscutting functional relationships and planning collaboration. With major population growth projected in many metropolitan areas and congestion already prevalent, managing decisions about meeting mobility needs and quality of life will entail decisions about more than just building more transportation capacity. Similarly, transportation investments are major economic factors, opening up new development area opportunities, creating jobs, impacting personal mobility costs, and influencing productivity. Finally, transportation impacts the environment and climate change, both through the structure of neighborhoods and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Conference of Mayors Transportation and Communications Committee Chair Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper told the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, “In Denver, this means that our transportation decisions are tied to promoting livable urban centers and sustainable development broadly.”

For more information on the HUD/DOT partnership, go to the website http://www.dot.gov/affairs/dot3209.htm.