The city was the first to tie fair housing requirements to zoning reform.

After three years, how is Boston’s approach to tie fair housing to zoning reform panning out? Kalena Thomhave seeks to answer this question in Smart Cities Dive.
The context: “In 2021, the city passed what may be the nation’s first effort to add fair housing requirements to its zoning code. The new policy requires developers of large projects to assess the projects’ possible impacts on area residents historically discriminated against and take steps to reduce those impacts.”
“The Boston Interagency Fair Housing Development Committee, which has representatives from multiple city agencies, reviews a developer’s project assessment and its chosen interventions as well as the city’s own displacement risk data.” Developers can negotiate with the committee to finalize their requirements and can choose from a variety of mitigating measures that include “building a greater share of affordable units, building more family-size units or providing more units to residents with housing vouchers.”
To date, 43 large projects have triggered the ordinance. According to Karina Oliver-Milchman, director of policy development and research for the Mayor’s Office of Housing, “it is difficult to explicitly measure success, though development projects are indeed changing as a result of the ordinance process.”
FULL STORY: Boston was the first major city to pair fair housing with zoning. How’s it going?

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?
Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

Updating LA’s Tree Rules Could Bring More Shade to Underserved Neighborhoods
A new USC study finds that relaxing Los Angeles’ outdated tree planting guidelines could significantly expand urban tree canopy and reduce shade disparities in lower-income neighborhoods, though infrastructure investments are also needed.

California's Canal Solar Projects Aim to Conserve Resources and Expand Clean Energy
California’s Project Nexus has begun generating electricity from solar panels installed over irrigation canals, with researchers and state agencies exploring statewide expansion to conserve water and boost clean energy production.

HHS Staff Cuts Gut Energy Assistance Program
The full staff of a federal program that distributes heating and cooling assistance for low-income families was laid off, jeopardizing the program’s operations.
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