Envisioning Equitable and Sustainable Regions

1. Envisioning Equitable and Sustainable Regions Sam Tepperman-Gelfant Public Advocates Inc. October 18, 2013

2. Overview • History and Context – Sprawl and Inequity • San Francisco Bay Area – Envisioning and Advocating for A Better Future • Tools for Linking Transportation and Land Use 2

3. Public Advocates Inc. • Challenging the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination since 1971. • Strengthening community voices and achieving tangible legal victories • Advancing SOCIAL EQUITY in areas such as: • Education • Housing • Transit Vital building blocks of thriving communities 3

4. Sustainability and Social Equity:History & challenges 1 4

5. SB 375: Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008 Legislative goals: • Decrease sprawl • Increase TOD/Infill • People drive less • …decreasing GHG emissions

6. SB 375 • Calls for GHG reduction targets • Integrates disjointed regional planning processes • Regional Transportation Plan • State Mandated Affordable Housing Plans, Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) …to create Sustainable Communities Strategy 6

7. History shows us that climate change, sprawl, and social equityissues share common origins 7

8. Brown v. Board of Education

9. White Flight to Suburbs

10. Dismantling of Local Transit Infrastructure

11. Created Unsustainable Patterns . . .

12. . . . That Persist Today

13. A history of investment. . . With displacement

14. Displacement today

15. San Francisco Bay Area: housing • Median home price = $555,000 (on the way back to $700k+) • 5+ minimum wage jobs needed to afford 2-bedroom apartment in most SF neighborhoods • Oakland lost 1/3 of African American population between 1990 and 2010 • 7 out of the 10 cities with highest African American population % are in in suburbs & exurbs • Marin County: 80% white (region: 52.5% white) 15

16. San Francisco Bay Area: Transit • Fare hikes and service cuts in transit • Households earning $20-50k devote 63% of budget to housing & transportation (highest % in U.S.) Subsidies and Race of Riders

17. Advocating for sustainable and Equitable regions 2 17

18. The Bay Area’s Sustainable Community Strategy • 28-Year Transportation (RTP) and Land Use Plan • $292 Billion in Transportation Investments • 2.1 Million Projected New Residents • Planning Process Began in 2010;Plan Adopted July 18, 2013 18

19. 6 Big wins for Social Equity Community Power Local Transit Service Investment Without Displacement Healthy & Safe Communities Affordable Housing Economic Opportunity 19

20. Structuring for Success • Leading with Social Equity • Embracing a Range of Issues as Interconnected • Marrying Grassroots and Policy Organizations • Tackling Regional Systems, both Regionally and Locally 20

21. Equity, Environment, & Jobs Scenario Photo credit: Paloma Pavel

22. Community vision: policy priorities • Distribute Housing Growth Equitably: Increase quality affordable housing options in both urban areas and suburban job centers • Protect against Displacement: Ensure that lower-income communities are not displaced by TOD by regional grant incentives (OBAG) • Improve Local Transit Service:Fund more of the local transit service on which low-income riders of color depend 22

23. Low-income In-commuters

24. Jobs-HousingFIT http://mappingregionalchange.ucdavis.edu/jobshousingfit2011 24

25. Achieving Investment Without Displacement • Investments and incentives strengthen and stabilize communities vulnerable to gentrification and displacement • Plan based on community-identified needs • Protect existing tenants and apartments • Build new affordable housing • Link economic development to local workforce capacity & development • Strengthen local public transit • Promote and protect neighborhood-serving retail and services • Track key indicators to detect gentrification and displacement before it’s too late http://www.publicadvocates.org/document/a-bay-area-agenda-for-investment-without-displacement 25

26. Local Transit: the life blood of transportation 26

27. Transit operations:Co-benefits • Every $10 million in transit operating investments yields $32 million in increased business sales. • $1 dollar in service cuts resulting from operating deficits yields $10 in local economic harms, from lost wages and productivity and increased transportation costs. • Taking public transit instead of driving on a 20-mile round trip work commute saves 4,800 lbs CO2/year – 10% of annual GHG emissions for a two-person two-car household. 27

28. Inequitable Transit Investments

29. Sustainable planning for whom? Low-income households will be spending over 74% of their incomes on H+T 36% of households in “communities of concern” will be at high risk of displacement. 29

30. 2012: Studying the EEJ

31. 2013: EEJdeclared The “environmentally Superior Alternative” • Strongest shift to non-auto travel • 165,00 more transit boardings per day • 83,000 fewer cars on the road • 3.5 million fewer miles of auto travel per day • Greatest reduction in GHG and toxic air pollutants • 1,900 fewer tons of CO2 emissions per day • 568,000 fewer tons of GHG emissions per year • Energy savings equivalent to 600,000 gal. of gas/day • Better for working families • 42% lower risk of displacement • Lower H+T cost • Shorter commute times 31

32. Data + Organizing = change Education and Advocacy Day Broadening Support Media & Communications Turnout & Testimony

33. Key Improvements Won • Improvements to One Bay Area Grant program to link to local affordable housing and anti-displacement policies and reward local affordable housing approvals. • Commitment to inclusive regional public process to allocate Cap & Trade Revenues with at least 25% going to benefit disadvantaged communities • First ever commitment by MTC to develop a “comprehensive strategy” to focus on funding transit operations and maintenance • Studies of labor policies and best practices 33

34. High Level Outcomes • Progressive groups provide strong organizing and political mobilization in face of vocal right-wing anti-planning contingent • Substantial equity problems remain • Housing growth concentrated in low-income areas • Insufficient funding programmed to maintain (or expand) local transit 34

35. Tools for Linking transportation and land use 3 35

36. FTA New Starts criteria, August 2013 • Weighting Social Equity Factors in Allocation of Transit Expansion Funds • The Land Use rating factor includes the proportion of existing “legally binding affordability restricted” housing within 1⁄2-mile of proposed station areas to the proportion of “legally binding affordability restricted” housing in the counties through which the project will travel. • The Economic Development Effects factor includes “plans and policies to maintain or increase affordable housing” in the project corridor. • The Mobility Improvements rating factor assesses the number of incremental trips taken on the proposed project, and assigns additional weight to “transit-dependent persons.” 36

37. Building a better carrot:The one bay area grant program • The Challenge: how to work regionally on advancing local policies • One solution: use regionally administered funds to incentivize local jurisdictions to enact equitable and sustainable policies 37

38. Requirements & incentives:The one bay area grant • The Implementation: The One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) program • $320 Million over 4 years ($14.6 billion over 28 years) • HCD-certified Housing Element required • 50-70% of funding to Priority Development Areas • Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Stabilization policies used as evaluation criteria • Project selection and funding done at the county level 38

39. OBAG Lessons and Next Steps • Tying regional competitive funds to local affordable housing and anti-displacement policies incentivizes a race to the top • In the first round of OBAG funding, local grants were contingent on local adoption of a state-certified housing element • Relatively small amounts incentivized the worst actors in the region to adopt affordable housing plans 39

40. Thank you! Sam Tepperman-GelfantSenior Staff Attorney, Public Advocates Inc. stepperman-gelfant@publicadvocates.org www.publicadvocates.org Facebook: PublicAdvocates Twitter: @publicadvocates 40