Lindell Marsh, Douglas Porter, and David Salvesen identify one source of tension in the effects of detailed environmental mandates on urban housing and growth. While acknowledging the legitimacy of environmental regulations that affect the location and cost of development, they note that these effects are exacerbated by gaps between planning and permitting processes at different levels of government. Although there are a number of mechanisms for bridging these gaps, in practice environmental mandates often relate poorly to priorities established through State and local planning.
Frank Braconi and Brock Evans debate the impact on housing affordability caused by environmental regulations. Braconi traces the rising costs of housing and major Federal environmental regulations affecting those costs, concluding that the cumulative effect places undue burden on housing providers. He calls for streamlined administration with more equity in cost allocation. Evans counters with a different interpretation of the statistical data, concluding that the increase in real housing prices stemming from environmental standards is small. He recommends cooperative efforts between the housing and environmental communities to alleviate the cost burden on inner-city systems.
One of the most important issues at the intersection of housing and environmental policy is lead-based paint. Childhood lead poisoning from deteriorating paint is the "number one environmental health hazard facing American children," say Nick Farr and Cushing Dolbeare. They focus on the recommendations of the Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction and Financing Task Force, which suggest that some liability relief should be granted for owners of hazard-affected properties. State and individual experiences show that progress is being made on lead abatement issues.
Elizabeth Collaton and Charles Bartsch examine issues surrounding the reuse of contaminated urban industrial sites known as "brownfields." They review the role of the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund) in the cleanup and reuse of contaminated industrial sites, concluding in part that HUD can play a critical role in industrial site reuse. To encourage renovation and reuse, focus on environmental concerns, and ensure that low- and moderate-income persons benefit from the expenditures, the Department can use its community and economic development programs -- including Community Development Block Grants, Section 108 loan guarantees, and Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities.
In "Toward a National Urban Environmental Policy," David Engel, Edwin Stromberg, and Margery Austin Turner explore the policy implications of this constructive dialog. They argue that the proliferation of single-purpose Federal environmental regulations creates uncertainties that are discouraging development and adding costs and that HUD should work for innovative and integrated reforms that do not jeopardize housing affordability. They point to HUD's responsibility to ensure that publicly assisted housing meets high standards of environmental protection, as well as to advocate for Federal, State, and local policies that protect the poor and minorities from hazardous land uses in central cities.
This provocative new issue of Cityscape: A HUD Journal of Policy Development and Research is now available from HUD USER for $5.
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