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Monday, January 12, 2026 530 to 800 PM Washington, DC

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<p><em><strong>Smart Growth America turns 25!</strong></em> Join us for a special evening cocktail reception honoring a quarter century of advancing healthy, prosperous, and resilient communities. The event will bring together 200+ leaders and luminaries in housing, transportation, land use, and economic development to celebrate the movement’s achievements and chart a bold course for the future.</p>
<p>What began in 2000 with just three staff members has grown into the national leader of the smart growth movement. Today, Smart Growth America is leading the effort to connect the dots across the sectors that shape our daily lives—building coalitions, shaping policy at all levels of government, and driving practical, nonpartisan solutions.</p>

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Purchase your tickets

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<p>Tickets are now available for Smart Growth America’s 25th Anniversary Celebration. Reserve your spot today to join our friends and partners for an evening of connection, reflection, and inspiration as we celebrate 25 years of progress—and look ahead to the future.</p>
<h2><span style="color: #fdbb30;">Event details</span></h2>
<p>Date: Monday, January 12, 2026<br />
Time: 5:30–8:00 p.m.<br />
Location: National Union Building, 918 F St NW, Washington, DC 20004<br />
Dress: Business or cocktail attire</p>
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<p><em>Proceeds from this event will support Smart Growth America as we embark on our next 25 years. </em></p>

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San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District<br />
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Kittelson &amp; Associates</p>

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<em><strong>Join us as a sponsor! </strong><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Please email us at&nbsp;<a href="" target="_blank">info@smartgrowthamerica.org</a>&nbsp;for more information</span>. </em>

Celebrate 25 Years of Smart Growth America

<p>Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.</p>
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<p>Throughout the year, we host a number of in-person and virtual events covering topics related to public health, social equity, and climate resilience.</p>
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Even the best-planned cities have a few hidden alleys.

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2025-07-12 15.39.30

<p><strong>At Smart Growth America, we talk a lot about what’s needed to improve transportation so folks can easily and safely get around, no matter how they choose to travel. With this outcome in mind, one of our priorities is to change the way people, including elected officials and the media, talk about transportation safety. </strong></p>
<p>Far too often, we come across press coverage that victim-blames and perpetuates the notion that the car is king of our transportation network. In our fight for safer, more accessible streets, we can’t forget that what’s in print, on our TVs, and shared on social media informs decision-making and shapes perceptions.</p>
<p>Here are a few things that we must overcome alongside broken sidewalks, paint-only bike lanes, and infrequent crosswalks.</p>
<h3>Time-tested solutions are not given the positive coverage they are due</h3>
<p>We know how to improve safety and accessibility—and we have the receipts to back it up. <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/29224/strategies-to-improve-pedestrian-safety-at-night-a-guide">Journal articles</a>, <a href="https://www.iihs.org/research-areas/pedestrians-and-bicyclists#design-along-roadways">scientific research</a>, and <a href="https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2025/09/26/new-speed-data-shows-dramatic-impact-of-milwaukees-traffic-calming-efforts/">real-world testing</a> have shown that to protect people walking and biking, we need to improve visibility, slow speeding cars, and provide dedicated space for all modes. Yet, far too often, we see headlines that give credence to the idea that a bike lane is somehow unsafe, a painted crosswalk is distracting, or street design changes will increase congestion. Those loudest voices about the inconvenience of drivers should spend a little less time concerned for perceived inconveniences and a little more time worrying about whether roads are safe enough for their neighbors, children, and grandparents.</p>
<p>The media’s desire to cover charged news makes it seem as though the bikelash is more widespread than it is, and it perpetuates a narrative that makes advocating and funding new street design harder than it should be. We need more regular mainstream coverage demonstrating the many benefits that can come from making improvements for people walking and biking and, yes, even those behind the wheel who would rather not see “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/06/12/arizona-bike-lane-dc/">ugly</a>” infrastructure but are safer when it&#8217;s in place.</p>
<h3>Transportation violence is too often treated as a random tragedy and not a systemic problem</h3>
<p>That pedestrians and bicyclists are struck and killed by cars at a disproportionate rate is a systemic problem, as we argue regularly in <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/signature-reports/dangerous-by-design/">Dangerous by Design</a>. Yet, coverage of crashes treats them as one-off events even though they occur on a regular, almost daily, basis. Occasionally, reporters mention if multiple crashes have taken place at the same location, but even that fails to adequately point to what’s at the root of what’s causing them. Responsible coverage is reserved for deep-dive reporting produced as features, which is useful in highlighting the issue but does little to drive home the daily nature of people being killed. Reporting crashes as singular events makes it far too easy to assign blame to individual actors and even the victim of the crash itself. If every crash exists in a vacuum, only those in the immediate event can be at fault.</p>
<p>It’s not just the scale and scope of the reporting that’s troublesome. Even the word choices made by reporters can influence the perception of what (or who) was the cause of a crash. Despite the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/1/15/7551873/jaywalking-history">well-documented derogatory origin of the word “jaywalker,”</a> it’s a term that reporters too often resort to when describing a fatal crash—and it&#8217;s even an approved term by the Associated Press. While some reporters are using the word with more nuance, the word carries a negative perception that is geared toward the victim, again ignoring the real causes of the crash, such as low lighting, crosswalks being too far apart, or even no pedestrian infrastructure at all. We would be happy for the term jaywalker to be stricken from common use, as it does community members a disservice, by shifting blame to the individual and away from systemic-level solutions (policy change, funding reprioritization, design guidance updates) to achieve safer streets.</p>
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<h3>Too often, the good coverage is taking place in an echo chamber</h3>
<p>There are some media outlets that consistently do a great job covering the danger on our roads, and some specific stories that cover the issues in the right way. To drive action, we need to see a wholesale change. We love our friends at the transportation publications doing hard work to ring the alarm bell on road safety around the U.S. But if we truly want to chip away at some of the misconceptions and grow the call for true change to create safer streets, we need to break out of that echo chamber and beyond one-off stories. We need a wholesale change to how people talk about roadway fatalities, including in local media and from our elected officials. Transportation violence is a persistent problem impacting communities and people in all corners of the country, and needs to be covered as such. The fact that pedestrian fatalities have increased 75 percent since 2010 should be front-page headline news every day until the issue is resolved.</p>
<h3>What can you do?</h3>
<p>Transportation advocates need to put their efforts behind changing the design of their streets, but also educating the media and their communities about how to be in the fight with them. Even small steps, such as broadening the list of who gets interviewed about a proposed street change, taking care with word choice in crash coverage, or making sure that community context is considered, can help reshape the narrative around traffic violence. Advocates should make sure that local media is engaged on the issue more than just when a crash takes place—invite them to walk audits, tour them around a completed bike lane, have them roll up their sleeves at a quick-build demonstration.</p>
<p>It’s not enough to cover crashes and pushback; it’s time journalists become part of the solution to make sure there are fewer crashes to cover.</p>
<p>Here are five things we would like to see from journalists (and that advocates should call out in their local media)</p>
<p>1. <strong>Context is key:</strong> To tell the full story of a crash, we need to understand the surrounding environment and broader story of what happened not only at the scene but leading up to it.</p>
<p>2. <strong>No one wins playing the blame game:</strong> As we discussed above, it’s a slippery slope to victim-blaming, and focusing on individual actors ignores the policy and design changes we need for real improvements.</p>
<p>3. <strong>Not everything needs to be both-sided:</strong> We know what works and don’t need to debate whether a time-tested solution like a bike lane actually improves safety.</p>
<p>4. <strong>Language matters</strong>: Reporters have a responsibility to tell the story in a way that respects the victims and creates urgency around the issue.</p>
<p>5. <strong>Transportation touches everything:</strong> Crashes are just one piece of roadway safety, and we need coverage of the progress being made and the intersectionality of street issues.</p>


News

Dangerous by Design

Pedestrian safety

Ending the pedestrian safety crisis begins with how we talk about it

Transportation

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<p><strong>As we prepare for Halloween, it’s important to remember that this holiday is one of the deadliest days of the year for people walking, with children <a href="https://www.childrenssafetynetwork.org/infographics/halloween-safety">dying twice the rate of any other day.</a> That sobering fact underscores the need to build communities where people of all ages can walk safely not only on Halloween but the rest of the year as well.</strong></p>
<p>While Halloween brings families and neighbors outside to enjoy their communities, it also highlights the risks people face simply by walking. <strong>Halloween is one of the </strong><a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/10/31/23427256/halloween-children-car-deaths-pedestrian-safety"><strong>most dangerous days for people walking and especially deadly for children</strong>.</a> As the United States continues to experience a worsening roadway safety crisis, we need to move beyond surface-level solutions and focus on fixing the systems that make our streets dangerous in the first place. Unmasking the monsters is the first step in confronting our fears and we want to help highlight some things that are contributing to the increased risk as communities take steps to grapple with this devastating trend.</p>
<p>The increase in walking and biking this time of year—especially among families and children—shouldn’t be seen as a risk to manage, but as a reminder of the kind of vibrant, walkable communities we want to create. Everyone should be able to enjoy their neighborhood streets safely, whether they’re out trick-or-treating, walking to school, or heading to work. Communities can take advantage of this time of year to make the case for designing streets to improve physical health, social connection, and community engagement. </p>
<p>To do so, we need to address the core factors that make walking, biking, and rolling unsafe not only on Halloween but every day throughout the year. It’s not a coincidence that pedestrian safety month falls in October as the sun sets earlier. <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/brighter-streets-safer-streets-improving-pedestrian-safety-after-dark/">76 percent of pedestrian fatalities take place in darkened conditions and visibility needs to be at the top of any to-do lists</a>. This means making sure that <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/middletown-ct-csla/">pedestrian level lighting</a>, <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures/crosswalk-visibility-enhancements">visible and well-maintained crosswalks,</a> and signalized intersections are frequent and accessible. Connected sidewalks and protected bike lanes provide separated spaces for people outside of vehicles and routes for those who are seeking treats or have mischief to tackle. Finally, this is an opportunity to <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/why-safety-and-speed-are-fundamentally-incompatible-a-visual-guide/">evaluate speeds in communities</a>, looking for ways to slow down vehicles and cue drivers that the surrounding environment is for more than just car throughput.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is not a day to shy away from what scares us. While steps to keep kids safe like trunk-or-treat events and calls for reflectors on costumes are well-intentioned, the reality is that  our streets aren’t designed for everyone’s safety. Halloween is a time to reflect on this frightening reality and offers an important reminder that we can—and must—build communities where walking and connection are safe and celebrated year-round.</span></p>


Pedestrian fatalities

Safety

A call for safer streets this Halloween

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<p><strong>The federal government is three weeks into a shutdown, and massive swaths of the federal government are frozen, the majority of its workers furloughed, while the Trump administration pursues targeted and explicitly partisan firings to exert political pressure on Democrats to vote on a Republican-preferred funding bill. There’s no end in sight, and pain abounds as an increasing range of activities, from air travel to home sales, become mired in the fallout.</strong></p>
<p>On October 1st, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-government-shuts-down-what-does-it-mean-and-what-were-watching/">the federal government shut down</a> after Congress failed to pass a seven-week government funding extension led by Congressional Republicans. The unsuccessful funding measure had passed the Republican-controlled House but has since failed 12 times in the Senate, where it requires 60 votes—and thus the support of Democrats—to pass. In the days since the government shutdown, federal workers have been furloughed, some programs have lapsed, and much of the federal government’s work, from processing grants to reviewing projects for compliance with federal guidelines, has ground to a halt. On top of the <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-government-shuts-down-what-does-it-mean-and-what-were-watching/">more standard shutdown protocols</a>, the Trump administration has announced an unprecedented, and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/white-house-to-ax-more-egregious-programs-friday-00608022?experience_id=EXYF89KVT5UQ&amp;template_id=OTJIR2CRKUD6&amp;variant_id=OTV632IE7RALS&amp;is_login_link=true">explicitly politically motivated</a>, round of firings to punish Democrats for the shutdown. This maelstrom created by the reductions in force (RIFs), furloughs, and other side effects of the shutdown seems likely to rage on to the detriment of communities across the country—but how is it affecting key smart growth programs and how might it ultimately resolve?</p>
<h2>Reductions in force</h2>
<p>In the first two weeks of the shutdown, the Trump administration announced a round of firings of federal workers explicitly tied to the government shutdown. The Department of Housing and Urban Development issued reduction in force (RIF) notices to over 400 employees, including staff in Community Planning and Development, Public and Indian Housing, Housing Counseling, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, and broader HUD operations. Among those fired <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/10/14/shutdown-layoffs-target-services-vulnerable-students-homeless-seniors/?&amp;utm_source=%20urban_newsletters&amp;utm_campaign=hm&amp;utm_id=housing&amp;utm_content=">were inspectors who help verify the quality and safety of housing that receives federal support, as well as staff who distribute funding to support affordable housing</a>. The Department of Transportation appears to have been spared in the first round of RIFs, but there is no guarantee that later RIFs will not include some DOT staff. Early information on the few dozen employees impacted by the RIFs at EPA was more fleeting, with EPA failing to provide concrete information on how many workers at the agency received notices or which offices are seeing reductions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.housingfinance.com/policy-legislation/trump-targets-cdfi-fund-and-usich-for-elimination_o">Following an initial attempt to attack it in March</a>, the administration eliminated all staff at the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/financing-community-growth-and-sparking-prosperity-five-housing-projects-cdfi-financing-has-made-possible-2/">The CDFI Fund supports</a> the growth and capacity of a nationwide network of lenders, investors, and financial service providers who, in turn, provide affordable credit, capital, and financial services for the communities they operate in, with a particular focus on under-resourced rural and urban areas. The CDFI Fund provides capital infusions and technical assistance to individual Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which then use that capital to provide business and homeownership loans, invest in the creation or preservation of affordable homes, and provide financing for the creation of needed community assets such as <a href="https://www.cdfifund.gov/impact/103">childcare</a> and <a href="https://cdfi.org/success-stories/?_category=healthcare">healthcare centers</a>. Bipartisan members of Congress, including Senate Community Development Finance Caucus co-chairs Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia), expressed support for the CDFI Fund in the immediate wake of the announcement, with the bipartisan pair of co-chairs committing to take joint action to attempt to resolve the situation. Senator Warner has said he believes the action is illegal and that he and his co-chair did not see the RIFs coming. Last Friday, Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/16/congress/senior-republicans-strongly-urge-trump-administration-to-reconsider-elimination-of-main-street-lending-office-00612917">also reported</a> that senior Republicans in Congress were also circulating a letter to the Trump administration, implicitly asking for a reversal of the decision and the rehiring of the fired CDFI Fund employees.</p>
<p>While some Republican members of Congress <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/10/congress/collins-knocks-vought-over-firing-of-federal-workers-00602731">have criticized the firings</a>, the announcements have stood—although a recent court ruling has led to uncertainty about the future of the impacted workers. The American Federation of Government Employees <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.457131/gov.uscourts.cand.457131.38.1.pdf?source=email">filed suit</a> against the Trump administration to pause the firings in California District Court, and last Wednesday, a judge <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/15/trump-administration-layoffs-order-00609833">issued a decision blocking</a> the administration from firing federal workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees during the shutdown on the grounds that the firings appeared to be politically motivated. It is not yet clear what that decision will mean in practice for the staff recently fired through the RIF process and the programs they are responsible for implementing. The administration, for its part, has pledged further reductions and said they <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/15/shutdown-layoffs-10-000-00609830?source=email">could exceed 10,000 workers</a>. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/16/congress/thune-signals-white-house-is-flexible-on-rolling-back-shutdown-moves-00611407">Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune has indicated</a> that he believes the administration would be willing to roll back some of the personnel cuts if the Democrats vote to reopen the government. How these conflicting positions will resolve is unclear.</p>
<h2>Ongoing furloughs, delays, and other side effects</h2>
<p>As the RIFs are announced, furloughs across much of the government continue, grinding basic operations of many agencies to a standstill. Government functions that rely on annual appropriations—such as the vast majority of HUD, EPA, and the Department of Commerce staff—are those facing the heaviest disruptions in terms of furloughed personnel, while those predominantly not funded through that process–such as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)—weather the storm in much better positions, at least initially. Individual agencies have provided contingency plans that detail their plans for a shutdown as well as current staffing levels. These contingency plans provide insight into how many staffers will continue to work during the shutdown and what functions will continue. The chart below details the share of workers furloughed at each agency if they fully implement their shutdown plan as written (not accounting for recently announced RIFs).</p>
<p><a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/image1.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-107867" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/image1-1024x816.png" alt="" width="1024" height="816" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/image1-1024x816.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/image1-300x239.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/image1-768x612.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/image1.png 1240w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></p>
<p>In addition to funding, the yearly appropriations bill can temporarily extend existing programs when Congress can’t reach an agreement on larger reforms. One such example is the National Flood Insurance Program, whose short-term reauthorization has been tied to the yearly appropriations process as it awaits a more comprehensive overhaul from Congress. When the government shut down, the program lapsed. While the program can continue to pay out claims to existing policyholders until it exhausts its reserve fund, it cannot underwrite new policies for homebuyers or renew existing policies, complicating home purchasing across the country. While there has been talk of a vote in the Senate to extend the program, Republican leaders in the House have said they are not planning to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program during the shutdown.</p>
<h3>Will it resolve soon?</h3>
<p>Republicans and Democrats are deeply divided and waging a battle on multiple fronts,<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/30/the-other-reason-democrats-are-taking-trump-to-the-mat-in-a-shutdown-battle-00588747"> including the basic separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government</a>. Democrats have said they will strike a deal if Republicans come to the table on expiring healthcare subsidies <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-pulse/2025/10/02/breaking-down-the-aca-subsidy-fight-00590901">that help keep care affordable under the Affordable Care Act</a>, but Republicans are currently refusing to come to the negotiating table on the subsidies until Democrats provide the votes in the Senate to reopen the government. It’s a standoff of uncertain length, but one that will wear on both parties as Congress and the administration debate how to pay the military, the administration <a href="https://t4america.org/2025/10/02/usdot-initiated-another-arbitrary-freeze-sowing-chaos-for-chaoss-sake-congress-should-take-note/">targets infrastructure projects for delay in apparent retribution for the shutdown</a>, and the President threatens<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/government-shutdown-2025-air-travel-social-security-impact-rcna235119"> further cuts at agencies.</a> </p>
<p>There remain <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-government-shuts-down-what-does-it-mean-and-what-were-watching/">four likely paths</a> forward in the coming weeks: a sustained shutdown, a year-long continuing resolution, the successful negotiation of a new FY26 budget, or some hybrid of the three. The impasse seems unlikely to break in the near term, but that depends on the extent to whether voters dial up the pressure on either party. As the days tick by, the <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5567999-gop-government-funding-extension-shutdown/">need to pass a continuing resolution that kicks the funding deadline further into the future</a> also grows more pressing. However, right now the House is still continuing to stay out of session in an effort to force the Democrats’ hand, and the Trump administration is <a href="https://x.com/WHOMB/status/1978087563211473168?source=email">threatening further reductions in force</a>, with Trump saying he plans to target “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/white-house-to-ax-more-egregious-programs-friday-00608022">Democrat programs that we were opposed to”</a> and that they may not be restored. With failed votes continuing and Democrats consistently losing three members of their caucus—Senators Fetterman, Cortez Masto, and King—but only three members of their caucus, it is unclear how Congress will ultimately arrive at any of the possible paths forward.</p>
<h3>Additional resources</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>What’s a government shutdown?</strong> Check out our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-government-shuts-down-what-does-it-mean-and-what-were-watching/">previous blog on the shutdown</a> for a background on how the federal government funding process is supposed to work and what a government shutdown usually looks like.</li>
<li><strong>More detail on impacts to Federal Housing Administration and other programs?</strong> Read the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders’ <a href="https://naahl.org/news/government-shutdown-what-it-means-for-affordable-housing-and-community-development">explainer</a> on the shutdown’s impact across the affordable housing and community development space</li>
<li><strong>More detail on specific agencies?</strong> Read through the shutdown contingency plans for the various agencies, a collection of which is available <a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-shutdown/2025/09/heres-a-look-at-federal-agencies-contingency-plans-as-shutdown-looms/">here</a>. (For quick reference: <a href="https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/HUD-Lapse-Plan.pdf">HUD</a>, <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2025-09/DOT_Shutdown_Plan_9.30.25.pdf">DOT</a>, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/lapse/agency-contingency-plans-event-lapse-appropriations">EPA</a>)</li>
<li><strong>More detailed information on how overall staffing levels have changed at each agency relative to the past?</strong> Check out the Bipartisan Policy Center’s <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/what-shutdown-contingency-plans-show-about-federal-workforce-changes/?utm_source=sfmc&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=2025.10.14+EPP+Newsletter&amp;utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fbipartisanpolicy.org%2fexplainer%2fwhat-shutdown-contingency-plans-show-about-federal-workforce-changes%2futm_id=96616&amp;sfmc_id=546008919&amp;sid=6xfiae803x">analysis</a> of the staffing figures published in agency contingency plans to get a sense for how recent RIFs have impacted overall staffing levels.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Firings, freezes, and no clear way out: What’s happening three weeks into the federal government shutdown

Advocacy

General

Beth (1)

<p><strong>The Smart Growth America Board of Directors today announced that Beth Osborne has been appointed as the organization&#8217;s President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.</strong></p>
<p>Osborne brings nearly three decades of experience in smart growth policy and implementation to the role. Before becoming the President and CEO, she served as Vice President of Transportation and Thriving Communities at Smart Growth America, where she led the organization&#8217;s transportation work, including as Director of Transportation for America. She also previously served as SGA’s Policy Director from 2003 to 2004.</p>
<p>“Beth has been a driving force behind Smart Growth America’s impact for years, and on behalf of the Board and staff, I am excited to welcome her as the next President and CEO of the organization,” said <strong>Madeline Fraser Cook, Chair of Smart Growth America’s Board of Directors</strong>. “As we celebrate Smart Growth America’s 25th anniversary, I am confident that Beth is the right person to lead us into the future.</p>
<p>“Beth’s extensive experience, spanning local, state, and federal contexts, provides her with a nuanced understanding of how policy choices shape outcomes on the ground. That perspective equips her with the tools to connect the dots across land use, transportation, and economic development, identify barriers to the outcomes we aim to achieve, and translate complex challenges into results-oriented solutions that communities can replicate,” continued<strong> Fraser Cook</strong>.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am honored to step into the role of President and CEO at Smart Growth America,” said<strong> Beth Osborne</strong>. “At a time when the nation is facing a housing affordability crisis and Congress is developing its multi-year surface transportation bill, SGA is well-positioned to ensure this is done in a way that strengthens local economies, makes efficient use of public resources, and helps every community—urban, suburban, and rural—grow stronger and more resilient. I am energized by this opportunity to work with our talented staff to advance our mission, making transportation safer, housing more affordable, and communities more vibrant and sustainable.&#8221;</p>
<p>Prior to her return to Smart Growth America, Osborne held senior positions at the U.S. Department of Transportation as Acting Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy. In these roles, she managed the TIGER Discretionary Grant program (now known as BUILD), led the Secretary&#8217;s livability initiative, and oversaw the implementation of the 2012 surface transportation law. Earlier in her career, she served as an advisor on transportation, trade, and labor policy for Senator Tom Carper (DE) and legislative director for environmental policy at the Southern Governors’ Association. She began her public service in the U.S. House of Representatives, working for Representatives Ron Klink (PA) and Brian Baird (WA).</p>
<p>Across these experiences, Osborne has worked closely with decision-makers at every level of government, giving her a deep understanding not only of what cities and states need to be successful but also how government programs often fall short in supporting their goals.</p>
<p>During her time at USDOT, Osborne helped communities access and implement federal transportation funding and led efforts to reform the programs to better achieve their goals. Seeing firsthand how status quo practices limited change, she joined Smart Growth America and Transportation for America to advocate for a more accountable and effective federal transportation program. At SGA, she has worked extensively with state DOTs, further refining her understanding of the tools, resources, and direction states and local communities needed to deliver safer and more effective transportation systems.</p>
<p>These experiences have translated into significant wins for Smart Growth America, including the inclusion of transit-oriented development and a dedicated rail title in the FAST Act; identifying and rallying support for transit funding during the COVID pandemic; her clarion call for no new money for the federal surface transportation program until there is accountability to the taxpayer for delivering on the stated goals of safety, fixing crumbling infrastructure, and better connecting people to jobs and essential services; and helping redefine what community reconnection projects look like through the Reconnecting Communities Institute, and Smart Growth America’s Community Connectors program, which supports small and mid-sized communities nationwide.</p>


Beth Osborne

Press Release

Staff

Beth Osborne announced as President and CEO of Smart Growth America

montpellier

<p><strong>Last month, Illinois passed SB1859, the Climate Displacement Act, one of the first pieces of legislation in the country to address the needs of climate-displaced people. As extreme weather events increasingly force Americans to relocate, it’s unlikely to be the last. Smart Growth America’s report, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/housing-for-havens/">Housing for Havens: Smart growth strategies for climate resilience</a>, provides a policy framework for states and other stakeholders working to ensure the built environment can accommodate those displaced by climate impacts. With the U.S. facing its greatest housing shortage in generations, communities must adopt strong pro-housing strategies that support both current residents and climate-displaced newcomers. These strategies should prioritize housing in well-connected areas with access to existing infrastructure and services—even before population shifts make the need urgent.</strong> </p>
<h3>Illinois’ Climate Displacement Act</h3>
<p>Passed by the Illinois legislature in May and signed into law by Governor Pritzker this past August, the <a href="https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/BillStatus?DocNum=1859&amp;GAID=18&amp;DocTypeID=SB&amp;SessionID=114&amp;GA=104">Climate Displacement Act</a> requires the state to convene a task force to chart Illinois’ approach to climate displacement. The task force will include representatives from the legislature, several state agencies, subject matter experts, and advocacy groups who will study climate displacement trends and patterns in the state. By summer 2027, it will analyze the state’s infrastructure and agency operations to identify potential needs and strategies for addressing displacement. The task force’s findings will then be submitted to the legislature to guide future policies that better support climate-displaced people.</p>
<p>Proactive planning like this can help Illinois, a state with relatively low risk of climate hazards like droughts, wildfires, or hurricanes, better support both its current residents and those forced to relocate. The state has already become home to those fleeing the effects of disasters like Hurricanes <a href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/08/29/20-years-after-hurricane-katrina-refugees-reflect-on-how-chicago-showed-were-all-in-this-together/">Katrina</a> and <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/2018/09/20/a-year-after-hurricane-maria-ripple-effects-continue-for-chicagos-puerto-rican-community/">Maria</a>. For these new residents, community support was critical for easing the transition. Strengthening that support through state-level pro-housing policies—particularly those promoting a range of housing types and price levels—can help ensure climate-displaced residents have real opportunities to rebuild their lives.</p>
<p>Other states have also considered legislation or taken action to help ease the transitions of those relocating due to climate events. <a href="https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1871621">Wisconsin’s proposed AB139</a>, for example, would provide a one-time tax credit to those relocating from areas in California and North Carolina that have recently experienced wildfires or hurricanes. <a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A272">New York’s proposed A272,</a> similar to the Illinois bill, would establish a state working group to develop a strategy for supporting climate-displaced people, to be implemented by state agencies and regional planning councils. And climate displacement will likely be a topic in discussions during <a href="https://mainemorningstar.com/2023/10/20/environment-immigrant-groups-say-state-needs-to-prepare-for-likely-climate-migration/#:~:text=For%20Cannon%2C%20that%20means%20pursuing,search%20of%20a%20livable%20environment.">Maine’s revision of its Climate Action Plan</a>, according to a member of the group drafting it. These examples demonstrate growing recognition that states must act now to plan for population shifts driven by climate change.</p>
<h3>Housing for Havens: Smart growth strategies for climate resilience</h3>
<p>While the challenges and policy responses will vary by state, SGA’s research found that climate-displaced people often face three key barriers: limited access to affordable housing, weak social integration, and continued exposure to climate hazards. To address these challenges, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/housing-for-havens/">Housing for Havens</a> highlights three core recommendations for local governments:</p>
<p><strong>1. Prioritize pro-housing initiatives that connect housing, transportation, and amenities</strong></p>
<p>Zoning reform and other pro-housing strategies can help increase the availability of diverse housing options—by type and price—in connected, convenient, and climate-safe areas. This ensures people in different stages of life and with different income levels, including those displaced by climate change, can find quality housing near jobs, schools, and services.</p>
<p><strong>2. Strengthen social infrastructure to support new and long-time community members</strong></p>
<p>Strong social infrastructure, like community spaces and cultural programs, can help foster a sense of community, build social networks, bridge divides, and support newcomers, including climate-displaced people.</p>
<p><strong>3. Recognize &amp; prepare for climate hazards</strong></p>
<p>Because no community is immune to climate impacts, local leaders should prioritize resilience measures such as climate-informed zoning, hazard mitigation, and green infrastructure. These steps benefit both current and future residents.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-107828 size-full" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/climate-haven-priorities-graphic.png" alt="" width="500" height="400" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/climate-haven-priorities-graphic.png 500w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/climate-haven-priorities-graphic-300x240.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></p>
<p>As climate migration accelerates, states like Illinois are taking important first steps to prepare. By adopting pro-housing policies, investing in social infrastructure, and planning for resilience, communities can turn the challenge of climate displacement into an opportunity for stronger, more inclusive growth. </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[button type=&#8221;info&#8221; block=&#8221;true&#8221; size=&#8221;lg&#8221; link=&#8221;https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/housing-for-havens/&#8221;]Access the full Housing for Havens report to better understand our roadmap for how to get there. [/button]</span></p>


Climate Change

Proactive planning for climate migration: Lessons from Illinois and beyond

Land Use and Development

Resilience

Flint Hills

<p><strong>Through their participation in Smart Growth America’s Culture and Community Network, a group of planners from across the Flint Hills region in Kansas is taking small steps to build confidence and capacity over time for arts and culture and creativity in transportation planning and community engagement. Through low-risk experiments, such as hosting a trivia night, participating in a monthly arts event, or organizing a small-scale design competition, these colleagues are learning how creativity can reshape planning processes and set the stage for broader integration in future, large-scale projects.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107841" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-300x200.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-768x512.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<h3>Key regional planning staff</h3>
<p>Flint Hills resident Janna Williams brings a background in landscape architecture and regional planning to her work with the Flint Hills Regional Council and Economic Development District. She views the current moment as an opportunity to pilot arts integration strategies that can later inform more ambitious regional planning efforts. Abigail Danner, Transportation Planner at the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization, and recent Kansas State University graduate from the landscape architecture program, is motivated by the belief that planning can be both functional and creative. She sees experimentation as a way to make engagement more approachable for younger families and underrepresented voices. Angela Schnee, City Planner for Ogden, has long been interested in bringing artistic elements into transportation projects. Her early attempt to spark a community-driven mural underscored the need to rethink how to lower barriers for participation.</p>
<h3>Arts and culture efforts</h3>
<p>The Flint Hills MPO is nearing the conclusion of its long-range transportation plan, Connect 2050, and, through the Culture and Community Network, has introduced creative activities into what is typically a very structured process. Instead of relying solely on open houses that usually attract a narrow demographic, they are testing:</p>
<ul>
<li>Trivia nights at local breweries, using transportation and local history themes to engage residents in a fun, low-pressure setting.</li>
<li>Participating in Third Thursdays in Manhattan, Kansas, a downtown arts event where planning activities like mental mapping and sketching exercises are woven into existing community celebrations.</li>
<li>Family-friendly engagement activities that make concepts accessible to children and open planning conversations to new constituents.</li>
</ul>
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<p>Separately, the Regional Council is seeking to build off a successful cultural asset mapping project that identified more than 85 arts and cultural resources across the region. This mapping effort has become a foundation for future conversations about connecting arts to planning in ways that are community-driven.</p>
<h3>Challenges along the way</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Working across small agencies (the Flint Hills MPO has two employees) means that staff capacity is often stretched thin, and creative activities can feel like extra work on top of core planning responsibilities. Early efforts, such as a design competition for a community mural, revealed that participation doesn’t always come easily; agencies may need to tap into different networks, or build their own, while developing new processes, to reach potential partners. That said, a smaller agency can also mean more nimbleness and less bureaucratic processes to navigate, allowing for quicker decision-making and independence for greater experimentation and faster learning. These lessons have underscored the importance of starting small, testing formats, and iterating.</span></p>
<h3>Lessons learned</h3>
<p>The Flint Hills team’s participation in the Culture &amp; Community Network has reinforced the value of experimentation:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Creativity is a process, not a product.</strong> Engagement doesn’t need to result in a polished product or visual art to be meaningful. Creative activities like sketching or mapping, in a variety of nontraditional venues, can serve as entry points to help residents, particularly those who have rarely engaged in transportation or other planning processes share ideas.</li>
<li><strong>Informality matters.</strong> Trivia nights and arts festivals attract audiences that might never attend a traditional public meeting or town hall.</li>
<li><strong>Learning happens through peers</strong>. Exposure to practices in other cities and discussion with other CCN participants has given the team permission to try, fail, and adapt.</li>
</ul>
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<h3>Looking ahead</h3>
<p>The Flint Hills team is committed to carrying these lessons they’ve acquired through CCN into future planning efforts by:</p>
<ul>
<li>Introducing creative methods at the start of new plans rather than as end-stage add-ons.</li>
<li>Meeting quarterly and communicating regularly to share opportunities and coordinate experiments.</li>
<li>Exploring collaboration with the Kansas State University arts program and local arts groups to build momentum and capacity.</li>
<li>Using upcoming comprehensive plan updates as a testing ground for integrating arts more fully into regional planning.</li>
</ul>
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<p>The key takeaway from Flint Hills is that creativity in planning does not require large budgets or a fully developed program from the outset. Small steps can spark imagination, broaden participation, and prepare the ground for arts and culture to be embedded more systematically in future, large-scale planning efforts.</p>


Culture and Community Network

How the Flint Hills region is learning by doing to integrate arts and culture in transportation planning and engagement

Arts and Culture

Metro

<p><strong>Metro, the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the greater Portland, Oregon region, is building on nearly a decade of work in community placemaking to more deeply integrate arts and culture into its planning practice. Through its Community Placemaking program and new agency-wide initiatives, Metro is demonstrating how creativity can support engagement, long-range visioning, and data justice. Smart Growth America’s Culture &amp; Community Network (CCN) has given staff both inspiration and structure to explore how arts and culture can grow from a single program at an MPO toward broader integration agency-wide.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-107821 size-large" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-1024x682.png" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-1024x682.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-300x200.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-768x512.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-1536x1023.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<h3>Background</h3>
<p>Principal planner and community placemaking grant manager Dana Lucero’s path to arts and culture at Metro began through her leadership of the Community Placemaking program. Transitioning from a role in transit, she saw an opportunity in 2017 to repurpose a dormant funding pool into a grant program that invested in human and social capital. Dana has long believed in the arts as a way to spark public interest in planning, and the program gave her the chance to put that belief into practice.</p>
<p>Senior public affairs specialist Lakeeyscia Griffin joined CCN through her connection with Dana, building on her own support for the placemaking program. As a photographer, musician, and videographer in her personal life, Lakeeyscia describes this work as a bridge between her creative passions and her role at Metro. For Lakeeyscia, being part of CCN was “a no-brainer,” an opportunity to link personal creativity with professional practice.</p>
<h3>Arts and culture efforts in planning and engagement</h3>
<p>The Community Placemaking program was first conceived in 2016 and launched its inaugural grant cycle in 2017 with $100,000 awarded to six organizations. What started small has grown steadily, fueled by strong ties to socially engaged artists and supported by Metro’s agency-wide equity strategy.</p>
<p>Through this program, Metro has moved beyond treating artists as vendors to engaging them as collaborators. Over the years, artists have led storytelling projects, community gatherings, and creative processes that reframe planning issues in accessible and meaningful ways.</p>
<p>As Metro’s planning, development, and research communications and engagement manager, Molly Cooney-Mesker was struck by how the Community Placemaking program has shifted the dynamics of participation. During one virtual meeting, a Community Placemaking program grantee told her directly: “this is what real community engagement is.” For Molly, that moment made it clear that Metro’s commitment to engagement must include placemaking and other creative practices that help communities address issues in their own way.</p>
<h3>Challenges along the way</h3>
<p>Metro’s arts and culture efforts have not been without hurdles.</p>
<ul>
<li>Ensuring geographic representation across the region can be a challenge. While most placemaking applications come from Portland, Metro must distribute resources region-wide.</li>
<li>Institutional processes can at times feel at odds with creativity, requiring staff to reconcile artistic and creative processes with the realities of structured, time-bound grantmaking and contracting.</li>
<li>Accommodating capacity limitations and acknowledging imperfect processes are ongoing challenges. Recognizing that mistakes will be made, staff are committed and accountable to learning and improving continuously with each cycle or project.</li>
</ul>
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<p>As Lakeeyscia describes it, “these structures may feel diametrically opposed to the cultivation of arts, but they’re necessary so that when artists come in, they can do what they’re here to do.”</p>
<h3>Lessons learned</h3>
<p>Participation in CCN has reinforced several lessons for the Metro team:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Start where the soil is fertile</strong>. Echoing City of Seattle Director of Arts and Culture Gülgün Kayim’s advice during the CCN convening, focus first on staff who identify as having a creative practice or are already eager to engage with arts and culture.</li>
<li><strong>Meaningful work is the baseline.</strong> Contracting and program structures must prioritize a purposeful, not transactional, experience for artists.</li>
<li><strong>Learning is ongoing.</strong> Each grant cycle, project, or experiment integrating arts and culture should build in reflection and adaptation.</li>
<li><strong>Be intentional about dedicating space for the work.</strong> Carving out time and permission to think creatively is essential in an environment where work responsibilities can occasionally feel overwhelming.</li>
<li><strong>CCN provided needed support for internal casemaking.</strong> The team also values the national perspective and network provided by CCN. Examples from other MPOs and regional planning agencies such as Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, and the Twin Cities offer evidence that strengthens Metro’s internal case for integrating arts and culture into planning practices.</li>
</ul>
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<h4>Looking ahead</h4>
<p>Bolstered by their participation in CCN, Metro is building on its Community Placemaking program to weave arts and culture into larger regional initiatives. In the Future Vision process—an 18-month, 50-year regional visioning effort—Metro has begun intentionally centering artists and culture-bearers. Staff have already interviewed local artists and are working with Subashini Ganesan-Forbes, a cultural leader and former Creative Laureate of the City of Portland, to design ways for artists to help guide Future Vision. Separately, Metro staff working on Safe Streets for All are exploring how arts can expand the concept of “data justice” by elevating qualitative stories and lived experiences alongside technical datasets. Additionally, the team is exploring the creation of an arts and culture cohort of internal staff who have a creative practice or who are interested in the arts and cultural strategies. The intention is for this group to meet regularly, hear from artists, and pilot small-scale experiments.</p>
<p>Metro’s story illustrates how a regional agency can move beyond a discrete grant program toward embedding arts and culture into many aspects of planning practice. By starting small and establishing a strong, proven foundation, learning from peers, and aligning with broader agency priorities, Metro is showing how creativity can expand the possibilities of regional planning.</p>


From placemaking to future vision: How Metro is expanding arts and culture in regional planning in the Portland region

Screenshot 2025-10-15 at 9.44.56 AM

<p><strong>We’re short <a href="https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-deficit-35317/">4.7 million homes.</a> Our approach to housing aims to build more homes in the right places at the right price so that everyone can live in a community that supports them at every stage of life.</strong></p>
<p><strong>But what do we mean by the right place? In this series of explainer blogs, we’re taking a closer look at how, in addition to focusing on supply, smart growth strategies on <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-housing-we-stopped-building-and-why-we-need-it-now/">type</a>, place, and <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-price-isnt-right-why-getting-housing-costs-under-control-matters/">price</a> are essential to solving the housing crisis and creating the types of homes and communities that allow people to stay, grow, and thrive.</strong></p>
<h3>We&#8217;ve been building in the wrong places for too long</h3>
<p>For decades, land use policies have shaped the way our neighborhoods look and feel, determining where we can build new homes, what types we can build, and how they can look. In many places, these policies have focused on building more sprawling subdivisions on the urban fringe, with communities expanding outwards onto natural and agricultural lands.</p>
<p>But this approach has drawbacks. Building on the edges drives up costs for governments and households, all while not meeting demand for where many people actually want to live. Instead, communities should focus on building homes in connected, convenient, and climate-safe locations, close to jobs, schools, and daily needs. In doing so, they can:</p>
<p><strong>1. Meet the demand for walkable, connected communities</strong></p>
<p>Our <a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Foot-Traffic-Ahead-2023.pdf">Foot Traffic Ahead</a> report found significant price premiums for homes in walkable places like main streets, indicating significant unmet demand for more homes in these areas. In other words, more people want to live in walkable areas, but because we limit the building of housing there, there aren’t enough homes for everyone. This pushes prices up, limiting the number of folks who can afford to live there. The current rules, for example, restrict walkable development to just 1.2 percent of the land area of the U.S.’s largest metropolitan areas.</p>
<p><strong>2. Provide people with more options for how they get around</strong></p>
<p>When homes are far away from our daily needs, it is challenging for those without easy access to a car and the ability to drive to access jobs, schools, grocery stores, and other necessities. This means many people have to dedicate significant amounts of income to car ownership and other expenses, like gas, parking, tolls, and maintenance, while also spending much of their time traveling to their destinations. On top of that, with an average of 20 pedestrians killed each day in 2022, as found in our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/signature-reports/dangerous-by-design/">Dangerous by Design report</a>, building on the edge isolates many to their homes—or forces them to risk their health and safety.</p>
<p><strong>3. Allocate limited resources more efficiently and make better use of underutilized land &amp; existing infrastructure</strong></p>
<p>When development occurs on the edge of communities, more roads, pipes, wires, and other infrastructure must be built and maintained. Our <a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Rationale-for-Smart-Growth-Fiscal-Impact-Analysis-and-Model-Fiscal-Impact-Assessment-Ordinance_2023.pdf">Smart Growth Fiscal Impact Analysis</a> found that local governments can use their budgets more effectively by focusing development on vacant or underutilized lots within communities, taking advantage of existing infrastructure, and serving more people with fewer expenses.</p>
<p><strong>4. Build new homes outside hazard zones</strong></p>
<p>As communities expand into wetlands, forests, farms, and other natural and agricultural lands, more people are <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/an-expanding-bulls-eye-how-sprawl-puts-people-in-natural-hazard-zones-and-how-smart-growth-can-help/">put in the path of hazards</a> like floods, wildfires, or hurricanes. This increases risk to lives and property and increases costs to make upgrades and, if disaster strikes, recovery.</p>
<h3>How we lead this work</h3>
<p>To build in the right places and support vibrant communities, our land use policies need to change. Smart Growth America supports efforts to reform outdated rules, rethink land availability, and identify and improve financing tools, with the goal of building more housing in the right places.</p>
<p>Our work on land use policies focuses on:</p>
<p><strong>1. Promoting infill development</strong></p>
<p>Many underutilized or vacant lots are owned by public entities (like local governments and educational institutions), faith-based groups (like churches), and large employers (like those with commercial or office parks). Reformed land use policies, as well as incentives for public-private partnerships and development of underutilized sites, can support the conversion of these high-potential sites to housing, helping meet community needs and generating better value for the taxpayer or investor.</p>
<p>Infill development focuses on building housing on underutilized or vacant lots within existing neighborhoods. By building here, communities can take advantage of existing infrastructure, invest in their neighborhoods, and strengthen the urban fabric. With infill, more people have easy access to amenities like job centers and diverse retail environments, providing more economic opportunities and a better sense of community.</p>
<p><strong>2. Supporting transit-oriented development (TOD)</strong></p>
<p>Transit-oriented development brings increased density and a mix of uses (homes, businesses, etc.) in areas with public transit, like buses, streetcars, or subways. This means more key destinations are close to public transit, allowing more people to reach their jobs, schools, grocery stores, and other daily needs without needing to own a car. TOD also supports communities with constrained budgets; since transportation infrastructure often requires significant public investments, unlocking more development around transit and boosting transit ridership provides a greater return on investment.</p>
<p>TOD can take place through both public and private development. State laws, like <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/with-sb-79-california-makes-transit-oriented-development-law/">California’s SB 79</a>, for example, change zoning codes to allow more development around some of the state’s metro, light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit systems, while also allowing public transit agencies to directly pursue development on land they own.</p>
<p><strong>3. Redeveloping brownfields</strong></p>
<p>Brownfields—former industrial or otherwise contaminated sites—were often major employment centers and are often well-served by existing infrastructure and located within existing neighborhoods and communities. However, they can also pose public health and environmental risks. Floods or wildfires can spread contaminants from these sites (heavy metals, oil residue, and other industrial chemicals) into surrounding homes, waterways, and public spaces.</p>
<p>Equitable and sustainable redevelopment of brownfields allows for the cleanup of these sites, removing or neutralizing the contaminants so that they no longer pose health risks, and reusing this land for housing or community amenities. By redeveloping brownfields, communities can make use of existing infrastructure, support community prosperity, and alleviate risks to public health. Our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/national-brownfields-coalition/">National Brownfields Coalition</a> advocates for federal policies to support brownfield remediation and redevelopment.</p>
<p><strong>4. Building climate resilience</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By building in areas with lower risks of climate hazards, like floods and wildfires, communities can lower household and governmental costs of building resilient homes and infrastructure. To do this, communities can incorporate both present and future climate concerns into their land use policies.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/zoning-for-climate/">Climate-informed zoning,</a> for example, can help direct new development away from areas prone to hazards by providing density bonuses in locations more likely to be safe for the long term. Planning for future climate impacts can also mean fortifying or investing in infrastructure in hazard-prone areas with significant existing development, a problem faced by many coastal or riverine cities. The market need for additional safe, climate-resilient development is especially likely to impact <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/housing-for-havens/">climate havens</a>, where there is relatively lower climate risk.</p>
<h3>What work we’ve done on place in the past</h3>
<p>Smart Growth America works with communities across the U.S. to help ensure we’re addressing the nation’s housing shortage by building more housing in the right places. We provide direct support to local governments and community-based organizations, advocate for reformed land use policies and financing arrangements, and conduct research and thought leadership on emerging trends.</p>
<p>Our recent work has included:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/designation-2050-vermont-state-designation-program-evaluation-and-reform/">Vermont State Designation Program Evaluation and Reform</a></strong>: SGA led this state-level advisory project, which led to adoption in state law less than one year later. Work focused on how a state program could direct more housing into town and village centers and reduce development’s vulnerability to climate impacts, especially flooding in historic riverfront towns.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/north-end-equitable-development-strategy-needs/"><strong>North End Equitable Development Strategy (NEEDS)</strong></a>: SGA supported a group of residents from the North End of Newport, Rhode Island, to advocate for housing affordability in their neighborhood, leading to the adoption of local zoning amendments.</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/the-case-for-climate-informed-zoning-a-study-of-fiscal-impact-in-norfolk-va/">The Case for Climate-Informed Zoning: A Study of Fiscal Impact in Norfolk, VA:</a></strong> Together with the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, SGA studied the economic impacts of Norfolk’s climate-informed land use policy, including an analysis of impacts on property values and on the city’s annual budget.</li>
</ul>


housing place

Zoning Reform

Why place matters when building housing

Zoning

Lever 2-4 ADU City of Oakland CA Secondary-Unit-Picture

<p><strong>We’re short <a href="https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-deficit-35317/">4.7 million homes</a>. Our approach to housing aims to build more homes in the right places at the right price so that everyone can live in a community that supports them at every stage of life.</strong></p>
<p><strong>And when we say more housing, we mean more types of homes. In this series of explainer blogs, we’re taking a closer look at how, in addition to focusing on supply, smart growth strategies on type, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/why-place-matters-when-building-housing/">place</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-price-isnt-right-why-getting-housing-costs-under-control-matters/">price</a> are essential to solving the housing crisis and creating the types of homes and communities that allow people to stay, grow, and thrive.</strong></p>
<h3>Why focusing on housing type is part of the solution</h3>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-107801 alignleft" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1-279x300.jpg" alt="" width="279" height="300" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1-279x300.jpg 279w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1-952x1024.jpg 952w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1-768x826.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1.avif 1116w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 279px) 100vw, 279px" />Most people think of housing as either a house or an apartment—but there are so many types of housing in between, and phases in our lives that we need them. Especially at a time when housing is so expensive, being able to choose the type of housing you live in is more important than ever. Young families are looking to stay in their hometown, close to grandparents and siblings, but “starter homes” are out of reach. A townhouse or larger apartment would be a better option, but only a few exist. A retired couple would like to stay in their home, but there is just too much space, and their tax bill is rising. Converting their basement into an apartment would be a huge help and offer a place to call home for a graduate student at the nearby college.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unfortunately, outdated rules continue to make it difficult to build anything other than single-family homes on large lots in most neighborhoods. To address the housing crisis, we need more choices in the types and sizes of homes in more places and at a range of price points. We should be growing our communities in ways that make them work for more people and strengthen the economy. That means building a wider variety of housing options that meet the needs of diverse households. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Without these options, more of these single-family homes on larger lots keep getting built, and they’re being built further from jobs and other regular destinations. Because of the current system, we’re reducing options. This means that people are being left with no choice but to spend more on housing, spend more time commuting, leaving their needs unmet.</span></p>
<h3>So, what types of housing should we be encouraging?</h3>
<p>When people say that we should get rid of single-family only housing, they don’t mean that we should simply do away with these homes. We do mean that we should allow for more diversity of housing at different sizes, price points, and configurations, so people can find a home in places that best meet their needs. There are many types of housing that fall in between the classic single-family home and the high-rise apartment buildings of big cities. These types are often smaller-scale and often blend into existing neighborhoods. They can also fill in the underutilized spaces within communities or simply be built differently to more quickly and efficiently provide the homes we desperately need. A few key types include:</p>
<h4>1. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li><strong>What they are</strong>: Backyard cottages, garage apartments, basement units—a range of small homes that share a lot with a main house. Take a walk around your community; there are probably great examples of existing and historic ADUs.</li>
<li><strong>Why they matter:</strong> These smaller units generally rent for lower prices due to the smaller square footage. This makes them great for aging parents, grown kids, caregivers, single people, those just starting out in a career—or just helping homeowners afford their mortgage by having an additional space that can be rented out to generate income.</li>
<li><strong>Example:</strong> California made ADUs legal statewide and has seen a <a href="https://napasonomaadu.org/adu-101/">surge in new units.</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>2. Missing Middle Housing</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><b>What it is:</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Duplexes, fourplexes, courtyard apartments, cottage clusters—smaller homes that fit into walkable neighborhoods.</span></li>
<li><strong>Why it matters:</strong> These homes are more affordable, use less land, and blend into existing neighborhoods.</li>
<li><strong>Example:</strong> <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/lcd/UP/Documents/HB2001OverviewPublic.pdf">Oregon’s HB 2001</a> legalized <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/lcd/Housing/Pages/Choice.aspx">middle housing</a> across most cities in the state.</li>
</ul>
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<h4>3. Tiny Houses &amp; Cottage Courts</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li><strong>What they are:</strong> Standalone homes that are <a href="https://planning.org/foresight/trend/9309704/">generally</a> between 400-to 1,000 sq ft—think super-compact but livable.</li>
<li><strong>Why they matter:</strong> They’re low-cost, quick to build, and can add density without big buildings.</li>
<li><strong>Example</strong>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9VarDLpbJw">Dover, NH</a> built a whole village of tiny homes for transitional housing.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>4. Manufactured + Off-Site Built Housing</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>What they are:</strong> <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal//portal/sites/default/files/pdf/An-Exploratory-Study-of-Factory-Built-Homes-and-Their-Implications-for-Affordability-Final-Report.pdf">Factory-built homes</a> that get delivered to a lot and anchored in place.</li>
<li><strong>Why they matter:</strong> They&#8217;re usually faster and cheaper to build than site-built housing since they are built in a factory.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>5. Single Room Occupancy + Office-to-Housing Conversions</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li><strong>What they are</strong>: Single-room occupancy units (with shared kitchens/baths) and converted office buildings.</li>
<li><strong>Why they matter:</strong> These are some of the fastest and cheapest ways to create deeply affordable housing, especially when retrofitting existing underutilized buildings.</li>
<li><strong>Forward-thinking</strong>: Office conversions are <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/understanding-office-to-residential-conversion/">still catching on</a>—but with the right zoning, they could help big time.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>6. Reusing underutilized space for housing</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li><strong>What it is:</strong> Turning underused malls, parking lots, or big-box store sites into new housing.</li>
<li><strong>Why it matters:</strong> These places already have roads, utilities, and jobs nearby—we just need to let housing in.</li>
<li><strong>Example:</strong> <a href="https://formbasedcodes.org/codes/east-billings-urban-renewal-district-code/">East Billings, MT</a> used a form-based code to revitalize an industrial area into mixed-use housing.</li>
</ul>
<h3>How we’ll do this work</h3>
<p>To meet the demand for more and different types of housing, communities must reform their outdated rules that limit what can be built. For example, most zoning codes in suburban areas don’t allow mixed-use, multifamily, or anything but single-family homes and sprawling car-centric development. Even more common are requirements like the number of parking spaces, how far homes must be set back from the road, and outright bans on different types of housing. The result is that even when townhomes or a ‘granny flat’ might seem possible, there are additional hoops to jump through—complex rules and processes to follow that add delays and costs. For example, duplexes might be permitted, but only with a special exception. Or, mixed-use buildings may technically be allowed but not explicitly defined, leading to requirements for additional parking spaces that make the project prohibitively expensive. These barriers too often prevent new housing from being built, or make it so expensive that it fails to create units that are affordable to those who need them most.</p>
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><b>Type of Housing</b></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><b>Zoning barrier</b></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><b>Solution</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Requirements for extra parking or owner occupancy;  Unnecessary regulatory hoops or flat-out bans</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Allow ADUs by right in every residential neighborhood, remove parking and owner-occupancy requirements</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Missing Middle Housing</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Usually banned in single-family zones or allowed only with special approval</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Legalize middle housing by right and shift toward form-based standards</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tiny Houses &amp; Cottage Courts</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Most cities don’t know how to allow them—too small or don’t align with standard zoning</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Create zoning categories that recognize small-lot and tiny home development and allow Tiny Houses by right</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Manufactured + Off-Site Built Housing</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Often excluded from residential zones or subject to stricter design rules</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Treat manufactured homes like any other home—especially in areas where affordability is the goal</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Single Room Occupancy  + Office-to-Housing Conversions</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Minimum unit sizes, parking requirements, or outright bans on shared housing</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Allow smaller units and shared living by right in commercial/mixed-use zones</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Transforming Suburbia</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Most suburban zoning codes don’t allow mixed-use, multifamily, or anything but car-centric development</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Use form-based overlays to allow housing and walkable design in these areas</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>What work we’ve done on type in the past</h3>
<p>Smart Growth America works with communities across the U.S. to help ensure we’re addressing the nation’s housing shortage by building more types of housing. We provide direct support to local governments and community-based organizations, advocate for reformed land use policies and financing arrangements, and conduct research and thought leadership on emerging trends.</p>
<p>Our recent work has included:</p>
<ul>
<li>Demonstrating that housing in walkable places is in higher demand, and those places tend to offer more types of housing in our<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/foot-traffic-ahead-2023/"> Foot Traffic Ahead 2023 report.</a></li>
<li>A series on parking minimums—how they are a <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/parking-minimums-are-a-barrier-to-housing-development/">barrier to housing developmen</a>t, and <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/so-your-community-has-too-much-parking-what-can-you-do-about-it/">what can be done to change it.</a></li>
<li>Explaining the connection between smart growth and the<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/smart-growth-the-abundance-we-need/"> abundance movement.</a></li>
<li>Sharing powerful policy change on <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/arlington-and-missing-middle-housing-hear-from-key-pro-housing-parties/">missing middle housing</a> at the local level.</li>
</ul>


housing type

The housing we stopped building — and why we need it now

Economic development

50867432046_dd59de8d67_o

<p><strong>We’re short <a href="https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-deficit-35317/">4.7 million homes</a>. Our approach to housing aims to build more homes in the right places at the right price so that everyone can live in a community that supports them at every stage of life.</strong></p>
<p><strong>But what do we mean by the right price? In this series of explainer blogs, we’re taking a closer look at how, in addition to focusing on supply, smart growth strategies on <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-housing-we-stopped-building-and-why-we-need-it-now/">type</a>, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/why-place-matters-when-building-housing/">place</a>, and price are essential to solving the housing crisis and creating the types of homes and communities that allow people to stay, grow, and thrive.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107794" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-300x200.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-768x512.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-2048x1366.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<p>The obvious point about housing is that price matters a lot. It is the single biggest expense for most households, and for many, the biggest constraint on where they can live. Yet price remains one of the least understood parts of our housing system. Too often, it is treated as a natural outcome of “the market” rather than something shaped by policy, finance, and planning choices.</p>
<p>And unlike bidding the lowest price without going over, the price of housing often isn’t right, Bob (or Drew for you younger folks). For millions of families, the numbers simply do not add up: rents climb faster than paychecks, homeownership drifts out of reach, and entire communities struggle under the weight of housing costs.</p>
<p>If we are serious about solving the housing crisis, we have to start here. It is where zoning rules, financing tools, land costs, and household budgets all converge, resulting in real impacts on everyone’s daily life. Understanding how pricing works and how we can influence it is essential if we want to create more homes in the right places at prices people can actually afford.</p>
<h3>What we mean when we talk about price</h3>
<p>When we talk about housing prices, we are talking about more than a listing number on Zillow or the rent posted on a flyer. For renters, price means monthly rent plus utilities, parking, fees, and the costs of time and transportation to simply get to work, school, or groceries from that home. For homeowners, it includes mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and interest rates that can double or halve purchasing power. Right now, <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/renter-households-cost-burdened-race.html">nearly half of all renters</a> and more than one in four homeowners are cost-burdened, meaning that they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.</p>
<p>In communities, price shows up in the fiscal costs of extending infrastructure like roads, sewers, or pipes to developments miles from existing services. However, unlike the prices of groceries or gas, housing costs do not fluctuate simply with global markets. They are largely the product of local decisions: what we allow to be built, where we allow it, and how we finance it.</p>
<h3>Our struggle with simple supply and demand</h3>
<p>Housing price is a reflection of supply and demand, but with a unique twist: land constraints, location dynamics, and a market with substantial policy interventions from every level of government.</p>
<p>On the demand side, we know that more people want to live <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/3205821178?pq-origsite=gscholar&amp;fromopenview=true">near jobs</a>, schools, amenities, and transit. Walkable, connected neighborhoods command a premium because they save time, reduce car dependence, and support quality of life. SGA’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/foot-traffic-ahead-2023/">Foot Traffic Ahead</a> report shows that walkable urban places generate outsized economic activity and higher real estate values. People are not irrational for paying more to live in them; they are paying for convenience, connection, and <a href="https://www.opportunityatlas.org/">opportunity.</a></p>
<p>On the supply side, decades of restrictive zoning, lengthy permitting processes, and unpredictable approval systems have made it harder to produce housing efficiently. As our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/">Center for Zoning Solutions</a> discusses, many local codes still ban or discourage multifamily buildings, small lot homes, or accessory dwelling units, artificially constraining the number of homes in the places people most want to live.</p>
<p>The clear imbalance between rising demand and restricted supply is the fundamental driver of high housing costs. Add the limitations on the types of homes available and where they’re located, and prices climb higher or sprawl continues. When insufficient supply becomes a feature of the market, prices can and will only go one way—up. Without getting too academic, these are forces already discussed at length by the <a href="https://michael-k-goff.github.io/2024-11-02-sum/">Standard Urban Model</a> of economics (price increases with centrality), and the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1830947">Amenity Mode</a>l (aka the Spatial Equilibrium Model, where price increases with local amenities). While this may come as no surprise to those in the weeds of the affordability crisis, these points are relevant to anyone who cares about housing costs.</p>
<p>Financing and macroeconomics matter too. Historically low interest rates in the 2010s boosted purchasing power and <a href="https://www.fhfa.gov/document/wp2204.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">helped fuel price spikes.</a> Investor activity—and therefore,<a href="https://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news/investors-hold-most-empty-houses"> vacant homes</a>—and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511482.2019.1681016">short-term rentals</a> have tightened markets further in certain cities. Then, as interest rates rose again in recent years, monthly costs soared even when nominal home prices leveled off. More owners are deciding to keep their homes with <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/09/29/homeowners-locked-into-low-mortgage-rates-hesitate-to-sell">low-interest-rate mortgages</a> rather than moving to a place that better suits their needs, but with higher interest rates. The result? A further reduction in the supply of units on the market, influencing both the for-sale housing market and rents (the two are linked). These trends show that housing affordability is not just a planning issue but a structural economic one.</p>
<p>
To recap, <strong>there is a tangle of structural and policy choices that make homes more expensive than they need to be.</strong> Restrictive zoning limits where and what can be built, keeping land scarce and prices high. Building on the edges instead of within existing neighborhoods forces cities to extend infrastructure farther and maintain it longer, with costs that ultimately fall on households while depriving them of popularly-demanded housing options. Material and labor shortages, coupled with long permitting timelines and complex financing requirements, make new housing harder and more expensive to deliver. Vacant land, underutilized <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/new-paper-unlocking-the-potential-of-public-lands-in-richmond-virginia/">public properties</a> and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/68318/why-is-that-house-or-storefront-vacant">commercial properties,</a> and tax systems that discourage reinvestment further compound the problem. None of this is inevitable. It is all the outcome of decisions made decades ago, and others reaffirmed every time a community chooses scarcity over abundance.</p>
<h3>How we can address the price problem</h3>
<p>How we can address the price problem</p>
<p>Some of the most effective price interventions begin with reforming outdated rules, allowing the market to respond to demand (a theme that our Center for Zoning Solutions consistently helps communities with). Allowing a broader range of housing types like small multifamily buildings, accessory units, and missing middle options can lower per-unit land costs and expand choices for households at different income levels. Streamlined, predictable approval processes reduce the uncertainty that drives up financing costs. Eliminating unnecessary requirements, like excessive parking mandates, can save tens of thousands of dollars per unit.</p>
<p>Beyond rules, rethinking land and financing is equally important. Redeveloping publicly owned or underutilized land for mixed-income housing leverages existing infrastructure and lowers the public cost of new development. Infill and transit-oriented projects allow more people to live near the jobs and amenities that drive demand in the first place. Innovative financing, whether through low-interest federal tools, state housing funds, or revolving acquisition loans, helps mission-driven and smaller developers compete in a system often tilted toward the largest players.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At the same time, targeted affordability tools such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), housing vouchers, and inclusionary zoning remain essential for reaching households that the market alone will not serve. These programs bridge the gap between wages and rents while encouraging long-term affordability through shared-equity models, community land trusts, and preservation of naturally affordable homes.</span></p>
<p>Taken together, these approaches illustrate how SGA’s work across Type, Place, and Price converges: better rules create more housing types, efficient land use ensures the places we build make sense for people and the planet, and sound financial and policy tools help bring prices back within reach.</p>
<h3>Bringing price into balance</h3>
<p>When prices are out of balance, everything else is, too. Workers are forced to move farther from jobs, families spend more of their income on transportation, and communities lose the diversity that makes them vibrant. But when prices stabilize, opportunity expands. Employers can <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/core-values-why-american-companies-are-moving-downtown/">attract talent,</a> <a href="https://states.aarp.org/hawaii/new-aarp-study-on-affordable-housing-looks-at-expiration-dates-for-federal-state-funding">seniors can age in place,</a> and young people can envision a future in their hometowns. Lower housing costs not only strengthen individual households but also strengthen the economic fabric of entire regions.</p>
<p><strong>SGA’s approach here is simple but ambitious: more homes, at prices people can afford, in places that make sense for people at every stage of life</strong>. Price is the thread that connects our housing goals to our broader mission of equitable, sustainable growth. Addressing it means confronting the policies and assumptions that have made scarcity our default. It means recognizing that affordability is not a mystery of the market but a reflection of the rules we set and the investments we make.</p>
<p>Right now, when it comes to housing, the price isn’t right, and it has not been for a long time. Unlike the TV show, there is no big wheel to spin or lucky guess to make this better. Addressing the housing crisis takes intentional policy, smarter planning, and a commitment to abundance over scarcity.</p>
<p>And if we can do that, then maybe everyone wins something far better than a vacation to Cabo: a stable home, a thriving neighborhood, and a fair shot at living where opportunity lives too.</p>


housing price

The price isn’t right: Why getting housing costs under control matters

MTC-ABAG

<p><strong>In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments (MTC-ABAG) are jointly responsible for planning for one of the most diverse and dynamic regions in the country. With enormous pressure to deliver on transportation, housing, climate, and economic development goals, staff are finding that arts and culture can bring both new strategies and new ways of thinking to the table.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107783" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-1024x682.png" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-1024x682.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-300x200.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-768x512.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-1536x1023.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<h3>Arts and culture efforts in planning, power-building, and engagement</h3>
<p>Staff see enormous potential for arts and culture as an approach and means for regional transformation, particularly in long-range planning processes like Plan Bay Area 2060, the region’s next comprehensive, 30-year plan. Veronica Cummings, the Principal Public Information Officer leading the Plan Bay Area engagement team, is developing a call for artists to help ensure public input feels meaningful, not formulaic. Her goal is to experiment with engagement methods that make residents feel their stories are truly part of regional planning.</p>
<p>This builds on earlier arts-based efforts at MTC-ABAG, such as a photography project that highlighted the human stories behind planning issues. While that individual-led initiative has ended, staff continue to look for ways to bring creative voices into major planning conversations.</p>
<p>One promising new program is the Community Action Resource and Empowerment (CARE): Power-building and Engagement Program, which includes a $250,000 cultural placemaking component for community-based organizations. Grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 support leadership development, multi-sector partnerships, and community-driven projects across the region.</p>
<p>Assistant Director of Evidence and Impact Judis Santos, who oversees CARE, drew inspiration from peer MPOs in the Culture and Community Network, including Portland’s community placemaking program. While the program is debuting this year, she envisions CARE as a way to build long-term capacity in underrepresented communities and demonstrate the value of integrating culture into core planning efforts.</p>
<p>With funding tied to the accelerated Regional Early Action Plan (REAP) and One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) programs, there are expectations to deliver results by December 2026. The timeline adds urgency and also opportunity to show how cultural strategies can strengthen equity and community impact.</p>
<h3>Challenges and lessons learned along the way</h3>
<p>Like many MPOs, MTC–ABAG faces challenges in advancing equity-focused programs. Staff have noted challenges in clearly articulating and operationalizing equity values and performance metrics, as well tension between organizational aspirations and external political uncertainties.</p>
<p>One suggestion for balancing these considerations is framing programs like CARE as iterative opportunities for institutional learning while setting achievable first-phase goals, rather than trying to realize their full potential immediately. This incremental approach may help secure leadership buy-in while laying a more flexible foundation for deeper integration over time.</p>
<p>Another theme that emerged in MTC-ABAG’s work is the importance of combining data-driven analysis with emotional resonance. Judis has championed the need to make space for emotional expression in policymaking, whether through storytelling, the arts, or even theater-based exercises that help staff embody community experiences.</p>
<p>This dual approach of anchoring decisions in both quantitative metrics and lived experience has the potential to change how planning conversations unfold, making them more accessible and human-centered.</p>
<h3>Looking ahead</h3>
<p>With new experiments in arts-based engagement, a major investment through the CARE program, and ongoing efforts to balance qualitative and analytical perspectives, MTC-ABAG is clearly on the threshold of weaving arts and culture into its core planning, design, and delivery work.</p>
<p>Leadership support, staff capacity, program design, and broad outreach to new collaborators will all be key to the continued development of these nascent efforts. Staff commitment to learning from peers, testing creative approaches, and using both data and stories to build a stronger case for cultural integration bodes well for the future. For MTC-ABAG, arts integration isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about using creativity to unlock civic participation, center equity, and balance the emotional with the analytical in shaping the future of the region.</p>


Blending creativity, data, and equity in the Bay Area

CMAP

<p><strong>The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the greater Chicago region, is in a moment of transformation. Alongside new investments in agency-wide systems, processes, and transparency, the organization is exploring how arts and culture can move from being individual-led activities to becoming a more intentional part of planning practice. The Culture &amp; Community Network (CCN) has offered CMAP staff both inspiration and validation: arts and culture can be an approach for planning itself, not merely an afterthought or add-on.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107777" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-300x200.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-768x512.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<h3>Background</h3>
<p>Elizabeth Miller began her career in the arts world, working in a college gallery and then at a regional grantmaking body in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her research on equity efforts in arts and culture introduced her to civically engaged artists whose work deepened her interest in the relationship between arts, planning, and the collective imagination needed to envision a better society.</p>
<p>Asha Barnes studied anthropology and uses poetry as her artistic outlet. At CMAP, she has explored zines as a creative engagement tool, an approach she credits to a former colleague’s innovation. For Asha, CCN combines two passions—storytelling and planning.</p>
<p>Sema Abulhab has long been interested in the arts, languages, and design. As part of CMAP’s engagement team, she leads youth engagement and enjoys infusing creativity into planning processes. CCN provided her with a supportive network of peers who share her belief that creative approaches can and should be central to planning.</p>
<h3>Arts and culture efforts in planning and engagement</h3>
<p>Arts integration at CMAP has so far been sporadic and project-dependent. Early examples included artists leading screen-printing activities at community events, where residents could design images for tote bags. Zines have been another recurring creative format, carried forward by Asha and Sema in different projects. These efforts have shown promise but have often depended on individual initiative and available grant funding rather than being built into the agency’s process.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, CMAP is at a potential turning point. Leadership is prioritizing agency-wide efforts aimed at streamlined, transparent governance and management that, while technical, open the door to embedding creative engagement earlier and more consistently. Staff see an opportunity to pair these internal changes with “easy wins” in engagement: small-scale, replicable creative practices that others across the agency can adopt.</span></p>
<h3>Challenges along the way</h3>
<p>Like many MPOs, CMAP faces the challenge of scale. Individual creative experiments have happened, but without a system to gather, document, and inventory past arts-based approaches, knowledge remains siloed. Staff are also aware of the risk that creativity remains an add-on at the tail end of projects, rather than being part of the process from the beginning.</p>
<h3>Lessons learned</h3>
<p>Through CCN, the CMAP team has reinforced several insights:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Don’t say no to yourself—ask questions first!</strong> Don’t assume something won’t be allowed; often creative engagement happens by experimenting with possibilities.</li>
<li><strong>Executive priorities matter.</strong> Arts integration must be framed in ways that align with agency-wide goals, such as transparency, good governance, and data-driven planning.</li>
<li><strong>Make the “impossible,” possible.</strong> Imagining the most “off-the-wall” idea and then breaking that down into what’s possible in the moment is a powerful way to spark innovation.</li>
<li><strong>Don’t wait for permission.</strong> Some of CMAP’s most successful experiments, like zines, weren’t formally approved in advance; they became celebrated by proving their value.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<p>The team also values CCN’s peer learning model. For Elizabeth, this is her first professional development opportunity that feels both national in scope and grounded in real practice. For Asha and Sema, the network has provided affirmation that others at MPOs are grappling with the same questions and making meaningful progress.</p>
<h3>Looking ahead</h3>
<p>CMAP’s immediate focus is an upcoming agency event and the next regional visioning plan. Staff are excited about testing new engagement formats for elected officials and residents alike and using lessons from CCN to ensure resident voices are centered.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Looking further ahead, CMAP staff are considering:</span></p>
<ul>
<li>Building an inventory of past creative engagement strategies to guide future projects.</li>
<li>Using CMAP’s technical assistance program as a testing ground for small, replicable creative methods.</li>
<li>Embedding arts and culture considerations into project management and agency processes from the start.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<p>CMAP’s story underscores that integrating arts and culture into planning is less about creating new standalone programs and more about making creativity part of how planning is practiced. For an agency in transition, this might mean documenting past efforts, building on small experiments, and aligning arts-based approaches with broader organizational priorities. CCN is helping staff imagine what’s possible while also taking incremental steps now to set the foundation for embedding arts and culture at the heart of regional planning in the future.</p>


Weaving arts and culture into planning processes

josh-hild-MTLGJkHhBww-unsplash

<p><strong>With <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/10/governor-newsom-builds-on-this-years-historic-housing-reforms-signs-legislation-to-accelerate-housing-and-affordability/">Governor Newsom’s signature today</a>, California’s SB 79, the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, is now law, opening up opportunities to build more multifamily housing in connected and convenient places across the state. SB 79 is part of a <a href="https://usclimatealliance.org/guide/land-use-planning-guide-feb-2025/">larger trend</a> of state-level land use reform taking place around the U.S.; these policies can help advance efforts to unlock much-needed housing in other states working to address the housing shortage and high housing costs.</strong></p>
<p>SB 79, the latest of the California legislature’s efforts to ease the state’s <a href="https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/09/california-housing-shortage/">housing shortage</a>, establishes standard zoning requirements (particularly height and density limits) within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of major transit stops across the state, with the goal of boosting housing development in areas of the state with access to high quality public transit (defined as certain metro, light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit systems). This means that duplexes, townhomes, and other forms of <a href="https://missingmiddlehousing.com/">Missing Middle Housing</a>, as well as smaller apartment buildings, can now more easily be built close to transit stops. SB 79 also allows local transit agencies to zone and develop the land they own, which opens up opportunities for the redevelopment of underutilized sites, including parking lots.</p>
<p>With the passage of SB 79, California joins states like <a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/multi-family-zoning-requirement-for-mbta-communities">Massachusetts</a> and <a href="https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/04/16/state-senate-greenlights-sweeping-tod-housing-bill/">Washington</a> in promoting transit-oriented development (TOD) via land use reform at the state level. In encouraging the building of more homes near transit, communities can boost housing supply, support housing affordability, and provide more people with more transportation options. This approach increases access to jobs and amenities, helps to house a growing population, and minimizes impacts on traffic congestion and parking availability. This approach also promotes development largely within existing communities—which often face less wildfire risk than the urban fringe—and promotes less emissions-heavy transportation modes, like walking, biking, and of course, taking public transit.</p>
<p>With a national housing shortage affecting every state in the U.S., efforts like those in California, Massachusetts, and Washington can help show a path forward for other states looking to address high housing costs, while improving mobility and boosting resilience at the same time.</p>
<p>Smart Growth America advocates for <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/focus_areas/housing-and-development/">land use strategies</a>, like SB 79, that help create more homes and supports states and communities in overcoming zoning barriers to housing. Our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/">Center for Zoning Solutions</a> works with community-based organizations, local governments, states, and other stakeholders to develop and highlight zoning best practices, with the goal of boosting housing production and affordability.</p>
<p><em>This bill was endorsed by <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/smart-growth-roundtable/">Smart Growth Roundtable</a> member, the <a href="https://www.greenbelt.org/blog/sb79-win-law/">Greenbelt Alliance</a>.</em></p>


California

Housing and Development

With SB 79, California makes transit-oriented development law

PHOTO-2025-06-11-07-03-35 (1)

<p><strong>Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) play a pivotal but often unseen role in shaping how communities grow. They coordinate transportation and land use planning across multiple jurisdictions, allocate federal funding, and set priorities that determine which projects move forward. Their decisions influence everything from commutes to climate resilience, making them critical points of leverage for advancing equity and community-centered planning. Because of this unique role, MPOs are also well positioned to integrate arts and culture into their work—not as an afterthought, but to fundamentally reimagine how planning is conceived and executed at a regional scale. Smart Growth America’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/arts-and-culture/culture-community-network/">Culture and Community Network</a> (CCN), supports MPOs in embedding cultural and creative strategies into transportation and planning processes, helping agencies plan and design engagement that more effectively reflects communities’ realities and needs.</strong></p>
<h3>A practitioner&#8217;s perspective</h3>
<p>My journey began as a neighborhood advocate in suburban Atlanta, where I founded We Love BuHi to celebrate and uplift immigrant communities. Through cultural events and collaborations, I saw how culture can build power, shift narratives, and connect people to place. Later, at the Atlanta Regional Commission, I helped integrate arts and culture into planning, partnering with community groups to reimagine engagement and expand inclusion. These experiences showed me that arts and culture aren’t add-ons, but essential strategies for more equitable and effective regional planning.</p>
<p>This perspective is central to Smart Growth America’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/arts-and-culture/culture-community-network/">Culture and Community Network</a> (CCN), which brings together MPO staff from across the country to integrate arts, culture, and creativity into transportation and regional planning. While MPO responsibilities might seem technical and bureaucratic, these agencies occupy a crucial role at the intersection of federal investment, regional planning, and local implementation. By embedding cultural and creative approaches, MPOs can ensure planning reflects community realities, repairs past harms, and produces more equitable outcomes—transforming transportation from a system that has often divided communities into one that fosters connection, resilience, and belonging.</p>
<h3>The urgent case for creativity in planning</h3>
<p>For many residents, MPOs are invisible, even as their decisions directly shape mobility, development, and opportunity across entire regions. Governance structures can also give disproportionate power to suburban jurisdictions or state agencies, further distancing decision-making from the people most impacted. Arts and culture bridge this divide: storytelling, artmaking, and other creative practices demystify complexity, spark imagination, and invite co-design. Creativity builds trust, broadens participation, and produces outcomes that better reflect community needs.</p>
<p>MPOs are especially well-positioned to lead this shift. Their convening power and regional reach allow them to embed creative practices into long-range planning processes. When agency leaders treat MPOs as incubators of innovation—supporting staff to experiment, take risks, and share learning—these institutions can deliver better outcomes for entire regions.</p>
<h3>Avoiding surface-level approaches</h3>
<p>Not every use of arts and culture leads to real change. One-off projects or primarily aesthetic changes can generate temporary excitement but fail to influence decision-making. Worse, communities may become skeptical if these efforts feel symbolic or extractive. True impact comes from deeper engagement: designing the artist&#8217;s role as a collaborator versus a vendor, compensating artists fairly, investing in underrepresented organizations, and embedding relational practices like listening, trust-building, and care into institutional processes. CCN encourages MPOs to move beyond visual add-ons and embrace the long-term power of culture in shaping planning and policy.</p>
<h3>Building the field together</h3>
<p>Through CCN, Smart Growth America supports MPO staff to experiment with creativity, learn from peers, and embed culture and connection into agency practices. Case studies from participating MPOs highlight a clear trajectory: assessing internal readiness, identifying allies and nurturing champions, and strengthening institutional capacity from within through consistent reflection and learning. Later this year, Smart Growth America and the State Smart Transportation Initiative will release a report compiling lessons from CCN, offering guidance to help MPOs navigate barriers, foster agency culture, and sustain creative, community-centered planning.</p>
<h3>Moving forward</h3>
<p>The future of regional planning depends not only on data and engineering, but also on creativity, culture, and human connection. By embracing arts and culture, MPOs can design engagement that reflects their communities, build trust for long-term collaboration, and create more resilient regions. At Smart Growth America, we see MPOs as essential to this transformation and are committed to supporting them as they lead the way.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Supporting MPO innovation through SGA&#8217;s Culture and Community Network

vulnerable and low income

<p><strong>As floods, wildfires, and other climate hazards impact more and more Americans, the costs of adaptation, recovery, and rebuilding continue to rise. While climate change makes events like these happen more frequently and more intensely, the way communities develop also plays a role. Communities that favor low-density sprawl become an expanding bull’s-eye, with more and more people placed in harm’s way as development expands. Instead of continuing to sprawl, communities should prioritize zoning and land use policies that encourage more people to live in safer places, with a range of housing types and prices that make communities accessible to residents of all incomes.</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[alert type=&#8221;info&#8221;] </span>The <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/">Center for Zoning Solutions</a> (CZS), a program of Smart Growth America, supports communities to advance policies to encourage mixed-use development, location efficiency, and diverse housing options. CZS provides technical assistance to local and state governments and community-based organizations to develop and implement zoning solutions, publishes reports, articles, and research and hosts educational webinars on zoning reform, and leads federal and state advocacy on these issues.<span style="font-weight: 400;">[/alert]</span></p>
<h3>The expanding bull’s-eye effect</h3>
<p>For decades, Americans have been moving to cities in the South and Southwest in large numbers, <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/economists-outlook/state-to-state-migration-trends-in-2022">largely spurred</a> by the lower cost of housing in these areas. But many of these areas are also often <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/30/climate/americans-moving-hurricane-wildfire-risk.html">highly vulnerable</a> to natural hazards like floods, wildfires, and droughts. Worse, since this growth has <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/paving-over-paradise-how-sprawl-destroys-our-farms-and-forests-and-how-smart-growth-can-help/">driven urban sprawl</a> into wetlands, forests, farms, and other natural and agricultural lands, many of these fast-growing cities have become an <a href="https://chubasco.niu.edu/ebe.htm">expanding bull’s-eye</a>—as they spread further and further out, more people are put in harm’s way.</p>
<p>This isn’t unique to faster-growing communities—sprawl has been the status quo model of development for the U.S. as far back as the 1960s. Everywhere in the U.S., communities have sprawled into floodplains, into the wildfire-prone wildland-urban interface (WUI), and into drought vulnerable areas, increasing Americans’ exposure to extreme weather. And increased development in vulnerable areas doesn’t just put more people in harm’s way—it also limits housing choice and drives up prices, forcing families into more affordable but riskier locations. Sprawl increases the severity of the risks people face because it contributes to urban heat islands, puts more pressure on limited water supplies in drought-prone areas, and reduces potential natural barriers to wildfires. . And with climate change threatening to expand hazard zones, this trend will only continue.</p>
<p>In addition to the dangers to human life and prosperity, continued sprawl into hazard zones will make the costs of insurance, disaster recovery, and rebuilding unmanageable, a risk which becomes even more salient with reduced support for recovery from the federal government. The annual number of billion-dollar disasters has already <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/climate/noaa-billion-dollar-disasters.html">more than doubled</a> since the 1980s, and, prior to recent changes, federal spending on much-needed disaster preparation and recovery (including the National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA’s disaster relief fund, the National Forest Service’s wildfire suppression programs, and the Department of Agriculture’s crop insurance program) was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/12/us-disaster-funding-cost-climate-change/">skyrocketing</a>. Many insurance companies have also either gone insolvent or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/12/18/climate/insurance-non-renewal-climate-crisis.html">pulled back</a> from hazard-prone areas entirely.</p>
<p>Despite these drawbacks, sprawl continues. This is largely because many communities have adopted zoning ordinances that codify and incentivize sprawl (and because market norms often make this type of housing the easiest to finance). Limiting most development to detached single-family homes and low-density commercial development, these zoning codes not only push people into hazard-prone areas but also restrict the types and prices of housing available, reducing affordability and excluding middle-income residents from safer, amenity-rich neighborhoods. . Communities should not continue to direct new residents into harm’s way. Instead, local policymakers should reform their zoning codes to curb sprawl, allowing a wider variety of housing types at different price points in areas with lower hazard risk.</p>
<h3>Zoning for housing away from hazards</h3>
<p>Communities can use smart growth zoning reforms—like allowing missing middle housing, revising parking minimums and other excessive development standards, or enacting a form-based code—to help curb sprawl by promoting development within existing communities and in locations with the least exposure to climate hazards. By offering diverse housing types, communities can meet the needs of families across income levels, ensuring that safer, lower-risk areas are accessible to more people and not just those who can afford single-family homes.</p>
<p>Local governments also have additional avenues to reduce hazard exposure through their land use and zoning policies. These strategies can include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/zoning-for-climate/">Climate-informed zoning</a> incorporates hazard vulnerability into zoning ordinances by incentivizing development in areas with less exposure and/or requiring resilience elements for projects in hazard-prone areas.</li>
<li>Infill development involves development on vacant or underutilized lots in already developed areas and can be promoted by local governments through land acquisition programs, public sector-led development, and/or funding mechanisms. Local governments can develop strategies to screen these types of sites for climate risk including risks of flooding, wildfire and other hazards.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[alert type=&#8221;info&#8221;] </span>Learn more about how communities can protect their residents from natural hazards in Smart Growth America’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/housing-for-havens/">Housing for Havens: Smart growth strategies for climate resilience</a> report. <span style="font-weight: 400;">[/alert]</span></p>
<p>With zoning and land use tools like these, communities can take steps to curb sprawl and prevent further development in hazard zones. Doing so allows communities to provide more housing options at prices people can afford, while keeping residents out of harm’s way. But community members, planning practitioners, and elected officials alike must push for these reforms—or continue putting people in harm’s way.</p>


infill

An expanding bull’s-eye: How sprawl puts people in natural hazard zones and how smart growth can help

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