President-elect Obama's Choice
for HUD Secretary Supports Mixed-Income Housing
Last Week President-elect Barack Obama selected New
York City housing commissioner Shaun Donovan to head the Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
Highly respected by advocates and policymakers
across the country for his successful efforts to preserve and produce affordable
housing in New York City, Donovan has been a strong proponent of Inclusionary
Housing,
also known as Mixed-Income Housing, as a strategy for building affordable
homes.
Commenting in 2006 on the rezoning and mixed-income housing
program in Queens' Mapseth-Woodside neighborhoods, Donovan stated, ""As our City
grows and continues to attract people from around the world, it is a challenge
for working New Yorkers to find quality, affordable housing. The
Maspeth-Woodside rezoning and inclusionary housing program will strike a careful
balance between providing affordable homes for our growing population and making
sure that our neighborhoods retain their individual character. Inclusionary
zoning harnesses the power of New York City's strong real estate market by
allowing developers to build bigger, but only in return for creating affordable
housing. That's a winning solution for everyone."
Housing LA is leading the effort to get the City of Los
Angeles to adopt a strong Mixed-Income Housing ordinance. On November 19th, two Los Angeles City Council committees, meeting jointly,
instructed the Planning Department to report back with a draft Mixed-Income
Housing Ordinance in late February. Based on testimony from Housing LA endorsers
and allies, the City Council included instructions to make the policy citywide,
as rebust as possible, and with protections to keep modestly priced apartments
from being demolished or converted to luxury condominiums.
Citywide Community Meetings
in early 2009
In early 2009 the city will be hosting regional
community meetings to present and receive feedback on various housing efforts
that are currently being carried out.
We strongly urge all
Housing LA allies and endorsers to attend at least one of the six meetings in
support Mixed-Income Housing. The community meetings are tentatively scheduled as
follows:
January 22, 2009 South LA
January 27, 2009
East
January 28, 2009 Central
January 29, 2009 Valley
February 2,
2009 Westside
February 5, 2009 Harbor
At these meetings, the
city will also present potential plans for addressing the foreclosure
crisis.
We will be sending out finalized dates and locations for the
meetings in early January, but for now mark your calendars. It will be
extremely important that we have large community support at all six of these
meetings to demonstrate to the city that Mixed-Income Housing is
supported
by communities across Los Angeles. We hope to see you
there.
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If you have any questions please
contact Eric at 213.480.1249 x254 or eares@scanph.org
Happy Holidays! And we wish you
and your families a safe and happy New Year!
Housing LA
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