City of Cleveland - City Hall’s Post

Join local officials, planners, business and property owners, statewide leaders at the Designation 2050 Design Summit on September 12, 2023. Hear about the findings of the Designation Program Evaluation underway and help design the future of these programs – and Vermont. Another way to contribute your ideas is through surveys tailored to your role in the community, as a member of the general public or with a municipality, agency or partner organization or as an elected or appointed official.   Vermont's designation programs work together to provide incentives, align policies and give communities the technical assistance needed to encourage new development and redevelopment in designated areas.  These incentives including tax credits for historic building rehabilitations and code improvements, permitting benefits for new housing, funding for transportation-related public improvements and priority consideration for other state grant programs. The programs are run by Vermont's Department of Housing and Community Development. The evaluation of the designation programs presents a unique opportunity to refocus on smart growth strategies and much-needed additional housing while maintaining Vermont’s compact settlement patterns.  https://lnkd.in/e52y3Ewf

Today marks the end of one chapter and anticipation for another. Today is my last day as an Eviction Prevention Policy Analyst with the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). These last 2.5 years working on the Virginia Eviction Reduction Pilot (VERP) have been a labor of love as I stood up a new program while navigating a global pandemic. It was rewarding to see VERP begin as my fellowship agency report in 2019 and blossom into a $3 million program that has served over 3,800 households thus far. These are a few lessons learned from my time on the VERP team: 1. Partnerships matter -- The partnerships VERP cultivated between tenants, courts, providers and landlords built system-wide capacity to respond to evictions. Eviction reduction involves multiple stakeholders who all need a seat at the table. 2. Flexibility matters -- Building flexibility into our program design allowed Grantees to right-size eviction prevention efforts to their communities and more efficiently serve tenants.  3. Your team matters! -- The success of our program the last 2.5 years relied not just on our dedicated Grantees, but WHO was in the room when we designed and implemented the program. A huge thank you to my current (Senta Leslie, Gabriella Vazquez and Caroline Stokes) and past coworkers (Lark Washington) who not only enabled me to think big, but helped make our collective goals a reality.   In August, I will be starting as a Program Administrator with the Affordable and Special Needs Housing Team at DHCD. The true root cause of evictions is the lack of affordable housing. I am excited in this new role to work towards addressing this issue and helping all Virginians have a safe, affordable and quality place to call home. 

The Berkley Group has completed work on a community development schedule of fees for Albemarle County. This schedule compiles all Community Development fees from the County Code’s Chapter 3-Agricultural and Forestal Districts, Chapter 5-Building Regulations, Chapter 7-Health and Safety, Chapter 14-Subdivision of Land, Chapter 17-Water Protection, and Chapter 18-Zoning, into one easily accessible and readable matrix into Chapter 1-General Provisions of the Albemarle County Code. This new schedule of fees also simplified and consolidated fees where possible to enhance clarity and allow for easier usability for community members and County staff. In support of the County’s efforts for this project, the Berkley Group created this new schedule of fees based on peer locality benchmarking and current industry best practice research, all while maintaining a degree of revenue neutrality so as to not increase or decrease fees throughout the project. This process allowed the Berkley Group, with the help of County staff, to create a brand-new fee schedule for Albemarle County that allows them to maintain their innovative and competitive practices alongside their peers. The fee schedule was adopted on December 6, 2023. The project includes: -Peer Community Benchmark Research -Industry Best Practice Research -Community Engagement – Stakeholder Meetings, Online Community Survey -Fee Consolidation and Simplification -Creation of Fee Schedule Structure #feeschedule #localgovernment #communityengagement #ourexpertiseyoursuccess

STRATEGIC PLAN SPOTLIGHT: One of the core values listed in Richland County's Strategic Plan is accessibility, or ensuring services are equitable, available and accessible to all residents. The County’s Neighborhood Improvement Program (NIP) coordinates and funds neighborhood master plans and improvement projects in the community. NIP hosts monthly meetings, called S.P.E.E.D. (Sustainability, Planning, Education, Engagement, Development) events, to provide helpful neighborhood and community information and resources. An upcoming NIP S.P.E.E.D. event, Empowering Seniors Through Community Resources, will educate and inform residents about resources available to seniors in our community. Through these meetings, NIP demonstrates accessibility by ensuring essential information and helpful resources are communicated to residents, making them aware of available services. #Accessibility #CoreValues #StrategicPlan #RichlandCountySC

Unlike most rating systems that are prescriptive, #JustCommunities is a process and outcome-based certification, designed around five commitment areas (Belonging, Opportunity, Wellbeing, Mobility & Environment) and four implementation phases (Groundwork, Governance, Roadmap & Implementation) that are responsive to a community’s most pressing #priorities, #opportunities, and #challenges. Just Communities is the world’s most rigorous #equitable and #regenerative development framework designed to help resident leaders, community-based organizations, developers, and municipalities build a common vision, governing structure, and workplan to guide future growth and development over time. Partnership for Southern Equity

When work is play in disguise, that’s when your work is wise.   Is that a famous quote or did we just make that up? 😮   Whatever. The point is, THIS could be your next playground. Yep – the incredible City of Irvine is looking to redefine community development in a big way. Are you a visionary who sees no boundaries in designing premier future focused communities?   Then this is your next play. Irvine’s Executive Director – Strategy & Development closes on 2/25.   Details ➡ https://bit.ly/irvineedsd   American Planning Association APA California APA Orange Section APA Los Angeles San Diego American Planning Association APA California - Northern Central Coast Section - American Planning Association, California Chapter #urbanplanner #communitydevelopment

THE HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IN AMERICA CAN BE SUMMED UP IN ONE WORD: BROKEN #HOMELESSNESS IS THE RESULT OF DECADES OF THE FAILURE TO BUILD AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR ALL. DON'T BE FOOLED BY SLICK PROMOTIONAL POSTS THAT MAKE IT SEEM LIKE YOUR LOCAL, STATE OR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIALS ARE SOLVING THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS. WHEN IT COMES TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING, THE PUBLIC AND TAXPAYERS MUST ASK: AT WHAT COST TO THE TAXPAYERS AND HOW LONG IS THE AFFORDABILITY PERIOD? EVERY TAXPAYER SHOULD BE ASKING THEIR ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIALS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: 1. How much local, state, and federal funding, tax credits, density bonus increase, waivers of impact fees, or other government benefit or incentive did the project receive? 2. What is the affordability period for each project and, if the affordability period is not in perpetuity or permanent, WHY NOT? 3. What guarantees exist that tenants in the affordable housing units will not be displaced after an "affordability period expires? Any LOCAL, STATE or FEDERAL official that does not MANDATE "permanent" affordability periods or affordability "IN PERPETUITY" for any project receiving some government benefit is commiting MALFEASANCE and should quit, be removed from office or be terminated. IN MOST CASES WHEN IT COMES TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING, the public and taxpayer are being fooled into thinking their elected and appointed officials are solving problems, when in fact, all hey have done is "KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD" to burden a future generation with the same problem or crisis!

Share your feedback on the ways we can support San Diego's communities of need through the Consolidated Plan Update! Join us on Thursday August 17, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. to share your perspective on housing, neighborhood, and economic issues in the City of San Diego. Working with the Consolidated Plan Advisory Board, we have seen the tremendous impact this funding is used to support key issues identified in our Consolidated Plan. Be part of the process for the City of San Diego's 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan and 2025 Annual Action Plan. The Consolidated Plan is a planning document required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intended to help jurisdictions assess their affordable housing and community development needs and make data-driven, outcome-based investment decisions. Root Policy Research, a housing research and consulting firm, in collaboration with the California small business DPD Solutions, is working with the City to help develop the plans. Learn more & RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/gSqie_jB

It’s October and time to celebrate National Community Planning Month!   The American Planning Association (APA) established National Community Planning Month. APA states, “Planners work to improve the well-being of all people living in our communities by taking a comprehensive perspective. This approach leads to safer, resilient, more equitable, and more prosperous communities. We celebrate the role that planning plays in creating great communities each October with National Community Planning Month.”   QK’s expertise in land use and policy planning helps our clients develop common-sense solutions to complex planning problems. Our plans promote efficient and sustainable land development, incorporate development and redevelopment patterns that optimize existing infrastructure investments, and consume less land that can then remain available for agriculture, open space, and natural systems.   Check out these links to learn more about National Community Planning Month and the APA:   APA National Community Planning Month Web Page - https://lnkd.in/gdbz5W2z   APA Home Page - https://www.planning.org/       #planningmonth  #WeAreQK #LandUsePlanning #AEC