These six housing investment strategies will incorporate lasting affordability, racial equity, and resilience into COVID-19 recovery plans.

During the past few months, local governments have—by necessity—focused on urgent COVID-19 housing responses including eviction moratoriums and emergency rental assistance. Attention must now turn to longer-term COVID recovery strategies. Housing with lasting affordability should be an indispensable feature of any local COVID recovery plan, especially for municipalities that strive for racial equity and resilience. A few municipalities, like Baltimore, are heading proactively in this direction by investing in lasting affordability. It’s time the rest of us do the same.
Lasting affordability is achieved through legal restrictions on land or property that guarantee affordable rents and home prices for low- and moderate-income households for at least 40 years. The term “lasting affordability” also carries an implicit intention for—and mechanisms to support—affordable rents and home prices in perpetuity. Lasting, perpetual, or permanent affordability can be implemented in both rental and ownership housing in any state, although legal guidelines and restrictions slightly vary. Models to achieve this include shared-equity homeownership, community land trusts (CLTs), inclusionary housing policies, limited-equity cooperatives, and deed-restricted housing programs.
Building homes with lasting affordability and converting existing buildings to perpetual affordability must happen incrementally. Housing is one of several urgent public investments facing cash-strapped government agencies. Furthermore, increasing national racial equity and resilience requires an intersectional, cross-sectoral, coordinated approach of which housing is only one piece. That said, too often long-term policy solutions are deprioritized and we focus on those that solve immediate problems, treat a symptom, or earn a vote. Grounded Solutions put forward the following recommendations for new housing investment strategies that will incorporate lasting affordability, racial equity, and resilience into COVID-19 recovery plans.
First ....
FULL STORY: Lasting Affordability Is the Path to Resilience

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie