Head of HUD Gives One Condition to Future Grants: Sustainability

Shaun Donovan sees the many past mistakes the government made which, according to him, "created many of the incentives for the disconnect between where people live and where they work, where they go to school, [and] where they shop."

Harney writes:
"While that may seem clear in the rearview mirror, the question is what HUD-or Donovan himself-can do now about overcoming these past shortcomings in planning. His answer: leverage billions of dollars of grants and formula funding on the condition that it is spent in accordance with rational, sustainable principles. He would like to insist that sustainability and smart growth principles are integrated into virtually every grant and policy made not only by HUD, but by other federal agencies that affect the built environment, such as the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "