Equity in Form and Function: Recent Trends in Housing Policy
November 7, 2014
Cosponsored by: Housing Land Advocates, Garvey Schubert Barer and David Evans and Associates
Conference Location: David Evans and Associates, 2100 Southwest River Parkway, Portland, OR 97201
*AICP and Oregon State Bar CLE Credit Pending
Conference Description
Housing features prominently in the public discourse of 2014. The tiny house movement is gaining popularity with DIY builders, private developers are racing to complete micro-apartments, and democratically run self-help homeless communities are seeking recognition along the West Coast. This year’s Housing Land Advocates (HLA) conference continues these conversations but with a focus on the geography of equity. It asks how emerging housing forms can be used to further affordable and fair housing. It emphasizes the function of housing as a means of accessing opportunity. To this end, the conference offers an analysis of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new regulations around affirmatively furthering fair housing and updates participants on the legal landscape of inclusionary zoning that is being tested by California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose. HLA is bringing together national, regional, and local experts to explore these concepts and issues and to consider ways to support a community vision that does not leave anyone behind.
Keynote Speaker: Marc Brenman
Teacher, author and policy expert on issues of diversity, equal opportunity employment and social justice, Mr. Brenman previously worked as the Executive Director of the Washington State Human Rights Commission, Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Division Director for the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.
Keynote Speaker: Andrew Faber
Andy Faber is a Partner at Berliner Cohen and counsel to the City of San Jose, CA in California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose, a case challenging the City’s Inclusionary Zoning policies and currently being reviewed by the California Supreme Court; most recently, he is the author of “Inclusionary Housing Requirements: Still Possible?” for the 2014 California League of Cities Annual Conference.
Conference Materials
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing: Proposed Regulations and Actions to Consider
Ellen Johnson, Staff Attorney, Oregon Law Center
Overview of HUD administrative actions involving local jurisdictions’ obligation to affirmatively further fair housing, the proposed AFFH draft regulation and the recently issued draft AFFH Assessment Tool. Ellen will discuss recommended actions and policy development for local jurisdictions receiving federal housing money or those wishing to do so in the future.
Inclusionary Zoning: Legal Developments
Andrew Faber, Partner, Berliner Cohen; most recently, author of “Inclusionary Housing Requirements: Still Possible?”
Oregon and Texas are the only two states that prohibit local zoning authorities from enacting inclusionary zoning policies. Nonetheless, advocates in Oregon, including HLA, are seeking to overturn the state’s ban. Andy Faber will present on California’s experience with inclusionary zoning and its future in light of a recent challenge in California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose, currently on appeal to the California Supreme Court. Mr. Faber is counsel to the City of San Jose in the case that challenges whether the city’s inclusionary zoning is an improper exaction. Mr. Faber will discuss the case through the lens of a recently decided U.S. Supreme Court case – Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, 133 S.Ct. 2586 (2013) – and outline important considerations for mandatory inclusionary zoning to work in the future.
Housing Affordability and Neighborhood Change
This panel will examine the process through which housing affordability drives neighborhood change, and look at examples of how urban, suburban and rural communities are working to address negative impacts as well as take advantage of opportunities related to changing market conditions.
- Ben Sturtz, Housing Services Specialist, Washington County, Office of Community Development
- Danell Norby, Neighborhood Revitalization Manager, Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East
- Jim Tierney, Executive Director, Community Action Team
- Martha McLennan, Executive Director, Northwest Housing Alternatives
Moderator: Rebecca Kennedy, HLA Board Member; Economic Planner, City of Vancouver, WA
Opportunity Mapping
Stephanie Jennings, Community Development Grants Manager, City of Eugene; Project Manager of the Lane Livability Consortium
Stephanie will discuss the Lane Livability Consortium’s recent Equity & Opportunity Assessment (EOA) and mapping project, which analyzed issues of equity, access and opportunity within the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area. This will include a review of findings and a discussion of how such analyses can inform partner agency plans, policies and major investment decisions.
Keynote Address: Title VI-Transportation Planning and Fair Housing
Marc Brenman, Former E.D. of the Washington State of Human Rights Commission and Author of The Right to Transportation
Marc Brenman’s keynote address will outline how Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires that transportation planning consider the obligation to affirmatively further fair housing. Mr. Brenman will tie together our morning speakers with a discussion of the intersection of land use planning, transportation and affordable housing. In addition to the obligation to affirmatively further fair housing, the disparate impact standard is also found in regulations implementing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and recipients of federal funds must insure their programs and operations do not disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities. It is imperative to understand how the disparate impact standard applies to decisions regarding land use planning, transportation spending, and affordable housing development, and why this standard has a key role in the development of sustainable and equitable communities.
Gentrification: A Talk about N/NE Portland
Sharon Maxwell, CEO, Bratton Construction Co. & Bratton Group; Community Advocate; Portland City Council Seat #2 Candidate, 2014
Sharon Maxwell is a life long Portland resident, small business owner and community activist. She will talk about the process of neighborhood change that has occurred in inner North and Northeast Portland neighborhoods over the past two decades, and how changing demographics are shifting the geography of opportunity and impacting longtime residents.
There Goes the Neighborhood – Emerging Housing Alternatives
This panel will examine emerging housing alternatives- including micro housing, accessory dwelling units, self-help communities- and their impact on housing availability and affordability. This will include a discussion of zoning regulations and how they can be crafted to encourage affordability and flexibility.
- Jordan Palmeri, Environmental Scientist and Policy Advisor, Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality
- Roger Valdez, Director, Smart Growth Seattle
- Eli Spevak, Loeb Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Principal, Orange Splot, LLC
- Reverend Dan Bryant, Senior Minister, First Christian Church, Eugene, OR; Board Chair, Opportunity Village Eugene
Moderator: Ben Schonberger, HLA Board Member; Senior Planner, Winterbrook Planning
Inclusionary Zoning – Threats and Opportunities
This panel will examine current legal challenges to mandatory inclusionary zoning policies in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Koontz, as well as efforts to establish new programs and overturn Oregon’s statewide ban on IZ.
- Ed Sullivan, Principal, Garvey Schubert Barer; Founder, former Chair and current board member, Housing Land Advocates
- Andrew Faber, Partner, Berliner Cohen; most recently, author of “Inclusionary Housing Requirements: Still Possible?”
- Vivian Satterfield, Associate Director, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon
Moderator: Jenny Logan, Staff Attorney, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon