Krumholz, Opportunity Divident Summit Slide 1

Opportunity Dividend SummitDetroit, March 2, 2010

Rules for Equity Plannersto Reduce Poverty

Krumholz, Opportunity Divident Summit Slide 2

“City” vs. “Equity” Planners

Most city planners deal solely with the physical city, making land use plans, zoning ordinances, and designing streets, parks, etc.

Equity planners are different; they are city planners who deliberately try to move resources, political participation and power toward the lower-income, disadvantaged citizens of their cities in order to create a more just and democratic society.

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Equity planners believe that priority attention should be citizens directed to the goal of promoting more choices for those citizens who have few.

Equity planning efforts have been documented in a number of cities including: Boston Cleveland Chicago Jersey City Santa Monica… and many others!

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In those cities, equity planners have pressed for:

More affordable housing Regional low-income housing schemes More transit service and lower transit fares Rent control Linkage arrangements, Community

Benefits Agreements (CABs), and other programs designed to help lower-income groups.

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In Linkage deals, subsidies or special rights granted by cities are off-set by contributions by developers for jobs, affordable housing, or neighborhood investments. Legally binding CABs are similar.

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Normative Rules for Planners to Reduce Poverty

1. Planners should take an active role in all deliberative settings in pressing for egalitarian solutions and blocking ones that disproportionately benefit the already well-off.

2. Plans should be developed in open consultation with the target population.

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Normative Rules for Planners Seeking to Reduce Poverty, Cont’d…

3. Community and economic development schemes should be linked to jobs. Example: Federal subsidies for

demolition (as in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program) should be used to hire deconstruction teams to take down unwanted structures.

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Normative Rules for Planners Seeking to Reduce Poverty, Cont’d…

4. Transit fares should be kept very low with as much service as possible.

5. Planners should lobby states and federal sources for funds to reduce fares, arguing that transit-dependent riders deserve compensation for declining mobility caused by opting for an automotive civilization.

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Normative Rules for Planners Seeking to Reduce Poverty, Cont’d…

6. Planners should work to ease rules on taxi regulation allowing for easier entry into the hacking or jitney business.

7. All new housing developments should provide units for households with incomes below the median. As much as possible, housing should be available through governmental, non-profit, or limited-profit providers.

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Normative Rules for Planners Seeking to Reduce Poverty, Cont’d…

8. Planners should work with others to assure that all households eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit should file for the credit.

9. Planners should use licensing, zoning, and regulatory tools to limit the location and fees charged by check-cashing and payday loan businesses. Planners should encourage legitimate banks to connect with low-income consumers in low-income neighborhoods.

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Normative Rules for Planners Seeking to Reduce Poverty, Cont’d…

10. Mega-projects should be subjected to heightened scrutiny, and if public subsidies are involved, should be required to provide direct benefits to low-income people in the form of job provisions, public amenities and a living wage.

11. Zoning should not be used to further discriminatory ends.

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Normative Rules for Planners Seeking to Reduce Poverty, Cont’d…

12. Planners should work toward regional collaboration seeking regional distribution plans for affordable housing and reverse commuting schemes to connect areas of high unemployment with suburban jobs.

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Normative Rules for Planners Seeking to Reduce Poverty, Cont’d…

13. Planners should work to provide land and resources for community gardens and farms to help people grow nutritious food, develop important skills and build a healthier environment.

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Normative Rules for Planners Seeking to Reduce Poverty, Cont’d…

14. Planners should work with and strengthen neighborhood-based community development organizations (CDCs). CDCs often speak for the poor, they build neighborhood infrastructure and housing, and their advocacy may improve public services.

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Thank you for your attention!

Norman KrumholzProfessorM.C.R.P., Cornell University, 1965Concentrations: Equity planning, community developmentn.krumholz@csuohio.edu