MPC in D.C.: Supporting livable communities - Metropolitan Planning Council

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MPC in D.C.: Supporting livable communities

February is shaping up to be a critical month for the Livable Communities Act: U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) is expected to introduce the bill in the House, while the Banking Committee in the Senate – where the bill originally was introduced by U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) – will review the bill.

Why does this bill matter to MPC – and you? There are many reasons, including that the bill could help support more employer-assisted housing (EAH) programs in metropolitan Chicago and nationwide. EAH is a public-private partnership proven to help people live near their jobs and public transportation, and reduce their top two household expenses, housing and transportation. In Illinois, public investment of $2.5 million has leveraged more than $8 million from employers – and resulted in approximately $400 million in home sales since 2000. More than 3,500 employees in Illinois have received free homeownership counseling through EAH programs, and approximately 2,000 have bought homes with their employer’s assistance. In short, the numbers add up.

The National Housing Conference, MPC, and other partners around the country have proposed including employer-assisted housing incentives in this bill to engage business partners and support more affordable living for American families. During this crucial month of February, please contact your U.S. senators and representative and ask them to support the Livable Communities Act and include the proposed EAH incentives.  

Extra credit points to those who contact lawmakers on the following committees, which have or will review the Livable Communities Act:

More information about the Livable Communities Act

More information about employer-assisted housing

Sample letter of support for the Livable Communities Act

Comments

  1. 1. Devesh from FkMuXhlZ on October 4, 2012

    The City’s Engineering Department, seriously has to get with the game. They seem to be off doing their own thing, and with anqatuited ideas of how things should be done. They might mean well, they might think we need more roads, wider roads, because there is traffic congestion and thus demand. But its not the way to do things.I have seen too many trees cut down just to widen a roadand seriously cut a road through bear creek park!?There 11,000 trees a year are cut down in Surrey! (re: recent Leader article; went to 4000 this year, but they expect that number to go back up when the economy picks up !!!)

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