Impacts of government Regulation, Land Ownership, and Developer Behaviour on Urban Brownfield Residential Development Process

With Massachusetts State spending on affordable housing and open space at a historic low, when considered as a percentage of the total budget, the production of dwelling units and the conservation of land have become the responsibility of local government, but cities and towns do not build housing, except in rare circumstances. As well they do not routinely buy expensive tracts of open land,

If a community is developed on a parcel of land that is not suitable that community will experience a decline overtime in terms of its population and value to its respective municipality. A successful community is one that is built in an area that provides residents with employment opportunities, security, primary relationships and within proximity to services such as educational or health. For example, if a community was developed in Northern Ontario where there is limited development it would hinder the growth of that community since areas in Northern Ontario are primarily agriculture and self-sustained. Developers will conduct research to project and forecast the outcome of a residential development in terms of sales, feasibility, project design, demand and ensuring housing products will match the land (Guerard, 2005). Three of the main factors developers consider prior to purchasing a parcel of land is employment trends, population data, and supply/demand (Guerard, 2005). The research that goes behind acquiring a parcel of land for development is important in ensuring that the community being developed is successful based on the area it is being built

Different areas of the private sector took control of the racial segregation. Areas such as real estate, banks, labor, and toxic waste locations have participated in some way to continue the segregation and inferiority of people of color. “African Americans and other communities of color are often victims of land-use decision making that mirrors the power arrangements of the dominant society” (Bullard [1994]2004:269). The land-use decisions are used by the real estate industry. The real estate industry along with the bank industry have worked together in order to make it almost impossible for people of color to acquire their own homes. When individuals of color do obtain their own homes the real estate industry corrals them all into one zone. Then the banks charge homeowners in these zones high interest rates on the mortgages needed to maintain their home ownership. “Zoning is probably the most widely applied mechanism to regulate urban land use in the United States” (Bullard [1994]2004:269). When people of color are corralled into a neighborhood the quality of the neighborhood is diminished. The

The process through which gentrification is carried out is very intricately planned. Drugs, prostitution, and violence usually play the most important role in the process of gentrification. When neighborhoods are infested by crime of any sort, the first thing that happens is the immediate decline in property value in areas like Guilford and Park Heights (“The Mortgage Bubble Invades Baltimore”). The home owning taxpayers in Baltimore City are usually blue collar workers who are just trying to make ends meet, and because of their income restrictions many of these citizens are forced to live in areas of high crime. Generally people only live in these areas if they have to, so when a developer comes along and offers to buy citizens homes at a price that the citizens at the time considers to be extremely profitable in their neighborhood, they usually take the money and run without carefully considering that the offer that they have accepted is much less profitable than what the developers have planned (“City’s East side Renaissance Spreads”). We

In Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374 (1994), building a parking lot will increase the quantity and rate of storm-water flow from the property, thus keeping the floodplain free from the development would likely confine the pressures on Fanno Creek created by the new development. However, this was not enough for the city; the city wanted the land for itself. According to Justice Rhenquist, “the city must make some effort to quantify its findings in *396 support of the dedication it asks for” (Dolan v. City of Tigard 1994, 5). San Jose’s law does not solve the issue of increasing low-income housing, but instead harms entrepreneurs. The City of San Jose has made no effort to meet its burden to show that developers of new homes are somehow responsible for the astronomical prices of housing in the city. The law is an impediment to growth, an interference with the free market and an exceedingly expensive cost-per-unit way of integrating lower incomes into high land-value

How successful has the regeneration of urban areas been given the variety of ways it has been undertaken (40 marks)

The utilization of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit or LIHTC has had an overall positive effect on housing for low-income families in the United States. Four key outcomes of the LIHTC are: First, there is less likelihood of segregation within the tax-credit housing than in the government provided section 8 and government-subsidized voucher programs (Schwartz, p. 115). Second, the purpose of the program, which was to subsidize mixed income housing to low and working class families, is provisionally being met (Khadduri, Buron, & Lam, p. 10). Third, through decentralization of the implementation of the LIHTC program the federal government allowed the state governments more latitude in the dissemination of the tax credits to appropriate developers (Furman Center, p. 2). Finally, there is a correlation between the areas where LIHTC housing properties are developed in the impact on the sounding region. This correlation is both positive and negative in nature, but heavily is judged on the region that the LIHTC is built in and as to whether it is in an urban center, suburb, or in the metro areas (Deng, pp. 46-48). These four outcomes will guide the body of this paper about the overarching theme of LIHTC as a policy tool as opposed to section 8 housing or government provided housing.

Inclusionary zoning is a tool to help accomplish affordable housing. The main goal of it is to build a certain percentages of house but to where the houses can be afforded by middle/low income earners. Incentives are provided to act as cost offsets and include density bonuses, tax abatement, and reduced parking charges. Density bonuses motivate developers to have additional units which result in an increased profit margin. On subscription to the inclusionary zoning, benefits accrued eventually lower costs that would have otherwise been charged on the developers. This technique provides a sustainable method of dealing with housing shortage (Dietderich 13). The municipality, however, cannot force developers to set a particular minimum price and therefore the government can only provide incentives to developers to voluntarily provide the units for low-income earners.

A bill, SB 35, written by Senator Scott Wiener, streamlines the home building action by removing roadblocks to development. Instead of putting roadblocks in the way, we should be offering incentives for housing development. “The explosive costs of housing have spread like wildfire around the state,” said Senator Scott Wiener. This is not a problem with elite housing along the coast. This is a problem that covers huge areas of the state. It’s damaging the economy. It also damages the environment, as people are forced into longer commutes.

Residential, commercial and industrial development is the largest contributors to landscape change in the state of New Jersey. When buildout occurs in one region, development pressure begins in another, virtually insuring the Megalopolis concept of one huge urban corridor stretching between Boston and Washington D.C. Year after year, farmland dwindles, roads become congested, and more residents are left to compete for diminishing natural resources. Desperate measures and newer technologies are incorporated to replace poor planning and lack of vision on behalf of decision-makers caught between competing interests. When the long term health and wellbeing of the established population and the short term gain of a

Furthermore, it also represents a great compromised to those who advocate for it, because while communities might be facing the changes done by it, there would still be parcels of land entrusted to community stewardship. Right now Austin is currently just doing single plots of land, but what if other trusts invested in whole city blocks or neighborhoods? Such in areas like Detroit, where housing is affordable and in need of community investment that will give back, whole areas could be possibly saved from losing their character and identity in the process. This is in a way, responsible gentrification because individual communities themselves as well as their residents taking control of their communities and not outside speculators. According of Melora Hiller the executive director of the Community Land Trust Network, other cities such as Baltimore, Maryland are forming trusts to turn vacant homes for the homeless, so not only are these helping the alleviate the fears of lower income people they are also helping to fight back against a social issues that have long been ignored. Therefore, this source was very informative for my paper, because it helped to shape my part of my solution for gentrification, which is we need more individuals and communities to take

The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative is a perfect example of such efforts in Boston, Massachusetts. The neighborhood was plighted with all the aforementioned disadvantages, such as red lining, burnt down houses, and then the empty lots became a dumping grounds. Through the neighborhoods efforts, they raised awareness of their issue and got changes in policy to prevent dumping. They also utilized imminent domain to reclaim the abandoned lots in their neighborhood and then through the creation of their own Community Development Corporation were able to build new affordable housing in its place. Though all this, they were also able to get banks to reinvest in the area so they can continue to develop. Other cities can and have utilized similar methods and practices but the results are deeply dependent on the participation of community members and the willingness of the city to assist. DSNI was able to circumnavigate the city’s lack of cooperation in investing through the creation of their

Over the last three decades, the number of affordable housing units constructed under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit has declined due to poor oversight of the program, unregulated LIHTC development financial markets, and local government’s power to block the construction of LHITC developments in higher opportunity areas.

Community around the brownfields could really benefit from the BCP. From social aspect, population of the city could increase as the job opportunities increases. For example, the completion of Solar City could attract thousands and thousands of people to move here and revitalize the city itself. Other than that, it also improves neighborhood appearance. The city of Buffalo uses park system for the neighborhood which means you could see park almost everywhere when you are travelling in Buffalo. By redevelop brownfields area, there will be no more abandoned buildings or factories. For example, the old paper box factory in 500 Seneca had been redeveloped into offices and apartments.

Recently, there has been a great pressure from housing, transports infrastructures such as roads and tourism-related construction. “There needs to be a greater emphasis on making a more efficient use of land within the urban areas” (Bournemouth Housing Strategy 2003-2006, Published in 2002).