The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced three steps to support communities’ efforts to provide their citizens’ with economic opportunity while reducing impacts on the environment. The actions will encourage state and local government to make their communities more sustainable by strategically aligning their environmental, transportation and housing investments.

The steps EPA announced consist of the creation of a new Office of Sustainable Communities to encourage communities to take an integrated approach in making environmental, housing and transportation decisions; A new pilot grant program designed to help three states – New York, Maryland and California – use their clean water funding programs to support efforts to make communities more sustainable; and a pilot program to clean up and redevelop contaminated sites, known as brownfield sites, in coordination with communities’ efforts to develop public transportation and affordable housing. 

According to EPA, the partnership is focused on ensuring that housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.

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