Who is the Department of Jobs? | Feb 13th at 12:04pm
Who is the Department of Jobs?
Maybe I’m on the outside looking in as an economic development policy guy here, but the lack of connection between community development/housing policy and jobs here is really noticeable. The links between education and housing got a whole panel, a HUD secretary pre-announced a major sustainability initiative, and housing-related investment policy was the subject of two panels. To be totally clear- this is not a criticism of my colleagues at the Furman Center who organized this amazing conference, but rather my reflection on the lack of connection between jobs and community development generally.
Is HUD a housing agency or an urban development agency? Historic HUD-related programs, like the Model Cities program that came up yesterday, used to be fairly job-focused before the Reagan cuts of urban programs. If creating well-paying jobs is not in HUD’s purview, who is responsible for ensuring that a green-collar job revolution happens? Commerce? Labor? Energy? EPA? This mission falls outside all of these agencies’ core missions.
I’m not arguing for a new federal agency, but the tight connections between fair housing, zoning, and jobs are missing in the housing policy discussion.
Michael Freedman-Schnapp is a candidate for a Masters in Urban Planning at NYU's Wagner School for Public Service. He is the Senior Policy Associate for the New York Industrial Retention Network, where he works on keeping blue-collar jobs in New York City and encouraging the growth of the local green economy.
Eric on Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 2:43pm
While there hasn’t been much concrete said about its scope, maybe this is where the Office of Urban Policy is going to come in. With housing being the astounding mess that it is right now, I think HUD will have more than their hands full. The new office (which I can only assume will work very closely with HUD) could be the lead on some of these other issues, such as jobs.
...that doesn’t anser why it isn’t already part of the discussion, even if the Office isn’t created yet.