Reports — Center for Environmental Policy and Management

CEPM helped produce the State of Metropolitan Housing Report for the Metropolitan Housing Coalition. This year focused on housing for people living with disabilities and our aging population.

Toward a Better Understanding of Community Benefits Assessment Practices

Meyer, P.B. and Heberle, L (2016): Literature Review submitted to EPA as an element of the development of the Brownfield Area Benefits Estimator Toolkit.

2015

2015 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

This year’s report focused on the Supreme Court’s decision on fair housing and its implications on community members, leaders, and organizations.

Searching for Safe, Fair, and Affordable Housing: Learning from Experiences:

This report was contracted by the Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission and was written in collaboration with The Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research at the University of Louisville and the Metropolitan Housing Coalition. Searching for Safe, Fair, and Affordable Housing: Learning from Experiences is an analysis/assessment that consists of a written research-based report derived from two kinds of data: (1) compilation and analysis of existing relevant quantitative findings and (2) focus groups of persons in protected classes on housing choices. Protected classes are defined by race, color, religion, national origin, sex, family status, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Using current local housing data and focus group results, the report formulates the realities (and myths) of housing availability that meets the needs of protected classes within Louisville Metro.

2014

Resource Guide for Recycling on Multifamily Properties

Multifamily recycling programs manifest themselves quite differently than residential recycling programs for single-family properties and similarly have different issues in terms of efficacy and efficiency, such as lower participation rates relative to single-family properties. Multifamily waste represents a fairly small fraction of the waste stream. Despite the perception that they are not being served, recycling service is offered at approximately 82 percent of multifamily developments nationwide. In two-thirds of these areas, all multifamily units are covered. This resource guide and collection of tips will be useful to those initiating new programs or seeking to improve existing efforts. Suggestions are drawn from a sampling of successful programs and associated materials across the country, including Mecklenburg County, NC; Alameda County, CA; Madison, WI; Palo Alto, CA; Phoenix, AZ; and the State of Georgia.

2014 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

The 2014 State of Metropolitan Housing Report revisits focus topics and recommendations made by Metropolitan Housing Coalition over the past eight years. The 2014 report re-examines five key policy areas: planning and zoning, transportation, utilities, environmental quality, and vacant properties. These are policy issues that intersect to impact the distribution of fair, affordable, and safe housing across our area. By highlighting examples of progress and on-going opportunities for improvement, the reports brings attention to the need for understanding how decisions in one sphere impact outcomes in others.

18th Street Corridor Study Report

In 2011 Louisville Metro Department of Economic Growth and Innovation was awarded an EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant. As part of this grant, the Center for Environmental Policy and Management (CEPM) received a sub-award to assist in the development of an area-wide plan for the 18th Street commercial corridor in Louisville, Kentucky. The goal of the planning process is to identify priority sites for environmental assessment, consider future end-uses for brownfield properties within the commercial corridor, and make recommendations to enhance the corridor's connectivity, mobility, and accessibility within a two-block depth along 18th Street from Broadway to Algonquin Pkwy.

2013

2013 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

The focal point of the 2013 Metropolitan Housing Report is renters and rental housing, and their demographics. Louisville's Land Development Code is analyzed in the context of equitable housing, given Louisville's need for affordable rental property.

State of Fair and Affordable Housing Report for Lexington-Fayette Urban County, Kentucky

Written for a broad audience to encourage discussion and collaboration around housing issues, this report provides profiles of Lexington-Fayette Urban County's demographics and housing conditions as well as housing indicators.

2012

2012 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

Through its nine measures of fair and affordable housing, the 2012 State of Metropolitan Housing Report clearly demonstrates Metropolitan Louisville's growing need for safe, fair, and affordable housing. The focus topic of the 2012 report is vacant properties and their impact on the community as well as current efforts and best practices for dealing with vacant properties. The report also drills down into the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a federal program designed to address the issue of vacant properties, and how it was used in Louisville.

23 Years of Impact: A look back at the Housing Partnership Inc.'s impact on the Louisville community since 1989

November 2012

Claysburg Neighborhood Revitalization Plan (6 MB)

June 2012

2011

2011 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

The 2011 State of Metropolitan Housing Report examines the links between environmental issues and housing in the Louisville area, including vacant properties and brownfields, access to greenspace, exposure to environmental harms, location efficiency, and energy-efficient public housing.

2010

Schoolyards as Resources for Learning and Communities: A Design Handbook for Kentucky Schools

The handbook provides information to aid in the design and development of schoolyards in Kentucky. It describes the schoolyard concept, identifies examples and best practices, and provides an outline for how to conduct a participatory schoolyard redesign process driven by community input. It outlines what issues need to be considered when designing a schoolyard and outdoor learning spaces, describes features often included in schoolyards and outdoor classrooms, and offers strategies for implementing the resulting design, particularly maintenance and sustainability issues, fundraising, and utilization of community resources. The report also raises the environmental questions that need to be considered throughout the various phases of the design and construction process. The handbook was developed and authored in partnership with the University of Louisville's City Solutions Center.

2010 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

The 2010 State of Metropolitan Housing Report provides a housing policy roadmap for Louisville Metro. The report 1) defines local housing policy topics and related concepts, 2) reviews the research on each concept to determine how effective they are in practice, and 3) provides examples and case studies of these policies in practice, both in Louisville and in other U.S. cities. Ultimately, the report provides an outline for which issues local and state housing policies should address, which policies and strategies have been successful, and the most effective ways to implement these policies and strategies to provide fair and affordable housing for all members of the Louisville community.

2009

Kentucky Wet Growth Handbook

The purpose of this document is to familiarize the reader with the concept of wet growth and tools for dealing with wet growth in community settings. Many Kentuckians have become aware that their growth practices have implications for valuable water resources. As a result, local communities increasingly concern themselves with the impacts of land use on our waters and with identifying policies and practices that are healthy and sustainable when it comes to water quality, water supply, and overall water-based environments. This document is a summary of Kentucky Wet Growth Tools for Sustainable Development: A Handbook on Land Use and Water for Kentucky Communities.

Jeffersonville Housing Inventory Study

The purpose of the Jeffersonville Housing Inventory Study was to provide a complete inventory of residential structures in the historic city center of Jeffersonville, Indiana. An original housing inventory survey was created for the study by the research team in partnership with Jeffersonville city officials to record the location, exterior condition, and other physical and architectural characteristics of each residential structure. The data from the survey process was then used to create a comprehensive housing database for the city. The property conditions and attributes were then analyzed and mapped to provide the city with a detailed account of housing conditions in historic Jeffersonville.

2009 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

The 2009 State of Metropolitan Housing Report examines changes over time in the Louisville area on a number of housing indicators, including foreclosures, the production of affordable housing, homelessness, federal funding for housing programs, housing costs, and the location of subsidized housing, among others.

2008

Protecting the Kentuckians' Economic Well-being in the Face of Energy Cost Increases

This study reviews the threats Kentucky faces with the changing energy priorities and policies in the U.S. and around the world. The Commonwealth has taken steps to respond to these changes and though challenges exist, the prospects for Kentuckians can be positive.

Option for Protecting Kentuckians' Economic Well-being in the Face of Energy Cost Increases

This report first summarizes the findings in Protecting the Kentuckians' Economic Well-being in the Face of Energy Cost Increases, then examines the issues and options that faces KY's General Assembly when implementing the recommendations provided.

2008 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

The 2008 State of Metropolitan Housing Report examines utilities cost and energy efficiency as a component of housing affordability in the Louisville area.

2007

Effects of Public Sector Interventions on Adjacent Land Values: Waterfront Park in Louisville, Kentucky

Using available property valuation authority information, this case study of the economic effects of Waterfront Park’s development on adjacent land in Louisville, Kentucky shows that a significant improvement can be shown on adjacent land values due to public sector interventions. It is also found that these effects are not limited to immediately adjacent properties but extend to off-site properties as well although the change in improvement diminishes with distance to the park amenity.

Rural and Urban Sustainability in Clark County, Indiana

The report examines the agriculture industry, economic development, and land-use practices in Clark County. The study is broken down into six parts: (1) a demographic profile of the people of Clark County to gain a better understanding of population trends and statistics that are directly related to the economy, such as income and jobs; (2) the county’s agricultural industry, including crop and livestock production, revenue and expense, and agri-tourism; (3) an economic analysis and how competitive business and industry in Clark County is when compared to larger regions; (4) a look at what it cost to convert farmland to residential uses, with a focus on utilities, roads, and public services; (5) strategies for farmland preservation which include reusing and redeveloping brownfields, as well as examples of policies and programs that have been successfully implemented across the country; and (6) an analysis of Clark County’s current land use. This report was produced at the request of Jeffersonville Main Street.

2007 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

The 2007 State of Metropolitan Housing Report examines the relationship between housing and transportation in the Louisville region, including transportation access, costs to households, and public funding.

2006

Connecting Smart Growth and Brownfields Redevelopment

This report discusses strategies and tools for the creative development of policies that encourage brownfield redevelopment and smart growth outcomes. These tools are flexible and can be combined in various ways depending upon the needs and desires of a community, and can create a climate in which smart growth principles come to be expected and brownfields redevelopment is supported.

2006 State of Metropolitan Housing Report

The 2006 State of Metropolitan Housing Report examines planning and zoning in Louisville Metro and how it impacts the development and location of affordable housing.