From 2011-2015, HUD supported regional and local planning efforts that helped communities integrate housing, transportation, infrastructure and environmental goals to realize their visions for a more prosperous future. Through this program, HUD awarded 74 Regional Planning Grants and 69 Community Challenge Planning Grants through a competitive process. These 143 grant areas ultimately reached 40 percent of the U.S. population. HUD’s $250 million investment opened the door to hundreds of millions of dollars of public and private investment and engaged more than 3,300 partner groups across the country working to strengthen American cities, counties and regions.
The Regional Planning Grant Program supported locally-led collaborative efforts that brought together diverse regional interests to create a unified vision for success. Together, these consortia sought public input to determine how to best target housing, economic and workforce development, and infrastructure investments to create more jobs and regional economic activity.
The Community Challenge Grant Program fostered reform and reduced barriers to achieving affordable and economically vital communities. Community Challenge efforts included amending or replacing local master plans and updating zoning and building codes to reduce the barriers to development and promote mixed-use development, affordable housing, walkable communities, transit oriented development, and similar activities.
Together, these two grant programs were known as the Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI).
Learn more about Regional Planning Grants and SCI
This resource library contains a wide range of planning documents, reports, case studies, and other products generated throughout the SCI. Regional and local plans—such as neighborhood, corridor, station-area, transportation, and outreach plans—are sorted by theme and by document type.