Search Results
Resource
Resilient Affordable Housing Grant Program - Boston, Massachusetts
2019
Boston’s Resilient Affordable Housing Grant Program illustrates how cities can use Section 4 Capacity Building Program grants to fund resilience investments in affordable housing. Despite having one of the narrowest housing affordability gaps in the country, Boston nevertheless faces pressures from increasing population growth. Like many urban areas across the country, Boston also faces increased incidences of climate impacts like extreme heat, coastal and riverine flooding, and more frequent stormwater flooding. In 2019, the Boston chapter of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) issued an RFP for Section 4 funding (up to $9,000) to assist community development corporations (CDCs) and community housing development organizations (CDHOs) with preparing the city’s affordable housing stock for extreme weather, sea-level rise, and other impacts of climate change. Specifically, the Resilient Affordable Housing Grant program provided funding to conduct resiliency assessments for vulnerable properties (located in the floodplain or at-risk for extreme heat), as well as for creating emergency management and training plans.
Resource Category: Funding
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Union Square Neighborhood Council, Somerville, Massachusetts
2019
In 2019, the Union Square Neighborhood Council (USNC) negotiated and ratified a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the developer Union Square Station Associates LLC (US2), following approximately a year of weekly meetings with the negotiating committee. The CBA set forth terms on a number of issues, including housing, workforce development, and environmental sustainability. Specifically, under the CBA, US2 committed to developing 90 permanently affordable units in the Union Square neighborhood (out of a total of 1,000 new affordable and market rate units).
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
City of Boston: Climate Resilient Design Standards and Guidelines for Protection of Public Rights-of-way
October 17, 2018
In 2018, the City of Boston’s Public Works Department issued standards and guidelines for climate-resilient infrastructure to protect public rights-of-way from an expected 40-inch increase in sea level by 2070. In particular, the guidelines are intended to inform height adjustments for structures to account for sea-level rise, and establish a climate-resilient design process for shoreline barriers. City engineers and designers will be able to use these guidelines to inform designs for flood barriers protecting public rights-of-way to ensure they are prepared for the acute and chronic flooding conditions expected in coming years.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Resilient Boston Harbor
October 17, 2018
The plan to develop a climate resilient Boston Harbor in the City of Boston, Massachusetts offers strategies for Boston's 47-mile shoreline that will increase access and open space along the waterfront while better protecting the city during a major flooding event. The plan focuses on green infrastructure and natural solutions to lowering the severity of sea level rise and flooding from climate change. “Resilient Boston Harbor” invests in Boston's waterfront with a proposed restructuring of Fort Point Channel, and development of coastal protection from East Boston to the Dorchester shoreline.
Resource Category: Planning
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Massachusetts Statewide Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan
September 17, 2018
Massachusetts has integrated climate change impact assessments and planning into its Statewide Hazard Mitigation Plan. The natural hazards assessment conducted for this plan determines how hazard risks and vulnerabilities are made more severe or uncertain by climate change. The plan outlines climate change impacts and adaptation strategies for five key sectors including - Populations, Government, Built Environment, Natural Resources and Environment, and Economy.
Resource Category: Planning
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Climate Ready Boston Coastal Resilience Tracker
September 2018
The City of Boston, Massachusetts is implementing many coastal resilience projects through the Climate Ready Boston program. This project tracker maps and describes a number of these progressive approaches to coastal resilience. The projects included in this tool are recommendations from the coastal resilience solutions plans for East Boston, Charlestown and South Boston.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Governance for a Changing Climate: Adapting Boston's Built Environment for Increased flooding
September 2018
The Sustainable Solutions Lab at the University of Massachusetts Boston examines the impacts of flooding from sea level rise and increased precipitation on the City of Boston’s built environment in this report. Along with discussing the governance challenges as related to to these climate change impacts, the report offers policy recommendations and governance strategies to improve resilience to increased flooding. The report is built upon the Climate Ready Boston (CRB) project, and offers recommendations on the implementation of its initiatives as well as policy reform to further flooding adaptation.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Stephanie Kruel, Rebecca Herst
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Massachusetts H 4835 - An Act Promoting Climate Change Adaptation, Environmental and Natural Resource Protection and Investment in Recreational Assets and Opportunity
August 21, 2018
Massachusetts Governor Baker has authorized over $2. 4 billion in capital allocations for investments in adaptation to climate change, protecting environmental resources and green space across the state. H 4835 enables critical financing for the state and local level environmental and community resilience. The legislation expands and codifies commitments of Executive Order 569 to ensure climate change adaptation and resiliency continue to be prioritized, state agency climate change vulnerability assessments are ongoing, and the State Integrated Hazard Mitigation Plan and Climate Adaptation Plan are continuously updated and implemented.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
resilient MA: Climate Change Clearinghouse for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
June 2018
In 2018, Massachusetts launched resilent MA, an online clearinghouse for local governments and the public with comprehensive information about the state’s work on climate adaptation and mitigation. The clearinghouse contains science and data on expected climate changes, information on community resiliency, decision support tools, and links to grant programs and technical assistance that local government and communities can use to fund and support actions to adapt to climate change.
Resource Category: Data and tools
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Boston Planning and Development Agency - Smart Utilities Policy
June 14, 2018
The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) Smart Utilities Policy has been launched as a two-year pilot program for resilient infrastructure planning in the City of Boston, Massachusetts. The policy adopts five “Smart Utility Technologies” (SUTs) that prepare Boston’s utility infrastructure for the impacts of climate change such as heat waves and flooding. A Microgrid, or centralized energy system, will be developed that can disconnect from the main electric utility grid during power outages.
Resource Category: Solutions
