Blog

  • Photo of Flag waving on US Capitol Building April 28, 2025

    What’s Next for Transportation Policy?

    The 2024 election results mark unified Republican control of the White House and Congress. Here are some ways planners can expect the administration to chart a different regulatory course for transportation programs and policy.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image April 17, 2025

    New Standards Issued for Regional Economic Development Plans

    The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) has issued new guidance for required Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy plans (CEDS). Learn how these new standards will affect planners.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image April 17, 2025

    FEMA Waives Equity, Climate Requirements for Local Mitigation Plans

    FEMA has issued new guidance related to requirements for incorporating underserved communities, socially vulnerable populations, and climate change into local hazard mitigation plans. Those sections are now removed from the guide outlining plan requirements. Read more on how this is affecting planning practices.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image April 7, 2025

    FEMA Suspends Key Pre-Disaster Mitigation Funding

    Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton issued a memorandum suspending funding for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. The action stops $750 million in planned grants for FY25. Learn how this will impact planners.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image April 2, 2025

    USDOT Announces Updated Safe Streets for All Grant Notice

    The Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary program is now accepting applications.
  • 4 Ways to Use State Funding for Local Housing Supply (blog featured image) March 27, 2025

    4 Ways to Use State Funding for Local Housing Supply

    As federal funding programs are changed, reduced, or curtailed, localities are increasingly looking to states to supplement finance efforts to produce, preserve, and improve housing supply. Here are four ways to use state funding for local housing action, plus a look at two states that are creating even more opportunities for financing
  • 4 Ways to Use State Funding for Local Housing Supply (blog featured image) March 27, 2025

    Finance Tools for Housing Abundance

    Despite a shifting political environment, planners can still support their communities in securing funding for local reforms that increase housing abundance. Here are four tips to explore the wide variety of financial tools available, and a look at how some communities are already using these tips to their advantage.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image March 27, 2025

    7 Actions for Planners Facing Insecure Federal Funding

    A variety of federal grant programs are at risk of losing funding due to recent actions by the Trump Administration, including discretionary programs such as Safe Streets for All, RAISE/BUILD grants, and Reconnecting Communities. Here are 7 actions for planners to take when federal grant funds in their communities are in jeopardy.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image March 27, 2025

    DOT Rescinds Guidance to States – Here’s What It Means for Planners

    The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has begun to undo a variety of directives from the Biden administration that guided state and federal infrastructure investments. There are potentially troubling signs that progress through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law  in areas like biking, pedestrian safety, and environmental impacts may be jeopardized.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image March 25, 2025

    New Executive Order Targets Community Development Financial Institutions

    President Trump signed an Executive Order targeting the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund for elimination.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image March 24, 2025

    Continuing Resolution Averts Shutdown

    In mid-March, Congress passed H.R. 1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Extension Act, which President Trump signed into law, stopping a potential government shutdown.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image March 24, 2025

    U.S. EPA Announces Sweeping Deregulatory Agenda

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced an agenda to formally reconsider more than 30 existing rules and regulations. Administrator Zeldin called the effort “the biggest deregulatory action in American history.”
  • APA Policy News Banner Image March 24, 2025

    How Can YOU Help Protect Federal Grants?

    Grant programs from all agencies, including those coming out of the U.S. Department of Transportation grants (USDOT), may be frozen or even taken back due to perceived inconsistency with new guidance from the Trump administration. The new guidance will also change the eligibilities and criteria for future rounds of grants. Here’s what you can do.
  • APA Policy News Banner Image March 24, 2025

    New Federal Direction to Communities on HUD Disaster Recovery Funds

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released an updated notice on how communities can plan and use funds for disaster recovery under the CDBG-DR program.

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