Livable New York Initiative
Livable New York
New York State
Office for the Aging
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Affiliate Partners
NY State Department of State * USDA Rural Development—State Office
NY State Energy Research and Development Authority * NY State Builders Association
NY State Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities
Dormitory Authority of the State of New York * NY State Homes and Community Renewal
New York State Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities
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Livable New York is a statewide initiative developed by the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA), in cooperation with eight affiliate partners and a statewide advisory workgroup. Its intent is to assist municipalities to better plan for the needs of their older adults, people of all ages with disabilities, families, and caregivers, and to take active steps to create livable communities that best reflect the State's rapidly changing demographic and social profile. Through the initiative's products and activities, communities will be provided with information, training, technical assistance, and examples of successful models, practices, and approaches related to the initiative's focus areas: housing, universal design, development, planning, zoning, land use, energy alternatives, green building, mobility, and transportation.
The directive underpinning Livable New York derives from Chapter 58 of the New York State laws of 2007, which added a new subdivision 14 to section 24-d of New York State Elder Law. The subdivision requires that mixed-use, age-integrated communities be fostered across the State. No funding has been allocated for this initiative, and the activities and products undertaken have used NYSOFA's existing resources. NYSOFA was directed to widely disseminate the initiative's products and information, which will support communities' efforts to develop a variety of housing and mobility alternatives, incorporate new and innovative building design and energy ideas, and institute creative planning approaches and zoning strategies.
The initiative's accomplishments to date include:
- An 86-member Advisory Workgroup, comprising experts, consumers, and decision-makers from across the State, convened and identified over 200 recommended changes to regulations, ordinances, and policies related to the initiative's focus areas. These recommendations have been published for consideration by policymakers as a means of facilitating the ability of communities to overcome the challenges and barriers they can encounter when attempting to implement activities related to the initiative's focus areas. The Report is available to the public on-line.
- A technical assistance Resource Manual, comprising 125 short articles related to the initiative's focus areas, is developed and available for use by all community members as they set about planning and implementing projects related to the initiative's focus areas. Each article is devoted to a specific model or strategy, providing descriptive information, benefits of the model/strategy, challenges to implementation, operating examples, and numerous links to in-depth resources, professional information, and ordinances. The Resource Manual is available to the public on-line, and it is updated on a regular basis, with additional articles and information added.
- Livable New York Resource Manual: http://www.aging.ny.gov/LivableNY/ResourceManual/Index.cfm.
- DVD series: A DVD series will be developed as a visual complement to the technical assistance Resource Manual. The series will highlight successful examples of various housing options; planning, zoning, and land-use strategies; universal design homes and communities; energy-efficiency and energy alternatives; green-building examples; and innovative mobility/transportation options and programs.
The initiative's next steps:
- A third major activity under Livable New York, which is an education, training, and technical assistance Academy, is currently under development. The Academy is a community-based, three-step process intended to directly support the planning, design, community-evaluation, and project-implementation efforts of communities as they make decisions and take steps to improve the livability of their neighborhoods. Through the Academy process, the initiative will provide education and technical assistance with:
- Training: A community training event for local officials, community and business leaders, providers, and professionals from multiple disciplines—to educate about the social and financial implications of demographic, social, and policy trends; the benefits of engaging in a collaborative, inclusive, future-based approach to planning; the advantages of various housing, transportation, energy, green building, planning, and zoning models and strategies; and the value of using an evaluation of all residents' perceptions of their community's livability as a basis for planning.
- Community Evaluation: An evaluation conducted by the community of its residents' (all ages, cultures, and abilities) perceptions of their community's level of livability. A Request for Proposals is under development and will be issued by NYSOFA to solicit proposals to develop a Livable New York Community Evaluation instrument and process.
- Project Implementation: Prioritization of evaluation findings and selecting implementation projects to improve the community's livability.
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