Model CBAs and Community Benefits Ordinances as Tools for Negotiating Equitable Development: Three Critical Cases

Community benefits agreements (CBAs) allow coalitions of labor and grassroots organizations to negotiate for concessions in the development process. One goal of a CBA is to more broadly distribute the benefits of new development to distressed communities and historically disenfranchised groups. Since their emergence in the 1990s, CBAs have not been well institutionalized. To date, there have been roughly 30 CBAs adopted across the United States. A relatively new development in the CBA movement has been the push to adopt model CBAs and community benefits ordinances, that outline all of the linkages that local government expects a developer to include in a project and require developers to negotiate linked development agreements as part of the project approval process. Although the emergence of model CBAs and CBA ordinances is promising for local groups interested in promoting equitable development, little research has been done on them. This article examines three critical cases in the United States (Portland, OR; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI) and evaluates the degree to which they serve as tools to institutionalize equitable development in the urban planning process. This analysis is based on content analysis and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders.