Community Benefits Agreement - Possible Benefits

Possible Benefits

The CBA contract model allows each particular CBA to be tailored to the community’s needs, the size and type of the proposed development, and the relative bargaining power of the community groups and the developer. Benefits may be provided by the developer itself, or a CBA may require the developer to impose CBA provisions on its tenants, vendors, and contractors. Typically, CBAs include job quality standards, local hiring programs, and affordable housing requirements.

Other benefits include, among other things:

• Living wage and prevailing wage requirements
• Local hiring goals
• Job training programs
• Minority/women/local business contracting goals
• Provisions prohibiting developers from hiring contractors that have violated labor or other occupational laws (known as "responsible contractor" provisions)
• Union neutrality requirements
• Retail/commercial space set-asides for small and local businesses
• Big box retail restrictions
• Green building requirements
• Space set-asides for neighborhood organizations, community centers, child-care centers, and other non-profits
• Construction of parks and recreational facilities
• Provisions for community input in the selection of tenants
• Funding for community organizations/programs
• Mitigations in excess of those required under state/local law that address parking, traffic, increased pollution, and other environmental impacts
• Affordable housing requirements

The range of benefits offered by a CBA has been explored extensively in the scholarly literature, as well as conferences, in an effort to raise awareness about the benefits of CBA's for developers, local government, and struggling communities.