The Affordable
Housing Bulletin
January 16, 2007
In Delaware
*
Joint
Finance Committee Public Hearing - DSHA FY2008 Budget
*
General Assembly Committee
Assignments
*
Statewide
Conference on Homelessness - Register Now!
Elsewhere
*
Call to Adequately
Fund All FY07 HUD Programs!
*
Housing Vouchers Increase Mobility and Neighborhood Quality
Joint
Finance Committee Public Hearing - DSHA FY2008 Budget
The Joint Finance
Committee will hold a public hearing on next fiscal year’s budget of the
Delaware State Housing Authority. It will be held:
Tuesday,
February 6, 2007
10:30 a.m.
Joint Finance Committee Hearing Room
Legislative Hall
Dover, DE
Comments
from the public are strongly encouraged.
[Loretta Parkhill,
Loretta@destatehousing.com ]
General Assembly
Committee Assignments
The new committee assignments for the 144th General Assembly were announce
yesterday, and can be downloaded from the
publications page of the DHC website.
Statewide
Conference on Homelessness - Register Now!
The University of Delaware’s Center for Community Research & Service and the
Homeless Planning Council of Delaware present
“Ending
Homelessness in Delaware”
Friday, February 23, 2007
8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Clayton Hall Conference Center
University of Delaware
Register
online at:
www.udel.edu/ccrs/homelessnessconference
A conference brochure with complete agenda is available at that site.
Keynote
Speaker
Robert Egger
Founder and President
DC Central Kitchen
Luncheon
Speaker
Christopher Coons
New Castle County Executive
You may
reserve an exhibit table by contacting Signe Bell at (302) 831-3467 or
signe@udel.edu.
[Loretta Parkhill,
Loretta@destatehousing.com
]
CALL TO ACTION:
Adequately Fund all FY07 HUD Programs!
IN BRIEF
Whom to call:
Your Representative and Senators
When to
call:
Friday, January 12 through Wednesday, January 26
The number
to call:
877-322-5742
The message:
Adequately fund all HUD programs for FY07!
Congress
plans to pass a “Joint Funding Resolution” by February 15 that will set
funding levels for HUD programs for FY07 (through September 30, 2007). The
Resolution as planned will fund all HUD programs at FY06 levels unless there
will be “cataclysmic” consequences.
HUD programs
face severe funding shortfalls if HUD funding is not increased above the
FY06 level. Thousands of people will either lose their housing or have no
access to housing if HUD programs are left at FY06 levels. Here’s what is
at stake.
* Without
a $487 million increase for FY07 and language linking PHA voucher costs to
recent leasing and cost data, 70,000 vouchers will be cut at local
agencies.
*
Contracts on at least 107,000 Section 8 project-based units will not be able
to be renewed in FY07 if Congress does not increase the project-based
Section 8 budget by $636 million.
* Public
housing operating subsidies will be underfunded by about 25% of what HUD
says is needed in FY07, an historic low compounding the effects of many
years of underfunding. And, public housing capital needs will continue to
be neglected if this fund remains at FY06 levels. Public housing has lost
more than $1 billion in funding since FY01.
* Unless
funding is increased by $185 million, 14,000 homeless people will be
consigned to another year of homelessness.
* Even
people served by smaller programs like Housing for Persons with AIDS will be
in jeopardy. If the $14 million requested increase for HOPWA is not
enacted in FY07, 3500 fewer people with AIDS (and their families) will
receive housing assistance.
* If
funding for the Census is not increased by $50 million for FY07, the ability
of the Census Bureau to accurately determine funding allocations and produce
the American Housing Survey will be compromised.
HUD’s
programs are currently operating under a continuing resolution until
February 15. House and Senate leadership intend to enact a “joint funding
resolution” to carry programs until the end of FY07, September 30, 2007.
Call the DC
offices of the Delaware Congressional delegation this week, and ask to speak
to the staff person in each who deals with housing issues.
The Message:
I am calling to urge Representative/Senator __________ to adequately fund
all HUD programs in the FY07 joint funding resolution. HUD programs face
severe funding shortfalls if HUD funding is not increased above the FY06
level. Thousands of people will either lose their housing or have no access
to housing if HUD programs are left at FY06 levels.
For more
information:
* Contact Linda Couch at Linda@nlihc.org.
* Questions? Call Elisa Ortiz at 202.662.1530 x222.
* Please report the results of your calls to
outreach@nlihc.org. Find your Member
of Congress at
www.nlihc.org
by entering your zip code in the Contact Congress box.
Housing Vouchers Increase Mobility and Neighborhood Quality
A report released by HUD in December shows that low income households
receiving tenant-based rent vouchers were significantly more likely than a
control group who did not receive housing assistance to move to
higher-quality neighborhoods and to avoid homelessness, doubling up and
crowding. Participants cited safety and better schools as their main reasons
for moving, and nearly all claimed this mobility would not have been
possible without voucher assistance. Many of those interviewed said that
vouchers provided stability, reducing the anxiety of frequent moves and fear
of homelessness.
As part of
the now-defunct Welfare to Work Voucher Program, Public Housing Authorities
(PHAs) in six cities randomly assigned 8,731 welfare-eligible families to
receive vouchers or to receive no housing assistance 2000 or 2001 (13% were
living in public and assisted housing). By 2005, voucher recipients had
moved fewer times, but were significantly more likely to reside in different
neighborhoods with lower rates of poverty, unemployment and welfare.
However, the voucher group did not experience higher neighborhood
satisfaction or lower crime, leading the authors to suggest that for more
substantial improvements, voucher programs should include services such as
mobility counseling, housing search assistance and security deposit
assistance.
While
earnings did not differ significantly between the two groups after the first
six months, voucher recipients received public assistance in higher amounts
and for longer durations than non-recipients and were thus more likely to
have a total income above the federal poverty threshold. One result was that
recipient households spent more on food, though the increase was not
sufficient to significantly reduce the incidence of food insecurity.
A prominent
effect of vouchers was to reduce the prevalence of multigenerational
households and overall household size by allowing single parents and their
children to live independently. The authors conclude that low income
families value autonomy in their living arrangements and use vouchers to
obtain their own space, free from the stresses of overcrowding and living
with extended family. Measured positive impacts on child well-being were
somewhat limited but included increased school attendance and family meals
per week.
Michelle
Wood, an author of the report, will discuss the findings at the 2007 NLIHC
National Policy Conference. The full report, Effects of Housing Vouchers
on Welfare Families, is available from
www.huduser.org/publications/commdevl/hsgvouchers.html.