• 9:00 AM - Build a ‘House” on Legislative Mall
• 10:30 AM - Kickoff at Public Archives Building
• Noon - Rally and Lunch on the Mall
• 12:30 PM - Visits to Legislative Hall Begin

Come help support initiatives that address –

• Affordable Housing ~ Increase the HDF to $12 million next year
   
• Domestic Violence ~ A new law to protect tenant victims of domestic violence
   
• Fair Housing ~ Eliminate housing discrimination based on sexual orientation (HB 36)
• Fair Housing ~ Eliminate housing discrimination based on source of income
   
• Manufactured Housing ~ Rent History Disclosure Act (SB 208)
• Manufactured Housing ~ Creation of a Manufactured Housing Board (SB 209)
• Manufactured Housing ~ Resident Notification Law (SB 211)
• Manufactured Housing ~ Rent Justification Law (SB 212)
   
• Affordable, accessible and integrated housing for persons with disabilities
  
   
• Remember to call ahead for appointments with your representative and senator (although we will have “visiting cards” on all the issues that you can leave in the offices of absent legislators)!
• Also, remember to bring your picture I.D. for entry to Legislative Hall!
• For more information, directions, and phone numbers, go to www.housingforall.org/d4h06.htm 
  
   

Day for Housing 2006 Co-Sponsors (to date):

• Appoquinimink Development, Inc.
• ARC of Delaware
• Better Homes of Seaford
• Brandywine Counseling, Inc.
• Brookview Tenant Council
• Community Legal Aid Society
• Cornerstone West CDC
• DE Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• DE Community Reinvestment Action Council
• Delmarva Rural Ministries
• De Rural Housing Consortium
• DE State Wide Association of Tenants
• Diamond State CLT
• First State R. C. and D. Council, Inc.
• Freedom Center for Independent Living
• Homebuilders Association of DE
• Homeless Planning Council
• Housing Opportunities of Northern DE
• Inter Faith Mission of Sussex County
• League of Women Voters (DE)
• Leon N. Weiner and Associates
• Lutheran Office on Public Policy
• Milford Housing Development Corporation
• Millsboro Housing for Progress
• NAMI DE
• NCALL Research
• Neighborhood House
• Office of Community Services
• State Council for Persons with Disabilities
• West End Neighborhood House
• West Rehoboth Community Land Trust
• YWCA

Winter 2006 Housing Journal Online
The latest issue of The Housing Journal is available online. It includes:

• Hope and Despair on King Day by Marcellus Andrews
• Building on a Sound Manufactured Housing Notification Bill by Ken Smith
• Connecting for Change by Susan Witt
• The HDF and Housing Needs by Marlena Gibson
• A Count of Delaware’s Homeless by Cara Armbrister-Robinson
• Mutual Aid by Suresh Naidu

Find it online at: http://www.housingforall.org/hojo_win06.pdf 


March 17 Public Policy Form: High Cost of Low Income
The University of Delaware Institute for Public Administration, College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy presents “The High Cost of a Low Income: Financial Services in Underserved Markets,” Louis L. Redding Public Policy Forum, Friday, March 17, 2006, Clayton Conference Center, University of Delaware, Newark. For program and registration information please visit the U/D website: www.ipa.udel.edu/highcostlowincome 
[Leland Ware, Louis L. Redding Chair and Professor of Law & Public Policy, University of Delaware]


Hunger in America 2006 Study:
8-Percent Increase for Emergency Food in Five Years

More Than 25 Million Americans Seek Food Assistance Each Year,” secondharvest.org, February 23, 2006)

More than 25 million Americans, including nearly 9 million children and 3 million seniors, receive emergency food assistance each year from America's Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network, according to the Hunger in America 2006 study released by the America's Second Harvest Network. This number shows an 8-percent increase since 2001. “It is tragic and alarming that more and more people are relying on emergency food assistance in the United States, where we produce enough food to feed every hungry person in the world,” said Robert Forney, the network’s President and CEO. About 70 percent of the network’s clients live below the federal poverty line, and nearly 40 percent come from households with at least one working adult. Seventy percent of the clients live in food insecure households, and 33 percent reported experiencing hunger, that is, being completely without a source of food. More than 40 percent of the clients have experienced the dilemma of choosing between paying for utilities or heating fuel and food. An America's Second Harvest Network Member food bank or food-rescue organization provides 74 percent of the food distributed by food pantries, 49 percent of the food distributed by soup kitchens and 42 percent of the food distributed by emergency shelters.

http://www.secondharvest.org/news_room/
2006_News_Releases/022306.html  (press-release)

http://www.hungerinamerica.org/ (study)
[FRAC News Digest, 3/1/06]


Is Manufactured Housing a Good Alternative?
Manufactured housing has long been an alternative to traditional "stick-built" housing, especially for lower income families, but the value of this alternative has at times been controversial. Now, evidence from American Housing Survey data collected between 1993 and 2001 serves as the basis for exploring the merits of manufactured housing as a viable alternative for low- income households in a new study, "Is Manufactured Housing a Good Alternative for Low-Income Families? Evidence from the American Housing Survey." The report initially compares rental housing, traditional owned housing, and owned manufactured housing in terms of three different dimensions: cost, affordability, and quality of homes and neighborhoods. Subsequently, the factors that influence neighborhood and structural quality rankings and changes in the rankings over time are determined. The factors affecting household mobility (length of stay) rates and the extent to which the effects on neighborhood stability differ for the three dwelling types are also explored. Finally, the appreciation of owned manufactured housing is contrasted with that of owned conventional housing. Comparisons are made in property value between three categories of ownership: manufactured housing in which both the land and structure are owned, manufactured housing in which only the structure is owned, and conventional homeownership.

The report is available as a free download at
http://www.huduser.org/publications/HOMEOWN/
IsManufactHousingGoodAlt4LIFam.html

or it can be purchased from HUD USER for a nominal charge
by calling 1-800-245-2691, option 1.

 

TO CONTACT DELAWARE'S CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES:

Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. senator@biden.senate.gov
Wilmington (573-6345)
Milford (424-8090)
DC (202/224-5042)

Senator Thomas R. Carper
carper.senate.gov/email-form.html
Dover (674-3308)
Georgetown (856-7690)
Wilmington (573-6291)
DC (202/224-2441)

Representative Michael Castle http://www.house.gov/
writerep/
Wilmington (428-1902)
Dover (736-1666)
DC (202/225-4165)