The Affordable
Housing Bulletin
March 7, 2007
In Delaware
*
New Data
Confirm Affordable Housing Shortage
* Join HANDS for Affordable Housing!
* PLUC - Making the
American Dream a Reality - March 30 Rally
* Fair Housing Events
*
NCCo Comprehensive Plan
Comments Posted
Elsewhere
*
Financial Services Committee Weighs In On Bush FY08 Budget
*
HAC Publishes
Detailed Budget Analysis
* Lobbying by Nonprofits
* Resources Explain
Advocacy by Nonprofits
* Miami Dade Tenants HOPE VI
Victory
New Data Confirm
Affordable Housing Shortage
A National Low Income Housing Coalition analysis of data from the Census
Bureau’s new American Community Survey found that those with the lowest
incomes face the greatest shortage of affordable units, nationwide and in
every state. No state has a shortage for households earning above 80% of the
state median income. NLIHC Research Note #07-01, American Community
Survey Estimate Shows Larger National, State Affordable Rental Housing
Shortages, is at
http://www.nlihc.org/doc/RN07-01.pdf.
An analysis of Delaware's rents and incomes by NLIHC finds that rents are a
severe burden to 82% of the state's extremely low-income households. Some
14,824 households (out of a total of 19,786) are severely burdened by rent
payments, with the median housing cost to income ratio being 77%. The
deficit in Delaware of affordable and available rental units for this group
is estimated to be 11,702. The one-page summary of Delaware Rents and
Incomes is available on the publications page of the
DHC website.
Join HANDS for Affordable Housing!
You can help Delaware achieve safe,
decent, and affordable housing for all its citizens by joining HANDS!
The Housing Advocacy Network for the Diamond State is a volunteer network of
housing advocates from each General Assembly district. For more information, contact
Gina
Miserendino at 302/678-2286, x100 or get more information and sign up at
the DHC website.
PLUC - Making the
American Dream a Reality
The Peace, Living Wage, Universal Health Care (PLUC) Coalition is composed
of groups from organized labor, communities, veterans, religious, and social
and economic change groups in Delaware.
PLUC's mission is to call for peace, living wages, and universal healthcare
for all people of Delaware through direct action and holding our elected
officials and the corporate community of Delaware accountable. PLUC will be
having a rally on Friday, March 30, at 3:00 pm, in Rodney Square. You can
join PLUC by contacting Sally Milbury-Steen at 302/656-2721 or
pinterris@aol.com.
Fair Housing Events
April is Fair Housing Month! The following events are already scheduled.
-
The 14th Annual Fair Housing Conference of the
Division of Human Relations will take place from 8:00am to 3:00pm on April 10th at Dover Downs
(Contact Sherese McGhee at 302/577-5050 or
sherese.mcghee@state.de.us)
-
The Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council
(DCRAC) will be holding Fair Lending/Fair Housing Forums in all three
counties. (Free. To register: 1-877/825-0750.)
-
NEW
CASTLE: April 24, 11:00am to 3:00pm, Francis X. Norton Center, 917 N.
Madison Street, Wilmington.
-
KENT:
April 25, 11:00am to 3:00pm, Public Archives Building, 121 Duke of York
Street, Dover.
-
SUSSEX: April 26, 11:00am to 3:00pm, Lewes Public Library, 111 Adams
Street, Lewes.
NCCo Comprehensive Plan
Comments Posted
The recommendation of the Planning Board and Land Use Department,
recommended amendments, public comments and responses, and PLUS comments and
responses for the Comp Plan are now available on the New Castle County
website.
The address is www.nccde.org/plan or
http://www.co.new-castle.de.us/landuse/home/webpage31.asp. [D.J. Guthrie
Carter,
Assistant Land Use Administrator, 302/395-5459 or
DJCarter@nccde.org.
Financial Services Committee Weighs In On Bush FY08 Budget
On March 1, the House Financial Services Committee approved its Views and
Estimates Letter to be sent to the House Budget Committee, a procedure
required by the Rules of the House, on the President’s FY08 budget for
programs within its jurisdictions, as well as any budgetary impact of
legislation that the committee expects to consider during the coming
session.
With the Administration’s FY08 budget request 8% ($1.5 billion) below the
FY07 levels, many of the committee’s comments on the FY08 request were very
critical of the shortage of funds for housing and community development
programs.
In the letter, the committee states that the FY08 HUD budget continues a
six-year effort by the Bush Administration to dismantle or make deep funding
cuts to critical federal housing programs. The committee further states that
the Rural Housing Service budget also received deep cuts for programs that
would help build, repair and preserve affordable rural housing units.
The committee also notes that the President’s budget abandons a 30-year
federal commitment to build affordable housing for persons with severe
disabilities, and is proposing a 51% cut for the Section 811 housing
for persons with disabilities program.
The committee states that the FY08 budget request undermines HUD’s major
rental assistance program, the Section 8 voucher program, by not
asking for sufficient funds for renewals.
The committee also argues that the budget request continues the serious
under-funding of public housing, a program that serves the poorest
families, seniors and disabled persons. The bulk of the requested cuts to
public housing for FY08 are in the capital fund, which is used to maintain
and repair units.
The President’s budget zeroes out funding for the Section 515 multifamily
rental housing direct loan program. This action, the committee states,
abrogates the federal role in preserving the existing affordable housing
stock of more than 500,000 RHS Section 515 rural rental units.
With regard to new housing legislation, the committee describes forthcoming
Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) legislation that would improve
regulatory oversight of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan
Banks and would include an Affordable Housing Fund. The committee also
references legislation to reform the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
and needed programmatic changes to HUD’s Mark-to-Market program.
The House Budget Committee is currently developing its FY08 budget
resolution. It is expected to be considered in the House sometime in late
March. To review the budget and appropriations timeline go to:
www.nlihc.org/doc/2007timeline.pdf.
The entire letter can be found at:
www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/financialsvcs_dem/mu030107.pdf [NLIHC
Memo to Members, 3/2/07]
HAC Publishes Detailed
Budget Analysis
From Bad to Worse: Rural Housing in the Administration’s FY 2008 Budget
is free at http://www.ruralhome.org
or $3.00 from Luz Rosas, HAC, 202-842-8600,
luz@ruralhome.org.
Lobbying by
Nonprofits
The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law is a quarterly
publication by the International Center for
Not-for-Profit Law. Its issue on the challenges facing U.S. nonprofits
includes A Needless Silence: American Nonprofits and the Right to Lobby, by
Jeffrey M. Berry.
Resources Explain Advocacy by Nonprofits
Make a Difference for Your Cause: Strategies for Nonprofit Engagement in
Legislative Advocacy, by the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest,
meant to build 501(c)(3) organizations’ advocacy capacity, is free at
http://www.clpi.org/Make_a_Difference_Resource_Guide.aspx. The
Connection: Strategies for Creating and Operating 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s,
and PACs, by the Alliance for Justice, covering advocacy activities by
various types of tax-exempt organizations, is $35 from
http://www.afj.org/nonprofit or
202-822-6070. OMB Watch’s NPAction site,
http://www.npaction.org, provides
access to nonprofit advocacy tools and information from a range of
organizations. [HAC News, 2/28/07]
Miami
Dade Tenants HOPE VI Victory
After seven years of fighting and on the eve of a possible HUD takeover, the
Miami Workers Center, Low Income Families Fighting Together (LIFFT), and the
Miami Dade Housing Agency have signed an agreement between the Miami Workers
Center and the Agency. In the agreement, the Housing Agency agreed to a one
for one replacement of the 850 units demolished as part of the Scott Homes
HOPE VI project. The replacement units will be either public housing or
other project based ELI units. The tenants will be given a right of first
refusal. In addition, there will be continuing resident input plus,
potentially, a museum to former Scott Carver residents. [Charles Elsesser,
Florida Legal Services, Inc,
charles@floridalegal.org.]
