The Affordable
Housing Bulletin
March 20, 2006
In Delaware
* Day
for Housing Brings Affordable Housing Issues to Dover (March 22)
* You Are Invited to an
Advocacy Workshop (March 29)
* Council on Housing
Public Forum Agenda (March 29)
* Homeless Planning
Council Annual Meeting (April 11)
Elsewhere
* CBPP Analysis
of Housing Choice Voucher Program
* HUD Issues FY06 Median
Income Estimates
* HUD Final
Quarterly Report on Housing Market
* Low-Income Rentals
Decline, Study Says
Day for
Housing Brings Affordable Housing Issues to Dover
From Hockessin and Claymont to Millsboro and Rehoboth, three dozen
organizations and many of their members are converging on Dover to make
legislators more aware of the mounting housing problems which beset
Delawareans.
Events for
the “Day for Housing” will include a kickoff and orientation in the Public
Archives Building (10:30 AM), building a small ‘house’ on the legislative
mall (9:30 to 12:30 AM), followed by lunch and visits to legislators.
Participants
will be equipped with information on a number of housing related issues that
are being brought before the General Assembly and will have “visiting cards”
on each issue to leave for absent legislators, as well as “house” cookies.
$8 Million
More for Housing
A
major and longstanding concern of the state’s affordable housing community
has been the need to increase the state’s Housing Development Fund (HDF),
which has continued to be under-funded relative to the burgeoning needs.
Other
Initiatives
Along with more adequate funding, the groups are supporting a new law to
protect tenant victims of domestic violence, fair housing ordinances which
would end housing discrimination based on sexual orientation (HB 36) and on
source of income, including Section 8 vouchers.
The visitors
will also be supporting several legal changes to improve the precarious
situation of owners of manufactured housing on leased land. These include a
“Rent History Disclosure Act “ (SB 208), the creation of a Manufactured
Housing Board (SB 209), a Resident Notification Law (SB 211), and a Rent
Justification Law (SB 212).
Many
participants will be emphasizing the need that people with disabilities have
for affordable and physically accessible housing which is integrated into
communities.
Co-Sponsors
◊
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 ◊
DE
Manufactured Home Owners Association ◊ DE Rural
Housing Consortium ◊ DE State Wide
Association of Tenants ◊ Delmarva Rural
Ministries ◊ Diamond State CLT
◊ First State R. C. and D. Council, Inc.
◊ Freedom Center for Independent Living
◊ Hockessin Community Center Housing
◊ 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 ◊ Voces Sin Fronteras (Voices
Without Borders) ◊ West End Neighborhood House
◊ West Rehoboth Community Land Trust
◊ YWCA ◊
You Are Invited to an
Advocacy Workshop
Common
Cause of Delaware invites you to a workshop "On ways to be an effective
advocate in the General Assembly" on Wednesday, March 29, 2006, 9:00
a.m. till 11:00 a.m., 2nd floor Senate hearing room, Legislative Hall,
Dover.
The workshop is free and open to the public.
Participants will learn lobbying techniques, methods, and practical ways
that citizens can impact the legislative process to advance their agenda in
the General Assembly.
Maryanne McGonegal, former research analyst for 15 years for
the General Assembly Joint Sunset Committee, will give participants
information on bill drafting, reaching agreement on issues, tracking a
bill’s progress, and securing support for a bill - especially when one lacks
financial resources.
At the conclusion of the workshop, participants can attend committee
hearings of the House and the Senate, as well as a session of the General
Assembly.
A copy of the Lobby Handbook, compiled by the League of
Women Voters of Delaware and printed with funds from the Delaware Commission
for Women, will be available, along with ‘tips on meeting with and writing
to your elected officials’ compiled by the ACLU.
In addition, a how-to-citizens’ guide for obtaining information about
regulatory actions affecting the Delaware River Watershed, compiled by the
Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Clinic, is available electronically by
request.
To register for the workshop, or for further information, call me at
302-521-0394, or email at:
jdf0000@aol.com.
[John Flaherty, John Flaherty, lobbyist, Common Cause of Delaware]
Council on Housing Public
Forum Agenda (March 29)
The Council on Housing has published an agenda for its March 29 public
forum, which is being held from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., at Dover campus of
Delaware Technical and Community College, in the ETB Conference Room.
Agenda
1. Meeting
Minutes of February 8, 2006
2. Delaware Housing Policy Roundtable Discussion
3. Public Comments
4. Other Business (Old/New)
- Joint Sunset Committee Submission
5. Administrative Matters
6. Scheduling of Next Meeting
Date: April 12, 2006
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: Buena Vista, New Castle
[Loretta Parkhill, Delaware State Housing Authority,
loretta@dsha.state.de.us ]
Homeless Planning Council
Annual Meeting (April 11)
You are cordially invited to the Homeless Planning Council of Delaware’s
Annual Meeting, Tuesday, April 11th, from 9:45 am to 12 pm at Delaware
Tech, Terry Campus (Dover), Conference Center, Room 427.For directions to
the conference center:
http://www.dtcc.edu/terry/pages/directions.html
Agenda
9:45 AM - Registration and Continental Breakfast
10:00 AM - Welcome (Cara Robinson, Executive Director)
10:05 AM - Presentation: Homelessness in Delaware
Preliminary data from the 2006 Point-in-Time Survey of housing/shelter
providers and unsheltered homeless persons.
10:30 AM - Grassroots Movement: Delaware’s Homeless Providers. A diverse
array of homeless service providers from across Delaware will be presenting
11:30 AM - Delaware’s Homeless Children, Joanne Miro, Department of
Education.
11:45 AM - Wrap-Up
Registration
The Homeless Planning Council’s Annual Meeting is FREE and OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC. Prior registration is requested for purposes of refreshment
information.
[To register, or for more information, call Cara Robinson at (302)
654-0126 or e-mail at
carmbrister@hpcdelaware.org]
CBPP Analysis of
Housing Choice Voucher Program
The Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities has just released a new analysis of the
President's FY 2007 budget request for the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
The report is entitled, "President's 2007 Budget Renews Same Number of
Housing Vouchers Funded in 2006; But Many Local Programs Could Face Cuts Due
to Flawed Funding Formula." Key findings include:
--The budget request would renew approximately 2.07 million vouchers, about
the same number funded in 2006.
--Under the flawed voucher funding formula proposed in the budget,
one-quarter of all agencies would receive funding sufficient to use less
than 90 percent of their vouchers.
--The budget proposes a major shift in policy that would reduce the number
of tenant-protection vouchers awarded to communities that have lost public
or project-based housing units.
--Since early 2004, the number of vouchers in use has declined so sharply
that voucher assistance for 100,000 families has been lost.
The full analysis, including data showing the estimated impact of the budget
request on every state and local housing agency, is available for download
at:
http://www.cbpp.org/3-13-06hous.htm.
[Barbara
Sard, Director of Housing Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
HUD Issues FY06 Median
Income Estimates
HUD has just released the estimated median family income and income limits
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006. The estimates are based on new OMB Metropolitan
Statistical Areas (MSAs), and cover 523 metropolitan areas and 2,045
nonmetropolitan areas in the U.S. and its territories.
The FY 2006 HUD median family income estimates are derived from 2000 Census
data updated with county-level earnings data, Census American Community
Survey state-level data, and Census Current Population Survey data. Separate
median family income estimates are calculated for all MSAs and
nonmetropolitan counties.
HUD's median income estimates are of interest to housing and community
development professionals because they are used as the basis for income
limits for several HUD programs (including the Public Housing, Housing
Choice Voucher, CDBG, and HOME programs), and in programs run by the
Department of Agriculture, the Department of Treasury, the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Board, and Government
Sponsored Enterprises.
The FY 2006 HUD income estimates and income limits are available as a free
download from HUD USER at
http://www.huduser.org/datasets/il/il06/index.html. You will also
find a link to the new Income Limit Area Definitions at this location. [HUD
User]
HUD Final Quarterly
Report on Housing Market
HUD has released the final quarterly report of "U.S. Housing Market
Conditions" for 2005, which contains an analysis of both the fourth quarter
and the entire year.
Looking at the Last Quarter of '05, the housing sector had a very strong
fourth quarter, which followed an especially robust third quarter.
Single-family starts and completions achieved the third highest levels ever
reported, and single-family permits were at the second highest quarterly
value ever reported. The fourth quarter homeownership rate increased. New
home sales and existing home sales were, respectively, at the third and
fourth highest levels ever reported. The multifamily sector was somewhat
mixed: starts and permits decreased, completions increased, the vacancy rate
decreased, and the absorption rate increased.
2005 was a record-setting year for housing. New annual production records
were set for single-family permits, starts, and completions. The mortgage
interest rate was nearly equal to the all-time low set in 2003. New home
sales and existing home sales each set new annual records for the fifth
consecutive year. Annual totals for overall (single-family plus multifamily)
permits, starts, and completions were at near-record levels and have not
been this high since the 1970s. Total permits and starts in 2005 were the
second highest ever. Completions were the third highest ever.
The strength of the housing market contributed to the overall growth of the
U.S. economy in 2005. Real gross domestic product grew by 3.5 percent, and
residential fixed investment (housing) grew by 7.2 percent, contributing
0.42 percentage point to the overall growth rate.
This issue of "U.S. Housing Market Conditions" also contains regional data,
historical trends, and a feature article titled, "Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac: Enhanced Public Data and Recent Housing Goal Performance of the
'Residential Finance Survey: 2001.'" In-depth housing market profiles are
given for Atlanta, GA; Bloomington, IN; Chicago, IL;
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR; Fredericksburg, VA; Hartford, CT; Jersey
City, NJ; Killeen-Temple, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Medford-Ashland, OR; Ponce, PR;
and Reno, NV.
The report is available online at
http://www.huduser.org/periodicals/ushmc/ushmc_05Q4.html
and from the HUD USER Clearinghouse by calling 800-245-
2691. [HUD User]
Low-Income Rentals Decline, Study Says
More
affordable rental housing is being lost than created each year, according to
a new study by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. The
study found that low-income housing tax credits and other programs support
the development of about 100,000 new rental units for low-income people
every year, reported the San Antonio Express-News. But about 200,000
such units are lost annually due to deterioration and gentrification, the
study says. Over the past 30 years, declining incomes and rising rental
rates have resulted in the average low-income renter spending 50 percent or
more of his or her income on housing, the study also shows. An overemphasis
on homeownership, local ordinances limiting housing density, and
insufficient financing options for landlords have contributed to the loss of
affordable rental housing, the authors say. The study is available at:
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/
rental/rh06_americas_rental_housing.pdf
[Fannie
Mae, KnowledgePlex Week in Review, 3/15/06]