The
Affordable
Housing
Bulletin -
a publication
of the
Delaware
Housing Coalition

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The Affordable Housing Bulletin
Friday, March 28, 2003
In this issue:
In Delaware
* New Delaware Supporters of the National Housing Trust Fund
* Fair Housing Activities in April
* Food Bank of Delaware Seeks Summer Feeding Program Partners

Elsewhere
* WorldTenant.com
* HUD Issues Final Rule On Public Housing Homeownership
* HHS Bi-Lingual HELPLINE (866-783-2645/866-SU-FAMILIA)
* FY2003 Median Family Income
* HOME Rent and Income Limits 2003
* BrownfieldSource.org
* World Wide Web Resources for Social Workers

New Delaware Supporters of the National Housing Trust Fund
We are happy to welcome the following new NHTF supporters.

* Housing Opportunities of Northern DE (HOND)
* Intrust
* United Auto Workers Local 1183
* United Auto Workers Local 1756
* United Auto Workers Local 404
* United Auto Workers Local 435
* United Auto Workers Local 498

Twenty-six Delaware organizations have now endorsed the campaign. The number of NHTF supporters nationwide now exceeds 4000.

Fair Housing Activities in April
April is Fair Housing Month. There are a number of very interesting events happening this month, many of them co-sponsored by several fair housing advocacy groups, including DHC:

April 1 - Annual Fair Housing Proclamation Day, 9:00 AM, Longwood Auditorium, Delaware State University, Dover (FREE)
April 3 - Fair Housing Conference , "Fair Housing: Empowerment for a Quality Life," sponsored by the Division of Human Relations, the Sheraton, Dover ($35)
April 10 - DECRAC Fair Housing Conference, Noon to 4:00 PM, with luncheon, panel, and break-out sessions. Georgetown Presbyterian Church, Georgetown. (FREE)
April 11 - DE NAHRO "Understanding the Fair Housing Act," 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM, Carvel State Building Auditorium, Wilmington ($45 - $60)
April 25 - HOND 20th Annual Fair Housing Awards Luncheon, Noon to 1:30 PM, Wyndham Hotel, Wilmington. (Cost not yet available.)

Food Bank of Delaware Seeks Summer Feeding Program Partners
The Summer Food Service Program sponsored by the Food Bank of Delaware offers free breakfasts and lunches to qualified children during their summer vacation from school. This summer, it will run from approximately June 23 until August 22.

In order to provide valuable nutrition to the children in your neighborhood at absolutely no cost to your organization, you can become of Site Supervisor. To supervise a Summer Food Service site, you must: attend a training session at the Food Bank of Delaware, be available to sign for all meal deliveries to your site, supervise meal service at your site, keep daily records of the meals you serve, store and serve food in a safe and sanitary way.

Please join the Food Bank of Delaware in our efforts to ensure all children in Delaware have access to the food they need to have a healthy and happy summer. To participate in our 2003 summer program, please contact us ASAP!!! Do not hesitate to call if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to working with you this summer!
[Contact Information: Tyrone R. Eaton, Food Bank of Delaware, (302) 424-3301 ext.102; (302) 424-4160 (fax)]

WorldTenant.com
This website begins: "The Ultimate World Wide Web Tenants site. So many sites are made by housing organisations who never really consider the information which tenants might actually want from a web site. On this site we aim to provide links to other groups and information on the laws which affect tenants, information on tenants rights, where to get help, and articles on best practice. Click on WorldTenant.com to go to find links to tenant organizations throughout the world and information on their activities, including a page on DHC.

HUD Issues Final Rule On Public Housing Homeownership
The program allows public housing agencies to sell public housing units and other units to low-income households. See Federal Register, 3/11/03, pp. 11713-28 or visit http://www.hudclips.org  . Contact Dominique Blom, HUD, 202-401-8812, ext. 4181. [HAC News, 3/21/03]

HHS Bi-Lingual HELPLINE (866-783-2645/866-SU-FAMILIA)
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson recently announced the creation of the National Hispanic Family Health Helpline (866-783-2645/866-SU-FAMILIA). Su Familia will help Hispanic families get basic health information to help them prevent and manage chronic conditions, and refer them to local health providers and federally supported programs including the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The toll-free helpline is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
[Lora Lewis, lolewis@state.de.us]

FY2003 Median Family Income
The FY2003 Median Family Income Estimates estimates have been re-benchmarked with 2000 Census data, resulting in an unusual number of
increases and decreases in the figures presented. Income Limits have been frozen at last year's levels if they would have otherwise decreased due
to decreases in income estimates. The Income estimates are calculated for metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan counties in the United States and its territories using the Fair Market Rent (FMR) area definitions used in the Section 8 program. While they are generally based on HUD estimates of Median Family Income, it is important to note that this is not always the case.

The FY2003 Income Limits Briefing Material explains the formulas used to calculate Income Limits and lists every metropolitan area where Income Limits are not based on Median Family Income amounts.

The income estimates are used by local governments to determine applicants' eligibility for HUD's assisted housing programs, including the Public Housing program, the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments program, Section 202 housing for the elderly, and Section 811 housing for persons with
disabilities.

HOME Rent and Income Limits 2003
The new HOME rent limits and income limits, effective April 11, 2003 are now available.

BrownfieldSource.org
BrownfieldSource.org is a comprehensive online resource for brownfields news and information created by the International City/County Management Association. The site provides access to news, events, and published materials related to fundamental topics in brownfields cleanup and reuse, including: economics, community, environment, redevelopment, government, law, and innovation. To access this resource, visit BrownfieldSource.org. [LISC eNewsletter, 3/26/03]

World Wide Web Resources for Social Workers
World Wide Web Resources for Social Workers (WWWRSW) and Information for Practice (IP) has been in operation since 1994 and ccurrently contains 73,600 links, including full text scientific, technical and policy reports, 2230 scholarly journals and newsletters, and a wide range of links to relevant government agencies, educational institutions and professional organizations.

IP is an email service that began in February of 2002. Each month we send an email to IP subscribers with a selection of links to new web based resources that have been added to WWWRSW. Currently IP has 3471 subscribers from 56 countries. To subscribe to IP, send a blank email message to the following address:
join-information-for-practice@forums.nyu.edu  [Gary Holden, gary.holden@nyu.edu ]

TO CONTACT DELAWARE'S GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS:
Go to the link on this website.
Or go to the State website.