Archive:
Affordable
Housing
Bulletin The
Affordable
Housing
Bulletin -
a publication
of the
Delaware
Housing Coalition
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June 14, 2005
In this issue:
In Delaware
* Brookview Residents
Organization in Formation
Elsewhere
*
Troubling Increase in Ratio of Housing Costs to Income Among Working
Families
* Affordable Housing Fund Gathers Steam
and Attracts Attention. Special Thanks to Congressman Castle! Advocacy
Opportunity
* States Raise Minimum Wage as Federal
Minimum Fails to Bring Working Families Out of Poverty
Brookview Residents
Organization in Formation
Facing displacement once their property is sold, the residents of
Brookview Apartments are forming a resident council. Current redevelopment
plans for the Claymont area would replace the rental units with more
expensive houses. Many, if not most, of the current residents would not be
able to afford the new homes. The League of Women Voters is helping oversee
the process of nominations and election of officers. Once formally
organized, the tenant council plans to be an more active voice in the
development process, both examining the details of the redevelopment process
and addressing the proposed relocation. To date there has been no plan
proposed by developers or county government to deal with the problem of
relocating families from the 633 units.
Tina Riley, Tenant Organizer
Delaware Housing Coalition
manymansions@housingforall.org
Troubling Increase in Ratio of Housing
Costs to Income Among Working Families
("Number Of America's Working Families Spending More Than Half Their
Income On Housing Grows 76 Percent, New Study Finds: Compelling Data Also
Reveals 6 Out of 10 Immigrant Working Families With Critical Housing Needs
are Hispanic - One-Third are Hispanic Families From Mexico," Center for
Housing Policy, April 29, 2005)
A study funded by Freddie Mac and conducted by the Center for Housing
Policy, the research affiliate of the National Housing Conference, has found
a disturbing increase in the number of working families which spend more
than half their income on housing. Between 1997 and 2003 the number of such
increased from 2.4 million to 4.2 million, or by 76 percent. These numbers
not only reflect renters, but also homeowners. One of every eight-or 14.1
million families-paid more than half of their income for housing or lived in
physically dilapidated conditions. Most are working families. Homeowners are
more likely than renters to face such conditions.
FRAC News Digest
Issue 21, May 27, 2005
www.frac.org
Affordable Housing Fund Gathers Steam
and Attracts Attention. Special
Thanks to Congressman Castle! Advocacy Opportunity.
Reports from Capitol Hill indicate that considerable bipartisan support
for the Affordable Housing Fund in H.R. 1461, the Federal Housing Finance
Reform Act of 2005, is holding, despite efforts by conservative Members of
Congress to delete the provision. The bill was voted out the House Financial
Services Committee on May 25 on 65-5 vote. The Affordable Housing Fund would
be established with 5% of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s after-tax profits
in order to produce, preserve, and rehabilitate rental housing that is
affordable for extremely low and very low income families and more home
ownership more accessible for these families. The bill is now expected to
come to the House floor for a vote after the July 4th recess.
Special Thanks to Congressman Castle
We are grateful to Representative Michael Castle in the Financial
Services Committee for his support of HR1461 and especially for retention of
the affordable housing fund component of that bill.
A letter to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), authored by
Representative Mike Pence (R-NC) and being circulated for signatures, asks
Mr. DeLay to not allow the bill to go the House floor for a vote if it
contains the Affordable Housing Fund. The letter says that this kind of
provision would "work against the free market principles that have made our
nation’s housing market one of the most accessible in the world." The
letter’s author also is concerned that "the money from this fund could be
used to finance third party advocacy groups that have agendas far beyond
simply increasing affordable housing for low-income Americans - agendas that
are antagonistic to the free market principles that we value."
Representative Richard Baker (R-LA) has requested that the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO) review H.R. 1461 to determine if it "scores," meaning it
has implications for the federal budget. Representatives Mike Oxley (R-OH)
and Barney Frank (D-MA), Chair and Ranking Member of the House Financial
Services Committee respectively, have sent a letter the Director of CBO
stating the Affordable Housing Fund in H.R. 1641 is structured similarly to
the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) of the Federal Home Loan Banks. AHP are
not considered federal funds, and Mr. Oxley and Mr. Frank assert that these
new funds are not federal funds either.
Advocacy Opportunity
Low income housing advocates are communicating with all Members of the
House about the merits of the proposed Affordable Housing Fund. Bishop
Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn and the Chairman of the Domestic Policy
Committee of the United States Conference of Bishops, sent a letter to every
House Member on June 10, urging passage of the Affordable Housing Fund and
pointing out that "this bill presents Congress with a genuine opportunity to
make the shelter needs of extremely low income families a national
priority."
In the Senate, the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee is
expected to mark-up its version of the GSE bill in late June. The Senate
legislation is still being drafted, but low income advocates fully expect a
provision similar to the Affordable Housing Fund in H.R. 1641 to be in the
Senate bill. NLIHC and National Housing Trust Fund campaign partners are
urging that the entire fund be deeply targeted to extremely low income
families.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition and the National Housing Trust
Fund Campaign are encouraging endorsers, supporters, and members to use the
July 4th Congressional recess, when Senators and Representatives will be in
their districts, to educate their elected officials about the need for
affordable housing, the successes of the affordable housing sector, and how
the Affordable Housing Fund will benefit their constituents.
National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Craig Stevens, NLIHC,
craig@nlihc.org
Delaware Housing Coalition
Gina Miserendino, DHC,
grassroots@housingforall.org
States Raise Minimum Wage as
Federal Minimum Fails to Bring Working Families Out of Poverty
This year, five states have raised their minimum wage above the federal
minimum of $5.15 an hour, joining eleven states that had already taken such
legislative action. Since a family with one full-time worker earning the
federal minimum wage will earn $10,712, not even enough to meet the federal
poverty threshold for a family of two of $12,830, some states have taken the
initiative. The Center for Policy Alternatives notes that the new states
bring the number of Americans who will be covered by state minimum wage laws
at or above $6 per hour up to 43 percent by fall of 2005. In addition to the
new states, this year Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and
Washington increased their state minimum wages that were already above the
federal level. ("States give minimum wage earners a boost," Stateline,
5/17/05)
FRAC News Digest
Issue 22, June 6, 2005
www.frac.org
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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)
TO CONTACT DELAWARE'S GENERAL ASSEMBLY
MEMBERS:
Go to the link on this
website.
Or go to the State website.
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