The Affordable
Housing Bulletin
August 11, 2006
In Delaware
* Delaware Farmland
Among Nation’s Priciest
Elsewhere
* The Right to Return to New
Orleans
* Community Land Trusts in the News
# NPR:
Buy the House,
Lease the Land
#
HomeStead CLT
teams with City of Seattle
# HUD on CLTs
#
Equity eMagazine
* FHA Manufactured
Housing Bill Full of Steam
* PBS: “Waging a Living”
* Universal Living
Wage Reaches 1500 Endorsers
* Low-Income & Minority
Homeowanership
* UN Human
Rights Committee Concluding Observations
* Welfare
Reform: Urban Institute Files and Fact Sheets
Delaware
Farmland Among Nation’s Priciest
The value of
Delaware’s farm real estate has nearly tripled in the last four years to
$10,200, according to a new report by U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The
value of an average acre rose from $3,700 in 2002 to $10,200 in January.
Between 2005 and 2006, the value of an acre jumped 21 percent. The value
includes acres of agricultural land and any structures.
The
value per acre ranked the First State ranked fifth highest in the nation.
The
increase in agricultural real estate values in Delaware exceeds that of the
nation, which averaged $1,900 an acre in January. The $1,900 figure was a
record high for the country, up more than $250 from 2005. [Luladey B.
Tadesse, News Journal and
www.delawareonline.com ]
The Right to Return to New
Orleans
The Right to
Return for all displaced New Orleans residents is under attack, and
Survivors Village requests your local solidarity and support by organizing
an action around the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Please see
the attached PDF guide to find out how. In the months since Katrina it has
become clear that the most devastated residents of the city were, and
continue to be, poor people of color, and foremost among them the families
who were assisted by public housing. A just recovery of New Orleans can only
be accomplished in New Orleans if voices across the country demand that HUD
reopen public housing and give fair treatment to public housing residents.
The Problem
Even though the
vast majority of public housing units sustained little or no hurricane
damage, the federal government has locked out nearly 20,000 public housing
residents from their homes. HUD has spent over $1.5 million on fencing and
barricades to keep residents out while plans brew to demolish 5,000 units of
public housing in New Orleans and exchange them for more upscale
mixed-income developments.
While
some have praised the principles of mixed-income redevelopment to reform
public housing, for local public housing residents it comes down to one
burning issue: when implemented, mixed-income redevelopment typically
reduces the number of affordable housing units by as much as 80-90 percent.
In New Orleans, demolition and redevelopment would permanently displace over
15,000 low income, predominantly African American families. In the midst of
the city's current housing crisis any proposal to demolish solid viable
housing should be rejected out of hand.
Established Resistance
Public housing
residents have come out in droves to demand the reopening of their homes.
Since February, organizers have put on dozens of rallies with steady
increases in support from the community and media throughout the process.
Most recently, a peaceful demonstration and speak out held on July 4 drew
over 300 supporters. As an act of protest residents have initiated Survivors
Village, a tent city lining the edges of the guarded and gated St. Bernard
Public Housing Development.
Currently a lawsuit has been filed against HUD by the Advancement Project
for violations of the Fair Housing Act, illegal eviction of public housing
tenants and purposeful neglect of housing unit conditions after Katrina,
contributing to mass displacement of thousands of residents.
Federal Test Case for Public Housing Eradication
The eradication of
public housing is not a new phenomenon to either New Orleans or many other
cities across the U.S. If HUD is successful in its proposed plan to demolish
New Orleans public housing, then the city will have lost over 85 percent of
its public housing stock in only the last ten years. Left unchallenged,
public housing demolition in New Orleans will become an accepted precedent;
reform will be synonymous with elimination, and the reconstruction of New
Orleans will serve only a small fraction of those displaced.
Support us this August
This is a 'call to
action' for grassroots housing and justice organizations to join the housing
rights struggle on and around the August 29 anniversary of Hurricane
Katrina. On that week the media will be searching for Katrina anniversary
news. It will be a perfect opportunity to unify the fight for a just
recovery of New Orleans with national solidarity of housing rights across
the nation. We must be a chorus of voices calling for the end of all housing
rights violations by the federal government, and point to the battle for the
Right of Return for all in New Orleans as an imperative.
For
more information and to become part of the national coordination of
solidarity actions please contact Annie Chen at
survivorsvillage@gmail.com.
Solidarity,
Survivors Village
www.survivorsvillage.com
NPR:
Buy the House, Lease
the Land
This story aired
recently on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Follow the link
below to listen.
Buy the House, Lease the Land by Martin Kaste
All Things Considered, August 1, 2006 · Community land trusts allow
first-time buyers to have a house while merely leasing the land it occupies.
A trend familiar to towns such as Burlington, Vt., and Boulder, Colorado, is
spreading nationwide as big cities -- such as Seattle and Chicago -- try to
hold on to middle-class homeowners.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=5598859
[Alice Stokes, National Community Land Trust Network,
astokes@getahome.org ]
HomeStead CLT Teams with
City of Seattle
Seattle found a
way to save three homes and turn them into affordable housing. The houses
were set to be demolished, but instead were relocated to city-owned land to
be rehabilitated by Habitat for Humanity of Seattle/South King County.
At no
cost, the city will transfer ownership of the homes to Habitat and ownership
of the land to HomeStead Community Land Trust. The Seattle Office of
Housing’s HomeWise program is contributing $10,000 per house to help pay for
repairs.
“This
may be the first time a city has done something like this,” said city
Housing Director Adrienne Quinn. “Houses have long been moved and preserved
successfully, but saving and relocating homes destined for demolition, to
serve as affordable housing, is unique.”
“Homes Diverted from Landfill,” as reported in the July issue of
Affordable Housing Finance:
http://www.housingfinance.com/
ahf/articles/2006/july/008_ahfjul06.htm
HUD on CLTs
Local
Homeownership Programs Helping First-time Homebuyers
The
escalating costs of homeownership have priced many would-be first-time
buyers out of the market. In the Twin-Cities metropolitan area, the median
home sale price exceeds $230,000. The Community Land Trust model is an
innovative program that helps low- and moderate-income renters buy a home of
their own.
In
Minneapolis, the City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CLCLT) has been
successful in assisting first-time homebuyers with their Homebuyer Initiated
Program. A recent visit to some of CLCLT's new homeowners illustrates the
outstanding success of this program as well as the pride of ownership
exhibited by the program participants. [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Homes and Communities page.]
Equity eMagazine
EQUITY
e-newsletter: August 2006
Disability and Asset Building Communities Working Together
http://www.wid.org/equity
In
the August EQUITY:
·
Community Land
Trusts: Ensuring Permanently Affordable, Accessible Homeownership
http://www.wid.org/publications/?page=equity
·
Community Land
Trusts: Creating Permanently Affordable Housing for All
Colin Bloch, Burlington Community Land Trust Homeownership Director,
illustrates the Community Land Trust concept that is sweeping the nation and
providing opportunities for people with disabilities to achieve the dream of
owning their own home.
·
Northern
California Land Trust: Making the Impossible, Possible
An affordable, accessible home in Northern California? Think it is a dream?
NCLT is proving that Community Land Trusts are making it possible for
low-income people with disabilities to become homeowners in one of the
highest cost housing areas in the country.
·
Winning the
Lottery: Laura Matthiessen
Persistence and planning- not luck- allowed Laura to feel like she won the
lottery. For five years, she has defied the odds and become one of the ten
percent of people with disabilities that own their own homes. Now, she is
president of the board of the Portland Community Land Trust, ensuring that
others like her can experience her good fortune.
·
Ten
Characteristics of the Classic Community Land Trust
From Burlington Associates for Community Development
·
WID Answers
Your Questions: What is "limited equity"?
World
Institute on Disability (WID) is a non-profit public policy center dedicated
to the promotion of independence and full inclusion in society of people
with disabilities.
WID's
Access to Assets (ATA) program provides training and technical assistance to
asset building and disability organizations seeking to improve the inclusion
of people with disabilities in poverty reduction programs. In addition, ATA
provides information and referral services to individuals with disabilities
and conducts federal and state policy analysis on related issues.
[Megan O'Neil, World Institute on Disability, Access to Assets Project
Coordinator,
megan@wid.org ]
FHA Manufactured
Housing Bill Full of Steam
On July 25, the
House passed the FHA Manufactured Housing Loan Modernization Act of 2006,
H.R. 4804, by a vote of 412 to 4.
The
bill, introduced by Representative Patrick Tiberi (R-OH) and cosponsored by
Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank
(D-MA), would make a number of changes to the FHA program that would
encourage private sector participation in the program and improve the
ability of individuals to obtain manufactured housing.
The
bill raises the loan limits for manufactured homes and allows for greater
insurance coverage of such loans, while improving underwriting standards and
establishing loan-to-value ratios and down payment requirements. In
Committee hearings, Ginnie Mae representatives reported that these
improvements would decrease the risk, allowing Ginnie Mae to reconsider its
moratorium on issuing these loans. Greater insurance coverage would allow
more lenders to participate in the program, thereby increasing competition
and driving down costs to consumers.
An
identical version of the bill, S. 2123, introduced by Senator Wayne Allard
(R-CO) has been introduced in the Senate. The Senate Banking, Housing and
Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation held a hearing on
the legislation in April (see Memo, 4/7).
[Paul Bradley, Vice President, NH Community Loan Fund and Director, Resident
Owned Communities USA and The Meredith Institute,
pbradley@nhclf.org,
www.nhclf.org and
www.themeredithinstitute.org]
PBS: “Waging a Living”
Tune into PBS on Tuesday,August 29 at 10pm to see "Waging a Living"
The term
"working poor" should be an oxymoron. If you work full time, you should not
be poor, but more than 30 million Americans - one in four workers - are
stuck in jobs that do not pay the basics for a decent life. "Waging a
Living" chronicles the day-to-day battles of four low-wage earners fighting
to lift their families out of poverty. Shot over a three-year period in the
northeast and California, this observational documentary captures the
dreams, frustrations, and accomplishments of a diverse group of people who
struggle to live from paycheck to paycheck. By presenting an unvarnished
look at the barriers that these workers must overcome to lift their families
out of poverty, "Waging a Living" offers a sobering view of the elusive
American Dream.
For more
info on "Waging a Living" visit
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/wagingaliving/
[Debbie I. Gottschalk,
dgottschalk@declasi.org
Universal Living Wage
Reaches 1500 Endorsers
1500 Unions, Businesses, Non-Profits, and Faith-Based Organizations have
endorsed the Universal Living Wage representing over 1 million registered
voters!
Clearly our
actions are moving the US Congress which is in the process of raising the
federal minimum wage. A two dollar and ten cent wage increase will help;
however, by the end of three years it will be consumed by inflation. We all
know that what is needed is the ULW which indexes the wage to the local cost
of housing and ensures that anyone working 40 hours in a week will be able
to afford basic food, clothing and shelter.
Email us at
rrtroxell@aol.com and tell us you’ll
be joining us September 5th, the day after Labor Day, for Bridge the
Economic Gap Day, when we will again get on our nation’s bridges and call
for the Universal Living Wage! We provide all materials. We are moving the
nation to economic justice. Be a part of history.
New
endorsers:
Businesses:
Just Goods, South Bend, IN; Progressive Kid, Bainbridge, WA; Open Circle,
Willits, CA; Tomorrow’s World, Norfolk, VA; The Pollution Solution, Chicago,
IL; Alima Cosmetics, Inc., Portland, OR; Community Innovators, Inc.,
Washington, DC; More Sun Custom Woodworking, Inc., Mount Rest, SC; Clothing
Matters, Grand Rapids, MI; Colores del Pueblo, Houston, TX; Epilogue Book
Co., Steamboat Springs, CO
Unions:
Dayton Building & Construction Trades Council, Dayton, OH; American
Federation of Government Employees, Oklahoma City, OK; Concord Firefighters,
Concord, NH; Teamsters Local 200, Milwaukee, WI. [From: Richard Troxell,
RRTroxell@aol.com ]
Low-Income and Minority
Homeownership
Owning a home is widely recognized as a way to accumulate wealth, to
counter rising housing costs, and to provide a favorable climate for child
development. While there have been several recent reviews of empirical
evidence on the benefits of homeownership, HUD's Office of Policy
Development and Research initiated a unique analysis of the homeownership
experiences of low-income and minority households and the gains they derive
from owning a home. The Homeownership Experience of Low-Income and Minority
Families: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature reviews decisions
regarding different types of homes to buy, neighborhoods to settle in, and
housing costs to assume. In light of the persistent lag in homeownership
rates related to income, race, and ethnicity, this study offers useful data
for effective policymaking by highlighting the choices and subsequent
outcomes for low-income and minority households.
The report
is available as a free download at
http://www.huduser.org/publications/HOMEOWN/
hisp_homeown9.html
or in print for a nominal fee by calling 800-245-2691, option 1. [HUDUSERlistserv@huduser.org]
UN Human Rights
Committee Concluding Observations
Attached are excerpts from the UN Human Rights Committee’s recent evaluation
of the US Government’s compliance with its treaty obligations, such as the
treaty to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. Several US and
global rights organizations submitted comments and testimony before the
Committee’s hearing on the US in Geneva earlier this spring.
The recently
issued Concluding Observations from the Human Rights Committee, can be found
at
http://ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/AdvanceDocs/
CCPR.C.USA.CO.pdf
The
Committee takes up housing issues in the context of discrimination – in
homelessness, in residential and education segregation, and the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, see below:
22. The
Committee is concerned by reports that some 50 % of homeless people are
African American although they constitute only 12 % of the U.S. population.
(articles 2 and 26)
The State
party should take measures, including adequate and adequately implemented
policies, to ensure the cessation of this form of de facto and historically
generated racial discrimination.
23. The
Committee notes with concern reports of de facto racial segregation in
public schools, reportedly caused by discrepancies between the racial and
ethnic composition of large urban districts and their surrounding suburbs,
and the manner in which schools districts are created, funded and regulated.
The Committee is concerned that the State party, despite measures adopted,
has not succeeded in eliminating racial discrimination such as regarding the
wide disparities in the quality of education across school districts in
metropolitan areas, to the detriment of minority students. It further notes
with concern the State party’s position that federal government authorities
cannot act under law absent an indication of discriminatory intent of state
or local authorities. (articles 2 and 26)
The
Committee reminds the State party of its obligation under articles 2 and 26
of the Covenant to respect and ensure that all persons are guaranteed
effective protection against practices that have either the purpose or the
effect of discrimination on a racial basis. The State party should conduct
in-depth investigations into the de facto segregation described above, and
take remedial steps, in consultation with the affected communities.
26. The
Committee, while taking note of the various rules and regulations
prohibiting discrimination in the provision of disaster relief and emergency
assistance, remains concerned about information that poor people and in
particular African-Americans, were disadvantaged by the rescue and
evacuation plans implemented when Hurricane Katrina hit the United States of
America, and continue to be disadvantaged under the reconstruction plans.
(articles 6 and 26)
The State
party should review its practices and policies to ensure the full
implementation of its obligation to protect life and of the prohibition of
discrimination, whether direct or indirect, as well as of the United Nations
Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, in the areas of disaster
prevention and preparedness, emergency assistance and relief measures. In
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it should increase its efforts to ensure
that the rights of poor people and in particular African-Americans, are
fully taken into consideration in the reconstruction plans with regard to
access to housing, education and healthcare.
The
Committee wishes to be informed about the results of the inquiries into the
alleged failure to evacuate prisoners at the Parish prison, as well as the
allegations that New Orleans residents were not permitted by law enforcement
officials to cross the Greater New Orleans Bridge to Gretna, Louisiana.
[Eric Tars, Human Rights Staff Attorney, National Law Center on Homelessness
& Poverty,
www.nlchp.org ]
Welfare
Reform: Urban Institute Files and Fact Sheets
With the 10-year anniversary of the 1996 welfare overhaul legislation
approaching, the Urban Institute recently convened a half-day roundtable of
welfare experts titled "Welfare Reform Roundtable: Reviewing a Decade,
Previewing the Future."
Audio files
of the event and two fact sheets analyzing the first 10 years of welfare
reform are available online.
Audio files:
Listen to government officials, human service practitioners, researchers,
and analysts as they discuss and debate the past and future of welfare
reform. Digital audio files are available at
http://www.urban.org/Pressroom/events/welfarereform.cfm
.
Fact sheet:
"A Decade of Welfare Reform: Facts and Figures" offers an overview of key
facets of welfare reform, including the hard-to-serve, the status of the
states, low-income working families, child well-being, and marriage and
childbearing. It is available at
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=900980 .
Fact sheet:
"Government Work Supports and Low-Income Families: Facts and Figures"
provides a more targeted look at programs intended to help low-wage
households. It is available at
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=900981 .