The Affordable Housing Bulletin
August 27, 2004

In this issue:

In Delaware
No Room For Poverty National Rally on September 4
Rally Against HUD Funding Cuts in Washington on September 14
Fair Housing Testers Needed

Elsewhere
National Housing Trust Fund Update -- Discharge Petition Filed


No Room For Poverty National Rally on September 4
First State Community Action Agency is the Delaware organizer of the No Room For Poverty National Rally in Washington on September 4 from 9am to 1 pm. The rally is to unite American for jobs, health care, education, and affordable housing. To join the Delaware delegeation, call 1 - 800 - FSCAA - 40.

Rally Against HUD Funding Cuts in Washington on September 14
Residents from Atlantic City, Newark, Camden, Baltimore, the District of Columbia, and Wilmington will be meeting at 11 am on September 14 at the HUD building in Washington to demonstrate against the proposed HUD funding cuts. This rally is being organized by members of the Mid-Atlantic Region of NAHRO. For more information on the rally and how to participate, call Paula at 738-0915.

Fair Housing Testers Needed
Two agencies are seeking fair housing testers in order to further their work of detecting discrimination in housing and lending in the state.

Testing involves sending people into rental, sales, mortgage application settings and recording the rsults of those meetings and interviews. Both agencies are looking for people of all ages, races, both genders, and with disabilities. Testers are trained by the agency making use of their time and receive a stipend for attending training and participating in the testing. The locations, dates, and times of training are flexible and will depend on the availability of testers. Both agencies are seeking bi-lingual and Hispanic testers.

To become involved in the important work, contact:

Marie Johnson
Community Legal Aid Society
302/575-0660 x215
mjohnson@declasi.org

or

Leon Shoats
Housing Opportunities of Northern Delaware
302/429-0794
staohs252@hotmail.com


National Housing Trust Fund Update -- Discharge Petition Filed
In a big step for the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign, three cosponsors of National Affordable Housing Trust Fund legislation yesterday filed a motion for a discharge petition in an attempt to move the bill, H.R. 1102, to the floor of the House for debate and an up-or-down vote.

National Housing Trust Fund legislation in the House of Representatives now has an impressive 214 cosponsors. But the leadership of the Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over the bill, has not taken up the bill. So Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) filed the motion in an effort to move the National Housing Trust Fund forward.

The introduction of the discharge petition is an incredible opportunity for the Campaign.

What would a discharge petition do? The petition would “discharge” the committee of its responsibility in considering the bill. If a majority of Members sign the petition, the bill can come directly to the House floor. In addition, the very existence of a discharge petition—because they are used so infrequently—raises the profile of a bill. The most recent example of legislation successfully kick-started by the discharge petition is the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform. Note that a signature on the discharge petition is not a vote for the bill itself; it is simply support for consideration of the bill by the full House.

How will the discharge petition work? A discharge petition needs 218 signatures (a majority of the House) before the House can consider taking up the bill. Then a vote is taken on whether or not to schedule the bill for action. We currently have 214 cosponsors, 5 of them non-voting. This means that if we are able to get all of our current cosponsors to sign the petition, we will need 9 additional members.

The petition must be signed by the Member in person, while Congress is in session. And the petition cannot be signed until seven legislative days after it has been introduced. Together, these items mean that while the petition was introduced on July 22, Members will not be able to sign it until Congress comes back from its summer recess in early September. The first date that it can be signed is now projected to be September 14 or 15. This gives all of us plenty of time to contact Members’ offices and let them know the importance of signing the discharge petition.

H.R. 1102 has been changed. H.R. 1102, the subject of the discharge petition, has one difference from the original bill: the source of funding to pay for the Trust Fund is no longer specified. If you know that the funding source listed in the bill is a reason your Member has not yet cosponsored, please let him or her know that the bill now uses general ‘such sums’ language when discussing the funding source.

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS THAT TRUST FUND SUPPORTERS SHOULD TAKE? The Campaign will be able to take advantage of the upcoming Congressional recess, which runs from late July to early September, to build support for the discharge petition. There are two main steps each endorser can take.

1. Call your Member of Congress in his or her DC office (call toll-free 1-888-864-NHTF) or in the district office (find the number by entering your zip code at www.nlihc.org).

If your Member of Congress is already a cosponsor of H.R. 1102:

“I am calling because Representative __ is a cosponsor of National Affordable Housing Trust Fund legislation, H.R. 1102. A discharge petition for H.R. 1102 was filed on July 22. This is an incredible opportunity to bring legislation to the floor that will address the dire shortage of affordable housing in our communities.

Please urge Representative ___ to sign the discharge petition as soon as it opens for signatures in September. Will you let me know whether he/she is able to sign the petition?” (If possible, get a commitment from the housing staffer to call you to let you know whether the Member will sign the petition, and when he or she has actually done so.)