The Affordable Housing Bulletin
September 3, 2004

In this issue:

In Delaware
Attorney General's Conference October 5
"Celebrate CRA 2004" October 5
Even More Fair Housing Testers Needed

Elsewhere
U.S. Poverty Increases, Nonmetro Rate Remains Unchanged
Federal Funding Favors Metro Areas
New Data Provided for States and Some Counties
National Housing Days of Action September 8 and October 4


Attorney General's Conference October 5
THE NEW MORTGAGE MARKET: Know The Facts BEFORE You Borrow Money will be presented twice. Come to the afternoon or evening session , Tuesday October 5th, at the Bank One Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington.

* 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. or
* 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A FREE Conference Sponsored by the Attorney General’s Office – Consumer Protection Unit and the State Bank Commissioner’s Office


Celebrate CRA 2004 October 5
This year's "Celebrate CRA" will take place on October 5th at the Delaware Hisory Museum. It is the eighth annual celebration by the Delaware CRA Council, Inc. Keynote speaker will be Joe Opatowski of Leaders Today. For more information, contact: Rashmi Rangan, 302/654-5024 or rashmi@dcrac.org


Even More Fair Housing Testers Needed
In our last bulletin, we noted that two agencies are seeking fair housing testers in order to further their work of detecting discrimination in housing and lending in the state. We repeat that information and add a third agency also seeking testers.

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 or mjohnson@declasi.org
Leon Shoats, Housing Opportunities of Northern Delaware, 302/429-0794 or staohs252@hotmail.com
Sharese McGhee, Delaware Division of Human Relations, 302/856-5331 or Sharese.McGhee@state.de.us


U. S. Poverty Increases, Nonmetro Rate Unchanged
New Census Bureau figures show the overall U.S. poverty rate grew in 2003 for the third straight year. The rate rose from 12.1% in 2002 to 12.5% in 2003, an increase of 1.3 million persons. The nonmetropolitan poverty rate remained unchanged
from 2002 at 14.2%, although 43.4% of nonmetro persons in single, women-headed households with children are poor. Income, Poverty, and Health Coverage in the United States: 2003 is available at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income.html. [HAC News, 9/1/04]


Federal Funding Favors Metro Areas
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation reports that from 1994 to 2001, total federal funding per capita and federal
funding on community resources (including housing) was far greater in metropolitan areas than in nonmetro places. "Federal Investment in Rural
America Falls Behind" is at http://www.wkkf.org/Programming/ResourceOverview.aspx?CID=274&ID=3977 . [HAC News, 9/1/04]


New Data Provided for States and Some Counties
The Census Bureau's 2003 American Community Survey data, including housing and economic profiles, are available for the U.S., states, more than 200 congressional districts, and counties and places with populations of 250,000 or more at http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/index.htm . [HAC News, 9/1/04]


National Housing Days of Action September 8 and October 4
Public actions are planned nationally and locally on September 8 to urge the Senate to fund Section 8 and HUD and on October 4 (International Housing Rights Day) to protest budget cuts and forced evictions.

Efforts continue to cut up to 60,000 existing families from the Section 8 program this year through “back-door” cuts to local Housing Authorities. This in spite of Congress voting for enough funds to renew all Section 8 contracts this year. If the administration’s Section 8 budget for Fiscal Year 05--still before Congress—is passed as is, Housing Authorities around the country would be forced to drop an estimated 250,000 families from Section 8 next year and/or institute significant rent increases within the program.

People around the country have been fighting these cuts for several months and scored a major victory when the House Appropriations Committee voted to add $1.5 billion to Bush’s Section 8 request. However, the Committee did this by cutting all other HUD programs by 4.3%--including McKinney Act funding, Housing for People with Aids, Public Housing, and CDBG and HOME grants to cities.

For more information, contact:
Michael, National Alliance of HUD Tenants, 617-267-9564, naht@saveourhomes.org
Donald or Michael, National Coalition for the Homeless, 202-737-6444, dwhitehead@nationalhomeless.org
Garrick, National Coalition to Save Section 8, 213-439-1070 ext. 120, Garrick@lacehh.org