Sheila Crowley, NLIHC

Excerpt from Memo to Members, Vol. 15, No. 31

National Low Income Housing Coalition

August 6, 2010

NATIONAL HOUSING TRUST FUND CAMPAIGN

***Senate Adjourns without Funding NHTF

The Senate adjourned on August 5 without passing funding for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). As previously reported, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had hoped to move an amendment, which included the NHTF and tax extenders, on H.R. 5297, the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 (see Memo, 7/30). However, the Senate was unable to complete that legislation before adjourning for the August recess.

Before its adjournment, the Senate did pass legislation to provide increased Medicaid aid for the states and fund a program to help avoid layoffs for teachers. While this aid package to cash-strapped states is important, its passage does further complicate the passage of the extenders bill. To pay for this increased spending, the Senate used an offset that had been previously part of the extenders package, leaving the extender package without a complete offset.

The House will return briefly from its recess on August 10 to vote on the Medicaid bill, but it is unlikely to take up any other legislation during this abbreviated session. Consequently, additional action on the NHTF and the tax extenders package will have to wait until mid-September when the House and Senate return.

Sam Stemper, Public Policy Intern

For 60 years HUD has played a vital role in making privately-0owned rental properties affordable to low income-tenants.  However, there concerns remain with regard to the lasting availability of rental units.  The Government Accountability Office validated these concerns in 2004, when they projected that 193,000 subsidized units will become market-rate housing in the next ten years.  Tenants in these properties could face higher rents or eviction.

Thankfully, some forward-thinking legislators are working to avoid this dire situation.  Earlier this week, the House Financial Services Committee passed H.R. 4868, the Housing Preservation and Tenant Protections Act of 2010.  This bill would:

• install incentives and resources for owners of currently subsidized properties
• provide grants and loans to housing sponsors that are working to preserve subsidized housing
• establish a marketplace (The Preservation Exchange Program) for potential purchasers who will keep the housing affordable
• give tenants living in subsidized properties stronger means to address poor upkeep
• authorize vouchers for tenants in properties that become market rate

What is especially exciting for Minnesotans is that Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) played a key role in the hearing.  A member of the House Financial Service Committee and recipient of the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2010 Edward W. Brooke III Housing Leadership Award, Ellison filed an amendment that would grant tenants in subsidized housing stronger legal rights when issues arise over housing contracts.  Unfortunately, the amendment wasn’t offered in the bill that passed in committee, though Ellison and housing advocates alike hope to see the amendment added before the house floor proceeds with a vote.

The bill likely won’t make it to the House Floor until September, but you can rest assured that we will be keep you updated on its progress and encourage advocates across the state to contact their legislators in support of this bill.  Minnesota policymakers are influencing housing legislation every day, so it is essential that constituents make sure their voices are heard!

That’s right folks!  Calls from grassroots efforts across the nation and right here in Minnesota convinced the House of Representatives to increase HUD funding.

As NLIHC reports, your work not only lead to increased funding, it stopped several bad amendments from being offered and/or accepted.

What did we stop?

• A bad amendment to eliminate Veterans Affairs Supported Housing (VASH) voucher funding was not offered.
• A proposed amendment to cut Public Housing Capital funding by $455.8 million failed.
• And all amendments to cut HUD funding overall failed.

And this is just a sampling of what we accomplished yesterday.  Bravo!

Now, on to the Senate.

Julie in Congressman Ellison's District: I know Congressman Ellison is a leader on affordable housing. I let his office know this was another opportunity for him to "shine."

Today, Thursday, July 29, the full House of Representatives will take up its FY11 funding bill for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD).  The House bill – in it’s current form – would provide over $1 billion more to HUD programs than the President’s budget request.

Last night, the House Rules Committee accepted amendments that will be voted on today, including 8 amendments that would reduce funding for HUD programs and 4 amendments that would reduce overall funding of the entire bill.

Your immediate action is needed to prevent a reduction of funds to HUD programs.

Please call your Minnesota Representative today and urge him or her to:

1. Support the House bill which would provide over $1 billion more to HUD programs than the President’s budget request.
2. Oppose any negative amendments to reduce overall HUD funding or funding for specific HUD-programs.

Find out who represents you by visiting this link

Congressman Barney Frank warns that the National Housing Trust Fund is in trouble because of concern for the deficit.  In related news, the Minnesota Housing Partnership released data showing the economic struggles of Minnesotans are intensifying and both the rental and home ownership market are becoming less friendly as a result.

Regarding the National Housing Trust Fund, Congress’ daily newspaper ‘The Hill’ reports:  “Deficit worries slow funding of Obama homeless programs.”

“If it wasn’t for the deficit concern it would have been over already,” Frank said of the legislation funding the trust fund.  “It’s important to have a decent low-income housing program to … act as an alternative for putting low-income people into homeownership, which they can’t afford. But obviously, the concern about the deficit is a major obstacle.”

And, as for Minnesota’s housing market, today’s Star-Tribune reports:  “Housing costs bleeding many Minnesotans.”

MHP examinedwages for five occupations, including teacher, registered nurse and retail salesperson, and found that for full-time workers, owning a median-priced home is affordable to all these occupations in only nine Minnesota counties, most of them in rural areas in the western part of the state. In none of the counties is renting a typical two-bedroom apartment affordable to all five occupations.

Hmmm.  Is there a connection between these two stories?

Sheila Crowley, NLIHC

When last you heard from us, the U.S. Senate had adjourned for the 4^th of July recess without taking action on H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 (the extender bill), which contains $1.065 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund and associated vouchers, and three important provisions on the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.

The Senate voted three times on versions of the extender bill during June, failing each time to garner the 60 votes needed to move it forward. No concerns were raised regarding the National Housing Trust Fund. The opponents, all Republicans and Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), objected to two things. The first was that some of the items in the bill, including extension of Unemployment Insurance (UI) and more Medicaid aid to the states, were classified as emergency spending and therefore not paid for (offset). The opponents want all spending to be paid for by cuts somewhere else. The second was that the elements of the bill that were offset, including the National Housing Trust Fund, would be paid for by closing several different tax loopholes, meaning some people would have to pay higher taxes.

As the June work session drew to a close, two elements of the extender bill were introduced as stand-alone measures. One, extension of UI, did not get 60 votes. The other, another extension of the homebuyer tax credit, was approved by both the Senate and the House, and enacted into law.

Now that the Senate has reconvened, the leadership is working to get all the elements of the bill passed this month, although it may be piecemeal. As of this writing, we understand that negotiations are underway with individual Republican Senators to reach the compromises needed to get to 60 votes to pass the extender bill WITH the National Housing Trust Fund and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit provisions included.

Contact Minnesota Senators to tell them how important the National Housing Trust Fund is.  Tell them you want action on the National Housing Trust Fund this month.

Senator Amy Klobuchar

202-224-3244

Senator Al Franken

202-224-5641

Learn more about the National Housing Trust Fund campaign at www.nhtf.org

Sheila Crowley, NLIHC

This week, Congress has found money–and legislative vehicles–for three housing items: $1 billion more for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, $1 billion to make loans to unemployed homeowners so they can make their mortgage payments, and $140 million for yet another extension of the homebuyer tax credit.

But Congress still has not funded the National Housing Trust Fund. The House passed H.R. 4213, the tax extender bill, with $1.065 billion for the NHTF in late May, but the Senate has not been able to get enough votes to pass the whole bill. Yesterday, a slimmed down substitute for H.R. 4213 including unemployment insurance and extension of the homebuyer credit was offered by Senate leadership.

We can’t let legislators off the hook on the NHTF. Not only are the homes the NHTF will produce desperately needed to address the increase in family homelessness due to the recession, but $1.065 billion in NHTF funding will produce 18,900 jobs.

Congress must provide $1.065 billion in funding for the National Housing Trust Fund THIS WEEK before adjourning for its July 4^th recess. Several bills could move before Congress adjourns, including the unemployment extension bill, a small business bill, and a supplemental appropriations bill that will include significant domestic spending.

We need you to help fight to have the NHTF included in one of these bills.

Tell them that before they go on recess, they MUST provide $1.065 billion in funding for the National Housing Trust Fund, as part of any bill that moves forward this week. Our families and communities cannot wait!

Remind them that in an unprecedented show of support, organizations in every Congressional district in the country have signed a letter in support of funding the National Housing Trust Fund. And remind them how much in funding your state will receive from the initial NHTF allocation.

Click here for the contact information for your representative and Minnesota Senators Klobuchar and Franken.

Thank you for your continued support. Please email outreach@nlihc.org with the reports of any calls.

Anyone who’s listened to me spread the word about ending homelessness has likely heard me tell two stories:

1. When I started this work as an activist over 20 years ago, I volunteered at The 410 homeless shelter — now People Serving People, a shelter for families experiencing homelessness.  My “job” each Wednesday was to mentor the kids and help them with their homework.  The kids were not that old, so they didn’t have that much homework.  I really just spent most of my time playing games with them.  Now, the kids at The 410 quickly discovered that one amongst them was really good at playing the game Connect Four, and that I was pretty terrible at it.  Needless to say, I spent a number of Wednesdays being thoroughly embarrassed as this child of no more than 9 years old beat me at Connect Four as a roomful of children watched and laughed.  (Is it any wonder I don’t do so well around kids these days?)
2. Years later when I started to organize with single adults experiencing homelessness, one of the guys told me that the thing he hated most about being homeless is that many people would cross to the other side of the street just not to be near him.  That really stuck with me.  I realized that people experiencing homelessness didn’t want to be seen as “homeless people”.  They certainly did not intend on staying homeless forever.  They just wanted to be seen as people.

These two stories resonate with me as I read Opening Doors:  the National Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.  Why?

Well, first, I applaud the Obama Administration for expanding the national goal to end long-term homelessness to the new goal of simply ending homelessness.  The children temporarily staying in family or youth shelters (for example) would be happy to know that they are just as much a priority as any other homeless population.

Second, I am pleased to see that Opening Doors takes lessons we learned locally and the best practices we developed in the Plan to End Long-term Homelessness to show that different communities have developed different strategies to successfully address homelessness.

And third, while the Administration must still prove it is serious about the themes in this new plan, it looks like it takes a broader view of how to end homelessness.  The Bush Administration’s Plan to End Long-term Homelessness was frequently faulted for its narrow focus.  While it played up the role of developing housing, it said too little about jobs, health care, services, etc.  The new plan relies on 19 federal agencies to address homelessness.  Bravo!

Of course, the new plan has flaws.  Chief among them is that there is no new funding identified to reach the goal of ending homelessness except for the National Housing Trust Fund — which still requires an appropriation from Congress.  Let’s be clear, the plan will go nowhere without money.

Secondly, this plan suffers from the belief that the best way to end homelessness is to end it primarily through population-specific strategies:  ending veteran homelessness, ending youth homelessness, ending family homelessness.  True, sometime specific populations require special attention.  But everyone needs health care, everyone needs a home, and most everyone can and wants to work.  Carving out particular populations just divides those who are homeless and makes them compete when there are limited funds.  (I remember hearing some guys at the Dorothy Day Drop-in Center complaining that they weren’t “chronic yet” (that is, they weren’t homeless long enough to fit into the specialized plan to end long-term homelessness).

And that brings me back to The 410.  Twenty years ago there were two other kids I came into contact with and a friend of mine stays in touch with.  Back then, we didn’t do enough to help them and their family address their homelessness.  The foster care system failed them.  The child protection system failed them.  Society failed them.  While I don’t know where either of them lives now, they are both struggling adults.  One spent at least some time living in supportive housing for individuals who have been homeless.  Another spent quite some time in jail.  Homelessness as a child can turn into homelessness as a youth and then homelessness as an adult.  Short-term homeless can turn into long-term homelessness.  Temporary homelessness can become a lifelong disadvantage.

Sometimes treating someone experiencing homelessness as part of a homeless population simply pigeonholes them into being a “homeless person” rather than being the whole person they really are.

I guess the last thing I’d say about the new federal plan (for now), I’ll actually steal from my friend Liz Kuoppala, Executive Director with the Minnesota Coalition for the Homelessness (MCH):  “A plan is a plan is a plan.  Now, we need action.”  If you care about ending homelessness, I’d strongly recommend you stay in touch with MCH.  They’ll keep you  in-the-know on what next steps are needed to keep the federal government serious about preventing and ending homelessness.  To read Liz’s take on the plan, click here.

Read what others are saying about the National Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness:

• National Coalition for the Homeless
• National Low Income Housing Coalition
• National Alliance to End Homelessness
• Corporation for Supportive Housing
• Housing Sense

In 2010, we helped pass some amazing new Minnesota Tenant/Landlord laws. We are not done! Tenants across Minnesota deserve better, so we will be back at the State Capitol next year to support stronger tenant protections. We need your help to make sure our elected officials know how important these issues are. One easy way you can help right now is to let us know what some of the most important issues are to you.
Click here for your official ballot.