Our apologies for the lack of updates since Dec. 2008. New posts will be forthcoming. Please check back often as we will be working diligently to get caught up.
Thank you
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
A LETTER TO PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA:
The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, the National Coalition for the Homeless and other national leaders of the movement to end homelessness, in America, have written a letter to President-Elect Obama. Beyond offering congratulates, the letter urges strong leadership in strides to end homelessness by increasing affordable housing, ensuring adequate incomes, expanding access to health care, ensuring access to education for our homeless children and youth and protecting homeless people from discrimination.
The Task Force for the Homeless works in conjunction with NCH in the drafting of policy statements and stands in support of the suggestions and recommendations outlined in this letter.
November 25, 2008
President-Elect Barack Obama
Presidential Transition Team
5th and D St. NW
Washington, DC 20270
Dear President-Elect Obama,
We congratulate you on your election as the next President of the United States. As you move forward with your agenda, we urge you to give priority to the needs of America’s most vulnerable population – homeless persons.
The recent spikes in mortgage foreclosures and economic downturn have created a surge in demand for shelter and social services. As many as 3.5 million people are homeless over the course of a year, including 1.35 million children. Your strong leadership is needed to end this crisis. Solutions to address homelessness exist and they are centered on affordable housing, supportive services for those who need them, and adequate incomes. These solutions recognize that homelessness is more than just a charitable concern, but an issue of basic human rights that affects the overall wellbeing of our country.
We appreciate your leadership in the Senate to prevent homelessness among veterans, through your sponsorship of the Homes for Heroes Act, and Vice President-Elect Biden’s leadership in the Senate to prevent domestic violence survivors from becoming homeless, through the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
As leaders of the movement to end homelessness in America, we call upon you to build on this work by committing to take, and ask the Congress to take, these six key steps to move us significantly towards the goal of ending homelessness in America:
1. Commit to End Homelessness—Now
During the first year of your Administration, hold a White House Conference on Homelessness at which a federal, interagency plan to end homelessness in the United States is presented. The plan should have concrete goals and timelines.
2. Increase Access to Affordable Housing Fund at least 150,000 new housing vouchers each year to help address the critical shortage of rental housing affordable to people with extremely low incomes who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; create and sustain 90,000 additional units of permanent supportive housing; add 20,000 new HUD-VASH vouchers and 40,000 new units of permanent supportive housing for veterans who are homeless or at risk; fully fund the housing programs created by the Violence Against Women Act; increase funding for the National Housing Trust Fund, and provide 19,000 vouchers for homeless families under the Family Unification Program. Further, prevent low-income people from becoming homeless as a result of the current foreclosure crisis by providing $575 million in emergency funding to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to use to assist tenants displaced by foreclosure.
3. Ensure Adequate Incomes
Ensure that every American has an annual income—whether through wages, public income assistance, tax credits, or a combination thereof—sufficient to obtain and maintain permanent housing that costs no more than 30 percent of the household’s income.
4. Expand Access to Health Services
Ensure that your health care plan guarantees access and eliminates all financial barriers to comprehensive health services – including mental health care – for all Americans, and enact Medicaid policies that allow reimbursement for effective services that help reduce the use of more costly emergency and hospital care.
5. Ensure Access to Education for Homeless Children and Youth
By 2010, strengthen educational access and stability for homeless children and youth, including young children and unaccompanied youth, through the reauthorization and the full funding of the education title of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and expanded access to Head Start.
6. Protect Homeless People from Discrimination
Homeless persons’ civil rights to vote, to frequent public places, to utilize public facilities, and to enjoy equal protection of the law must be supported and advanced.
We urge you to adopt these recommendations as a first step towards ending homelessness in America. A more detailed explanation of the recommendations and their rationale is enclosed. We stand ready to assist you and your staff. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your staff.
+++
For more information, please contact Laurel Weir, Policy Director, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, at 202-638-2535, x210.
Respectfully,
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
America’s Road Home Corporation for Supportive Housing
Give Us Your Poor
National AIDS Housing Council
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Center for Housing and Child Welfare
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Health Care for the Homeless Council
National Housing Law Project
National Low Income Housing Coalition
National Network to End Domestic Violence
National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness
Ending the Crisis of Homelessness in America
Background for Recommendations to President-Elect Obama
1. Commit to End Homelessness—Now.
Background: Solutions to homelessness exist and thousands of programs are implementing them across the country, but these groups do not have the resources to bring them to the scale needed to solve the problem. Further, many state and local governments have created plans to end homelessness in their communities, but they are hampered by the lack of federal support. While President Bush made a commitment, albeit limited, to end some forms of homelessness, federal support was not forthcoming. Public opinion surveys consistently show that the American people favor government action to end homelessness, and would pay higher taxes to fund it. Coordinated federal action, funding and leadership are needed, and White House leadership is essential to mobilizing the political will to end the crisis.
Recommendation: During the first year of your Administration, hold a White House Conference on Homelessness at which a federal, interagency plan to end homelessness in the United States is presented. The plan should have concrete goals and timelines.
2. Increase the Supply of Affordable Housing
Background: Federal funding for affordable housing has been slashed over the past 30 years; in the private market, gentrification has replaced inexpensive housing with luxury residential or commercial property, without provision for those displaced. Currently, in no U.S. county can a minimum wage worker afford a one-bedroom apartment, according to federal affordability guidelines. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), approximately 5.99 million low-income households had worst case housing needs in 2005, the most recent year for which data is available; that number does not include persons who were homeless or who were living doubled up. Even emergency shelter is insufficient: according to the most recent data from HUD, approximately 280,000 persons were unsheltered on a single night in 2007.
Subpopulations of homeless and at risk people have particular needs. Homeless veterans, both men and women, account for 30% of the adult homeless population, and the numbers threaten to rise as a result of inadequate support for those returning from the current Gulf wars. For women, domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness, but there is a severe shortage of housing for women fleeing abuse. Unaccompanied youth also face a shortage of housing options – in 2007, programs funded by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act made street contacts with over 740,000 youths, but only 7% received shelter or housing options. Additionally, many homeless persons have disabilities or suffer from addictions and need permanent, supportive housing. For example, access to affordable housing is critical for persons with HIV/AIDS – a 15-year longitudinal study by Columbia University found housing to be one of the primary needs for persons living with HIV/AIDS, and housing with supportive services provided a critical pathway to HIV care and treatment.
Recommendation: Fund at least 150,000 new housing vouchers each year to help address the critical shortage of rental housing affordable to people with extremely low incomes who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; create and sustain 90,000 additional units of permanent supportive housing; add 20,000 new HUD-VASH vouchers and 40,000 new units of permanent supportive housing for veterans who are homeless or at risk by enacting and fully funding the Homes for Heroes bill you introduced; and fully fund the housing programs created by the Violence Against Women Act, sponsored by Vice-President Elect Biden. Additionally, quickly promulgate regulations for the National Housing Trust Fund and work to increase Trust Fund funding to $5 billion. Protect homeless families by providing 19,000 housing vouchers under the Family Unification Program. Lastly, prevent low-income people from becoming homeless as a result of the current foreclosure crisis by immediately providing $575 million to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to use to assist tenants displaced by foreclosure.
3. Ensure Adequate Incomes
Background: Approximately 44% of the adult homeless population has performed some type of work for pay in any given month, yet most do not make enough to afford housing. Many more homeless persons may be unable to work due to disabling conditions – some 31% of homeless adults experience mental illness, addiction or both in a year; and approximately 45% suffer from chronic health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, or lost limbs. Yet, while many are eligible for disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) programs, only 11% receive SSI and only 8% receive SSDI benefits.
Recommendation: Ensure that every American has an annual income—whether through wages, public income assistance, tax credits, or a combination thereof—sufficient to obtain and maintain permanent housing that costs no more than 30 percent of the household’s income.
4. Expand Access to Health Services
Background: Homeless people suffer from multiple health problems at a rate far higher than the general U.S. population, yet 55% have no medical insurance; only 30% receive Medicaid, and only 7% receive medical care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Once people become homeless, they have shorter life spans than housed persons, and are three or four times more likely to die prematurely due at least in part to untreated medical problems. When homeless persons are hospitalized, they remain in the hospital longer than housed persons with similar ailments. Mental health and substance abuse disorders are also common – as many as 74% of homeless adults have experienced a mental health, alcohol, or drug problem within the past year. Without access to treatment, these issues may both prolong and be exacerbated by homelessness.
Recommendation: Ensure that your health care plan guarantees access and eliminates all financial barriers to comprehensive health services – including mental health services – for all Americans, and enact Medicaid policies that allow reimbursement for effective services that help reduce the use of more costly emergency and hospital care.
5. Ensure Access to Education for Homeless Children and Youth
Background: School is a place of safety, structure, and opportunity. Yet homeless children and youth face unique barriers to education. These barriers include being unable to meet enrollment requirements, high residential mobility, lack of transportation, lack of school supplies and clothing, and poor health, fatigue, and hunger. When these barriers are not addressed, homeless children and youth often are unable to attend, or even enroll in, school, which prevents them from obtaining the education that is guaranteed under law and is their best hope of escaping poverty as adults. The McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program was created specifically to remove the barriers to education, including early childhood education, caused by homelessness. It was amended most recently in Title X, Part C, of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
Recommendation: By 2010, strengthen educational access and stability for homeless children and youth, including young children and unaccompanied youth, through the reauthorization and the full funding of the education subtitle of the McKinney-Vento Act.
6. Protect Homeless People from Discrimination
Background: Homeless persons encounter many challenges not faced by housed persons when trying to exercise basic civil rights. Homeless persons seeking to vote or register to vote may face obstacles because of their inability to prove residency or because they lack the necessary identification documents such as a photo ID. The lack of ID also may cause them to be denied access to government buildings, such as Social Security offices, even when the purpose of their visit is to obtain replacement identification documents.
City ordinances frequently serve as a tool for criminalizing homelessness – prohibiting persons from engaging in necessary, life-sustaining activities in public spaces even when those persons have nowhere else to go. Furthermore, some cities have taken the criminalization of homelessness a step further, by prohibiting public feeding of groups of homeless persons or limiting feeding to certain parts of the city.
Recommendation: Homeless persons’ civil rights to vote, to frequent public places, to utilize public facilities, and to enjoy equal protection of the law must be supported and advanced.
The Task Force for the Homeless works in conjunction with NCH in the drafting of policy statements and stands in support of the suggestions and recommendations outlined in this letter.
November 25, 2008
President-Elect Barack Obama
Presidential Transition Team
5th and D St. NW
Washington, DC 20270
Dear President-Elect Obama,
We congratulate you on your election as the next President of the United States. As you move forward with your agenda, we urge you to give priority to the needs of America’s most vulnerable population – homeless persons.
The recent spikes in mortgage foreclosures and economic downturn have created a surge in demand for shelter and social services. As many as 3.5 million people are homeless over the course of a year, including 1.35 million children. Your strong leadership is needed to end this crisis. Solutions to address homelessness exist and they are centered on affordable housing, supportive services for those who need them, and adequate incomes. These solutions recognize that homelessness is more than just a charitable concern, but an issue of basic human rights that affects the overall wellbeing of our country.
We appreciate your leadership in the Senate to prevent homelessness among veterans, through your sponsorship of the Homes for Heroes Act, and Vice President-Elect Biden’s leadership in the Senate to prevent domestic violence survivors from becoming homeless, through the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
As leaders of the movement to end homelessness in America, we call upon you to build on this work by committing to take, and ask the Congress to take, these six key steps to move us significantly towards the goal of ending homelessness in America:
1. Commit to End Homelessness—Now
During the first year of your Administration, hold a White House Conference on Homelessness at which a federal, interagency plan to end homelessness in the United States is presented. The plan should have concrete goals and timelines.
2. Increase Access to Affordable Housing Fund at least 150,000 new housing vouchers each year to help address the critical shortage of rental housing affordable to people with extremely low incomes who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; create and sustain 90,000 additional units of permanent supportive housing; add 20,000 new HUD-VASH vouchers and 40,000 new units of permanent supportive housing for veterans who are homeless or at risk; fully fund the housing programs created by the Violence Against Women Act; increase funding for the National Housing Trust Fund, and provide 19,000 vouchers for homeless families under the Family Unification Program. Further, prevent low-income people from becoming homeless as a result of the current foreclosure crisis by providing $575 million in emergency funding to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to use to assist tenants displaced by foreclosure.
3. Ensure Adequate Incomes
Ensure that every American has an annual income—whether through wages, public income assistance, tax credits, or a combination thereof—sufficient to obtain and maintain permanent housing that costs no more than 30 percent of the household’s income.
4. Expand Access to Health Services
Ensure that your health care plan guarantees access and eliminates all financial barriers to comprehensive health services – including mental health care – for all Americans, and enact Medicaid policies that allow reimbursement for effective services that help reduce the use of more costly emergency and hospital care.
5. Ensure Access to Education for Homeless Children and Youth
By 2010, strengthen educational access and stability for homeless children and youth, including young children and unaccompanied youth, through the reauthorization and the full funding of the education title of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and expanded access to Head Start.
6. Protect Homeless People from Discrimination
Homeless persons’ civil rights to vote, to frequent public places, to utilize public facilities, and to enjoy equal protection of the law must be supported and advanced.
We urge you to adopt these recommendations as a first step towards ending homelessness in America. A more detailed explanation of the recommendations and their rationale is enclosed. We stand ready to assist you and your staff. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your staff.
+++
For more information, please contact Laurel Weir, Policy Director, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, at 202-638-2535, x210.
Respectfully,
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
America’s Road Home Corporation for Supportive Housing
Give Us Your Poor
National AIDS Housing Council
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Center for Housing and Child Welfare
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Health Care for the Homeless Council
National Housing Law Project
National Low Income Housing Coalition
National Network to End Domestic Violence
National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness
Ending the Crisis of Homelessness in America
Background for Recommendations to President-Elect Obama
1. Commit to End Homelessness—Now.
Background: Solutions to homelessness exist and thousands of programs are implementing them across the country, but these groups do not have the resources to bring them to the scale needed to solve the problem. Further, many state and local governments have created plans to end homelessness in their communities, but they are hampered by the lack of federal support. While President Bush made a commitment, albeit limited, to end some forms of homelessness, federal support was not forthcoming. Public opinion surveys consistently show that the American people favor government action to end homelessness, and would pay higher taxes to fund it. Coordinated federal action, funding and leadership are needed, and White House leadership is essential to mobilizing the political will to end the crisis.
Recommendation: During the first year of your Administration, hold a White House Conference on Homelessness at which a federal, interagency plan to end homelessness in the United States is presented. The plan should have concrete goals and timelines.
2. Increase the Supply of Affordable Housing
Background: Federal funding for affordable housing has been slashed over the past 30 years; in the private market, gentrification has replaced inexpensive housing with luxury residential or commercial property, without provision for those displaced. Currently, in no U.S. county can a minimum wage worker afford a one-bedroom apartment, according to federal affordability guidelines. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), approximately 5.99 million low-income households had worst case housing needs in 2005, the most recent year for which data is available; that number does not include persons who were homeless or who were living doubled up. Even emergency shelter is insufficient: according to the most recent data from HUD, approximately 280,000 persons were unsheltered on a single night in 2007.
Subpopulations of homeless and at risk people have particular needs. Homeless veterans, both men and women, account for 30% of the adult homeless population, and the numbers threaten to rise as a result of inadequate support for those returning from the current Gulf wars. For women, domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness, but there is a severe shortage of housing for women fleeing abuse. Unaccompanied youth also face a shortage of housing options – in 2007, programs funded by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act made street contacts with over 740,000 youths, but only 7% received shelter or housing options. Additionally, many homeless persons have disabilities or suffer from addictions and need permanent, supportive housing. For example, access to affordable housing is critical for persons with HIV/AIDS – a 15-year longitudinal study by Columbia University found housing to be one of the primary needs for persons living with HIV/AIDS, and housing with supportive services provided a critical pathway to HIV care and treatment.
Recommendation: Fund at least 150,000 new housing vouchers each year to help address the critical shortage of rental housing affordable to people with extremely low incomes who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; create and sustain 90,000 additional units of permanent supportive housing; add 20,000 new HUD-VASH vouchers and 40,000 new units of permanent supportive housing for veterans who are homeless or at risk by enacting and fully funding the Homes for Heroes bill you introduced; and fully fund the housing programs created by the Violence Against Women Act, sponsored by Vice-President Elect Biden. Additionally, quickly promulgate regulations for the National Housing Trust Fund and work to increase Trust Fund funding to $5 billion. Protect homeless families by providing 19,000 housing vouchers under the Family Unification Program. Lastly, prevent low-income people from becoming homeless as a result of the current foreclosure crisis by immediately providing $575 million to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to use to assist tenants displaced by foreclosure.
3. Ensure Adequate Incomes
Background: Approximately 44% of the adult homeless population has performed some type of work for pay in any given month, yet most do not make enough to afford housing. Many more homeless persons may be unable to work due to disabling conditions – some 31% of homeless adults experience mental illness, addiction or both in a year; and approximately 45% suffer from chronic health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, or lost limbs. Yet, while many are eligible for disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) programs, only 11% receive SSI and only 8% receive SSDI benefits.
Recommendation: Ensure that every American has an annual income—whether through wages, public income assistance, tax credits, or a combination thereof—sufficient to obtain and maintain permanent housing that costs no more than 30 percent of the household’s income.
4. Expand Access to Health Services
Background: Homeless people suffer from multiple health problems at a rate far higher than the general U.S. population, yet 55% have no medical insurance; only 30% receive Medicaid, and only 7% receive medical care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Once people become homeless, they have shorter life spans than housed persons, and are three or four times more likely to die prematurely due at least in part to untreated medical problems. When homeless persons are hospitalized, they remain in the hospital longer than housed persons with similar ailments. Mental health and substance abuse disorders are also common – as many as 74% of homeless adults have experienced a mental health, alcohol, or drug problem within the past year. Without access to treatment, these issues may both prolong and be exacerbated by homelessness.
Recommendation: Ensure that your health care plan guarantees access and eliminates all financial barriers to comprehensive health services – including mental health services – for all Americans, and enact Medicaid policies that allow reimbursement for effective services that help reduce the use of more costly emergency and hospital care.
5. Ensure Access to Education for Homeless Children and Youth
Background: School is a place of safety, structure, and opportunity. Yet homeless children and youth face unique barriers to education. These barriers include being unable to meet enrollment requirements, high residential mobility, lack of transportation, lack of school supplies and clothing, and poor health, fatigue, and hunger. When these barriers are not addressed, homeless children and youth often are unable to attend, or even enroll in, school, which prevents them from obtaining the education that is guaranteed under law and is their best hope of escaping poverty as adults. The McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program was created specifically to remove the barriers to education, including early childhood education, caused by homelessness. It was amended most recently in Title X, Part C, of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
Recommendation: By 2010, strengthen educational access and stability for homeless children and youth, including young children and unaccompanied youth, through the reauthorization and the full funding of the education subtitle of the McKinney-Vento Act.
6. Protect Homeless People from Discrimination
Background: Homeless persons encounter many challenges not faced by housed persons when trying to exercise basic civil rights. Homeless persons seeking to vote or register to vote may face obstacles because of their inability to prove residency or because they lack the necessary identification documents such as a photo ID. The lack of ID also may cause them to be denied access to government buildings, such as Social Security offices, even when the purpose of their visit is to obtain replacement identification documents.
City ordinances frequently serve as a tool for criminalizing homelessness – prohibiting persons from engaging in necessary, life-sustaining activities in public spaces even when those persons have nowhere else to go. Furthermore, some cities have taken the criminalization of homelessness a step further, by prohibiting public feeding of groups of homeless persons or limiting feeding to certain parts of the city.
Recommendation: Homeless persons’ civil rights to vote, to frequent public places, to utilize public facilities, and to enjoy equal protection of the law must be supported and advanced.
Monday, November 24, 2008
USA TODAY – HOMELESS NUMBERS ALARMING!
By Wendy Koch
More families with children are becoming homeless as they face mounting economic pressures, including mortgage foreclosures, according to a USA TODAY survey of a dozen of the largest cities in the nation.
Local authorities say the number of families seeking help has risen in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle and Washington.
"Everywhere I go, I hear there is an increase" in the need for housing aid, especially for families, says Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates federal programs. He says the main causes are job losses and foreclosures.
Other factors have been higher food and fuel prices hitting families with "no cushion," says Nan Roman of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Many mayors have 10-year plans to end homelessness and had reported progress until this year. The most recent official count, in January 2007, found 671,888 people living on U.S. streets or in shelters, down 12% from January 2005.
"We saw family homelessness began to increase last winter," says Sally Erickson, Portland's homeless program manager. "There's definitely a spike in the last six months." The number of requests for emergency shelter doubled from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal 2008, which ended in June.
Darlene Newsom, who runs United Methodist Outreach Ministries' New Day Centers, which provide shelter programs for families in Phoenix, says the number of requests is "alarming." She says families who never sought help before are calling.
Los Angeles says it has no 2008 data. Miami reports no major change. Chicago has not had a surge in requests, but more come from renters evicted because of landlords' foreclosure, says Nancy Radner of the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.
USA TODAY found:
• In New York City, 2,747 families applied for shelter in September 2008, up from 2,087 in September 2007.
• In Hennepin County, including Minneapolis, 880 families were in shelters from January through August 2008, up from 698 in that period last year. At least 10% this year came from foreclosed properties where most had been renters, says Cathy ten Broeke, county coordinator to end homelessness.
Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor of social policy, expects foreclosures to cause a "big increase" in homeless families.
Mangano says a new federal law gives communities $3.9 billion to buy foreclosed properties or provide services to the homeless.
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BELOW ARE A FEW ARTICLES RE: HOUSING FROM OUR ARCHIVES THAT RELATE TO DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF HOUSING AS IT RELATES TO POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS...
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More families with children are becoming homeless as they face mounting economic pressures, including mortgage foreclosures, according to a USA TODAY survey of a dozen of the largest cities in the nation.
Local authorities say the number of families seeking help has risen in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle and Washington.
"Everywhere I go, I hear there is an increase" in the need for housing aid, especially for families, says Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates federal programs. He says the main causes are job losses and foreclosures.
Other factors have been higher food and fuel prices hitting families with "no cushion," says Nan Roman of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Many mayors have 10-year plans to end homelessness and had reported progress until this year. The most recent official count, in January 2007, found 671,888 people living on U.S. streets or in shelters, down 12% from January 2005.
"We saw family homelessness began to increase last winter," says Sally Erickson, Portland's homeless program manager. "There's definitely a spike in the last six months." The number of requests for emergency shelter doubled from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal 2008, which ended in June.
Darlene Newsom, who runs United Methodist Outreach Ministries' New Day Centers, which provide shelter programs for families in Phoenix, says the number of requests is "alarming." She says families who never sought help before are calling.
Los Angeles says it has no 2008 data. Miami reports no major change. Chicago has not had a surge in requests, but more come from renters evicted because of landlords' foreclosure, says Nancy Radner of the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.
USA TODAY found:
• In New York City, 2,747 families applied for shelter in September 2008, up from 2,087 in September 2007.
• In Hennepin County, including Minneapolis, 880 families were in shelters from January through August 2008, up from 698 in that period last year. At least 10% this year came from foreclosed properties where most had been renters, says Cathy ten Broeke, county coordinator to end homelessness.
Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor of social policy, expects foreclosures to cause a "big increase" in homeless families.
Mangano says a new federal law gives communities $3.9 billion to buy foreclosed properties or provide services to the homeless.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
BELOW ARE A FEW ARTICLES RE: HOUSING FROM OUR ARCHIVES THAT RELATE TO DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF HOUSING AS IT RELATES TO POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS...
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Thursday, August 7, 2008
PRESIDENT SIGNS HOUSING TRUST FUND INTO LAW!!!
A Message from the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign:
July 30, 2008 / Today, President George W. Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Among the bill’s numerous provisions is the establishment of a national Housing Trust Fund. This is a major victory for low income housing advocates and the lowest income people in our country with the most serious needs.
The Housing Trust Fund’s most important features are:
It is a permanent program with a dedicated source of funding not subject to the annual appropriations process.
At least 90% of the funds must be used for the production, preservation, rehabilitation, or operation of rental housing. Up to 10% can be used for the following homeownership activities for first-time homebuyers: production, preservation, and rehabilitation; down payment assistance, closing cost assistance, and assistance for interest rate buy-downs.
At least 75% of the funds for rental housing must benefit extremely low income households and all funds must benefit very low income households.
This is the first new federal housing production program since the HOME program was created in 1990 and the first new production program specifically targeted to extremely low income households since the Section 8 program was created in 1974.
Funds for the Housing Trust Fund will come from annual contributions made by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The amount will be based on a percentage of each company’s annual new business. Using the formula in the bill, the amount in 2007 would have been $557 million. Because their new business is increasing, the amount in 2008 is expected to be higher. However, 25% of the funds each year must first go to a reserve fund at the Treasury to offset scoring problems.
The remaining 75% of the funds will be divided between the Housing Trust Fund, which gets 65%, and a new Capital Magnet Fund that gets 35%. For the first three years, a percentage of the funds (100% in FY09, 50% in FY10, and 25% in FY11) will be diverted to a reserve fund to cover losses that the FHA might incur refinancing troubled mortgages through the new HOPE for Homeowners program (see article below). Based on the projected amount the formula will produce in calendar year 2008, approximately $300 million would have been available for the housing trust fund this year had it been in place with no diversions for the HOPE for Homeowners reserve fund. Funds not needed to cover FHA losses eventually will revert to the Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund.
Given the recent instability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, concerns have been raised about whether any funds will be available for new programs. The new regulator has the authority to suspend contributions under certain circumstances related the fiscal distress of the GSEs. However, no money will be available for the Housing Trust Fund until FY10, by which time Freddie Mac’s and Fannie Mae’s fiscal conditions are expected to be much improved.
Now that it has achieved this important and long-sought milestone, the National Housing Trust Fund Campaign will turn its attention to the next two steps towards achieving its goal of 1.5 million homes in 10 years. The first is implementation of the program—working with HUD to create an effective and timely fund distribution system. The second is to identify and advocate for additional sources of dedicated revenue. The bill specifically provides that Congress may “transfer, appropriate, or credit” other funds to the Housing Trust Fund.
More details about the Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund provisions follow:
Housing Trust Fund
For the purposes of federal civil rights laws, the Housing Trust Fund is considered federal financial assistance. All activities carried out must comply with federal laws on tenant protection and tenant participation, laws requiring public participation, and fair housing and laws related to accessibility for people with disabilities.
It will be administered by HUD, which will provide grants to states, which will designate a state housing finance agency, housing and community development entity, a tribal designated housing entity, or any other qualified agency to receive the grants.
The HUD Secretary is to establish a distribution formula to the states within 12 months of enactment of the bill. The formula should include the following factors:
the ratio of the shortage of affordable and available rental units to extremely low income renter households in the state to the aggregate shortage of affordable and available rental units to extremely low income renter households in all the states (this factor is to be given “priority emphasis”);
the ratio of the shortage of affordable and available rental units to very low income renter households in the state to the aggregate shortage of affordable and available rental units to very low income renter households in all the states;
the ratio of extremely low income renter households in the state living with either incomplete kitchens or plumbing facilities, more than one person per room, or paying more than 50% of their income for housing costs to the aggregate number of extremely low income renter households living with either incomplete kitchens or plumbing facilities, more than one person per room, or paying more than 50% of income for housing costs in all the states;
the ratio of very low income renter households in the state paying more than 50% of income on rent compared to the aggregate number of very low income renter households paying more than 50% of income on rent in all the states.
The sum of those factors will be multiplied by the approximate cost of construction in the state to determine the final amount of funding allocated to each state. However, the minimum state allocation will be at least $3 million annually.
Each year that the state receives a grant, it must establish a plan to distribute the funds and allow public comments on the plan. The plan must detail the eligible uses including the required income targeting.
Eligible recipients of grants from the states are organizations and agencies (for-profit and non-profit) that demonstrate 1) the experience and capacity to produce the kind of housing the program calls for, 2) the financial capacity to undertake the eligible activity, and 3) familiarity with federal, state, and local housing programs.
Prohibited uses are political activities, lobbying, counseling, traveling and administrative
expenses, or endorsements of a particular candidate or party.
Recipients must conduct and submit periodic financial and project reports, and conform to audit and record retention requirements. If a recipient misuses the funds allocated to it, it must reimburse their grant to the state within 12 months after their misuse is known. Either the Secretary of HUD or the state can determine if a grant is being misused.
States must submit an annual report describing the activities for which they used the funding. If the Secretary determines that the state is blatantly not complying with the requirements, the Secretary can reduce the amount of the grant to the state, limit the availability of assistance, or require the state to reimburse the Secretary.
States must spend the allotted amount in two years or the funds are returned to HUD.
If another affordable housing trust fund is established by law, the funds meant for the trust fund created in this bill will be transferred to the new affordable housing trust fund.
Capital Magnet Fund
Establishes a Capital Magnet Fund (CMF), which will be an account within the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund at the Department of Treasury, which is also allowed to receive additional funding from other sources.
Eligible recipients are Treasury-certified Community Development Financial Institution or non-profits that have at least one of their purposes the development or management of affordable housing.
Eligible recipients can apply for a competitive grant through the Treasury to help develop, preserve, purchase, and rehabilitate affordable housing for mostly extremely low, very low, and low income families. Grant funds may also be used for economic development or community service facilities in conjunction with affordable housing to help stabilize a low-income or rural area.
The CMF may also be used to provide loan loss reserves, to capitalize a revolving loan fund or an affordable housing fund, or for risk-sharing loans.
Applications for the competitive grants are required to include a detailed description of the types of affordable housing, economic, and community revitalization projects the institution would use the grant for, and the anticipated time frame they intend to use it.
No institution can be awarded more than 15% of all Capital Magnet funds available for grants in that year.
The Secretary is encouraged to fund activities in rural or underserved metropolitan areas.
Among the criteria in determining which areas should be served are:
o the percentage of low income families or the extent of poverty
o the rate of unemployment or underemployment
o the extent of blight and disinvestment
o projects targeting extremely low, very low , and low income families in an area of economic distress
o or any other criteria chosen by the Secretary
Institutions receiving grants must spend the funds within two years from the date of receiving
them.
Prohibited uses are political activities, advocacy, lobbying, counseling services, travel expenses, and endorsements of a particular candidate or party.
Each grantee must track its funds by issuing periodic financial and project reporting, and audit requirements. If the Secretary is not satisfied with the compliance, the grantee may receive fewer funds, have to pay the Treasury back, or have their grant terminated.
The Secretary must submit a periodic report to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services describing the activities these funds are being used for.
For more information, go to www.nhtf.org.
Monday, July 28, 2008
U.N. Weighs in Against Demolishing Public Housing
John Moreno Gonzales / Associated Press Writer / Thursday, February 28, 2008
New Orleans advocates who've clamored for recognition of alleged human rights violations in the Hurricane Katrina recovery claimed victory Thursday, after United Nations' experts said thousands of black families would continue to suffer displacement and homelessness if the demolition of 4,500 public housing units is not halted.
"I think this is vindication of what public housing advocates have been saying from day one," said Monique Harden, co-director of the public interest law firm Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, who testified before Geneva-based U.N. experts.
"Recovery must mean the end of displacement for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," added Harden, who returned to New Orleans last week. "What we have instead is recovery that demolishes affordable housing."
U.N.-appointed experts Miloon Kothari, the U.N. Human Rights Council's investigator for housing, and Gay McDougall, an expert on minority issues, urged U.S. and local government leaders to further include current and former residents in discussions that would help them return home.
"The spiraling costs of private housing and rental units, and in particular the demolition of public housing, puts these communities in further distress, increasing poverty and homelessness," said a joint statement by the men. "We therefore call on the Federal Government and State and local authorities to immediately halt the demolitions of public housing in New Orleans."
But local officials said the U.N. experts were too detached from the complexities of the post-Katrina city to claim razing of the buildings was racist. City officials were riled, but mostly planned to ignore the finding.
"The past model of public housing in New Orleans has been a failed one - years of neglect and mismanagement left our public housing developments in ruin," said a joint statement issued by the city council Thursday. "These are critical times in our city's history - we can choose to continue on the path of progress and positive change or we can choose to maintain the status quo."
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also weighed in, calling the U.N. expert findings "misinformed."
"We do not want to relegate thousands of minority and low-income families back into the sub-standard conditions of New Orleans' public housing - conditions only made worse by Hurricane Katrina," said a statement issued by HUD's press offices.
The expert comments did not entail an official U.N. resolution, but came a day before a larger U.N. racism panel planned to discuss Katrina recovery efforts and public housing in New Orleans. Neither opinion carries legal or regulatory power.
The demolition of the housing projects appears all but assured, early stages have begun at some developments only demolition permits remain for others. The council voted unanimously in December to raze the units. Still, critics say it was the council's first major action after the election of a white majority that reflected demographic shifts caused by Katrina.
"After the disaster there was a desire for a clean slate on the part of local leaders," said Robert Tannen, a local urban planner and housing advocate. "And that clean slate mostly displaces poor and minority residents."
Since the storm in August 2005, the city's black population has plummeted by 57 percent, while the white population fell 36 percent, according to U.S. Census data. Blacks now make up roughly 58 percent of New Orleans compared to 67 percent before the storm. Blacks have been in the majority for about three decades.
New Orleans has seen 65 percent of its total population return, according to a local demographer who uses utility hookups to offer the most detailed figures. But some black enclaves are a fraction of what they were, and others see their very existence threatened.
According to demographer Greg Rigamer, the Lower 9th Ward has seen only 9.9 percent of its population return. A traditionally mixed-race neighborhood within the Lower 9th, Holy Cross, has fared better with a 37 percent return, benefiting from the work of preservationists who seek to restore the federally declared historic district. Eastern New Orleans, a sprawling area that includes the black upper middle-class enclave of Eastover, has nearly kept pace with the overall return, with about 60 percent of its residents home.
But Rigamer's numbers bear out the racial and economic underpinnings of the recovery. Affluent and mostly white areas not only have all their residents back, but are growing. The Garden District has seen 107 percent of its population return, the French Quarter 103 percent, and an adjacent neighborhood called Faubourg Marigny has a 100.3 percent return rate.
Tannen, who has advocated for the housing to be improved but not destroyed, said while the focus on public housing is symbolically powerful, the loss of working-class rental units to Katrina is more significant.
According to the Oakland, Calif., think tank PolicyLink, hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 41,000 apartments affordable to people earning less than the area's median income, and only 43 percent will be rebuilt under federal programs. Prospects are bleakest for those earning less-than $26,150. According to the think tank, only 16 percent of housing affordable to them is scheduled for federally funded redevelopment.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
New Orleans advocates who've clamored for recognition of alleged human rights violations in the Hurricane Katrina recovery claimed victory Thursday, after United Nations' experts said thousands of black families would continue to suffer displacement and homelessness if the demolition of 4,500 public housing units is not halted.
"I think this is vindication of what public housing advocates have been saying from day one," said Monique Harden, co-director of the public interest law firm Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, who testified before Geneva-based U.N. experts.
"Recovery must mean the end of displacement for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," added Harden, who returned to New Orleans last week. "What we have instead is recovery that demolishes affordable housing."
U.N.-appointed experts Miloon Kothari, the U.N. Human Rights Council's investigator for housing, and Gay McDougall, an expert on minority issues, urged U.S. and local government leaders to further include current and former residents in discussions that would help them return home.
"The spiraling costs of private housing and rental units, and in particular the demolition of public housing, puts these communities in further distress, increasing poverty and homelessness," said a joint statement by the men. "We therefore call on the Federal Government and State and local authorities to immediately halt the demolitions of public housing in New Orleans."
But local officials said the U.N. experts were too detached from the complexities of the post-Katrina city to claim razing of the buildings was racist. City officials were riled, but mostly planned to ignore the finding.
"The past model of public housing in New Orleans has been a failed one - years of neglect and mismanagement left our public housing developments in ruin," said a joint statement issued by the city council Thursday. "These are critical times in our city's history - we can choose to continue on the path of progress and positive change or we can choose to maintain the status quo."
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also weighed in, calling the U.N. expert findings "misinformed."
"We do not want to relegate thousands of minority and low-income families back into the sub-standard conditions of New Orleans' public housing - conditions only made worse by Hurricane Katrina," said a statement issued by HUD's press offices.
The expert comments did not entail an official U.N. resolution, but came a day before a larger U.N. racism panel planned to discuss Katrina recovery efforts and public housing in New Orleans. Neither opinion carries legal or regulatory power.
The demolition of the housing projects appears all but assured, early stages have begun at some developments only demolition permits remain for others. The council voted unanimously in December to raze the units. Still, critics say it was the council's first major action after the election of a white majority that reflected demographic shifts caused by Katrina.
"After the disaster there was a desire for a clean slate on the part of local leaders," said Robert Tannen, a local urban planner and housing advocate. "And that clean slate mostly displaces poor and minority residents."
Since the storm in August 2005, the city's black population has plummeted by 57 percent, while the white population fell 36 percent, according to U.S. Census data. Blacks now make up roughly 58 percent of New Orleans compared to 67 percent before the storm. Blacks have been in the majority for about three decades.
New Orleans has seen 65 percent of its total population return, according to a local demographer who uses utility hookups to offer the most detailed figures. But some black enclaves are a fraction of what they were, and others see their very existence threatened.
According to demographer Greg Rigamer, the Lower 9th Ward has seen only 9.9 percent of its population return. A traditionally mixed-race neighborhood within the Lower 9th, Holy Cross, has fared better with a 37 percent return, benefiting from the work of preservationists who seek to restore the federally declared historic district. Eastern New Orleans, a sprawling area that includes the black upper middle-class enclave of Eastover, has nearly kept pace with the overall return, with about 60 percent of its residents home.
But Rigamer's numbers bear out the racial and economic underpinnings of the recovery. Affluent and mostly white areas not only have all their residents back, but are growing. The Garden District has seen 107 percent of its population return, the French Quarter 103 percent, and an adjacent neighborhood called Faubourg Marigny has a 100.3 percent return rate.
Tannen, who has advocated for the housing to be improved but not destroyed, said while the focus on public housing is symbolically powerful, the loss of working-class rental units to Katrina is more significant.
According to the Oakland, Calif., think tank PolicyLink, hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 41,000 apartments affordable to people earning less than the area's median income, and only 43 percent will be rebuilt under federal programs. Prospects are bleakest for those earning less-than $26,150. According to the think tank, only 16 percent of housing affordable to them is scheduled for federally funded redevelopment.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Monday, July 14, 2008
HUD Grants Approval to Demolish Bowen Homes
(FROM ATLANTA PROGRESSIVE NEWS) ATLANTA - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) granted the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) approval June 20, 2008, to move forward with plans to relocate the residents of Bowen Homes and demolish the complex.
The AHA has been working for over a year to demolish Bowen Homes and the other 11 remaining public housing complexes under their jurisdiction. Five were demolished last year, leaving seven left, including Bowen.
As this story went to press, APN received unconfirmed reports that HUD has now also approved demolishing Bankhead Courts, Herndon Homes, Hollywood Courts, and Thomasville Heights, the last of the family developments. If the information is confirmed, this would leave just two senior high-rises-Palmer House and Roosevelt House-under consideration with HUD.
There are about a dozen additional senior high-rises and small developments not affected by the demolition plans. AHA's director, Renee Glover, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) newspaper, these would not be set for demolition; however, AHA requested City funds for redevelopment at these sites and suggested possible demolitions even for these communities at its most recent annual public hearing.
If successful, AHA would become the first large city in the United States to demolish all of its public housing communities.
The AHA submitted the Bowen Homes application March 17, 2008, to HUD, arguing that Bowen Homes has become physically obsolete, meaning that it would cost too much to renovate; and that it has become a haven for violence and crime.
"It don't surprise me in a way but I expected HUD to take a look a little deeper than they did," Shirley Hightower, President of the Bowen Homes resident association, told APN.
Hightower believes the AHA exaggerated its crime statistics and added that crime committed on the site is perpetrated by outside individuals.
The City Council of Atlanta had approved two resolutions in February 2008 proposed by Councilwoman Felicia Moore, providing for increased oversight of AHA's demolition applications.
The first resolution had allowed Moore one month to review the applications for Bankhead, Bowen, and Hollywood. Moore reviewed the applications and asked questions, but said she was not satisfied with the answers. Moore did not take any additional action after that point, telling APN she was fed up with AHA, and that she would address them again when they sought more funding from the City.
The second resolution, accepting measures volunteered by AHA, allowed the Community Resources and Human Development Committee (CDHR) three weeks to review all other demolition applications, which AHA never provided. APN made the Committee aware of this but no Members ever took action.
The second resolution also provided that AHA would hold quarterly presentations for CDHR. These presentations never occurred. Councilman Ivory Young told APN he inquired to AHA as to when the date of the first one would be, but never advised of one being scheduled. AHA was also supposed to hold two public hearings which never occurred.
Meanwhile, APN had sent in 82 questions to AHA, which they never answered. HUD promised resident leaders in writing this spring that the demolitions would not be approved until all the questions were answered. Neither APN nor residents have received the answers to the questions to date.
QUESTIONS LINGER OVER PHYSICAL OBSOLESCENCE - The AHA concluded, and HUD concurred, that it would be more cost effective to demolish Bowen Homes than redesign and rehabilitate the complex, according to a copy of a letter from HUD's Special Applications Center (SAC) in Chicago, to HUD's Atlanta Office of Public Housing, obtained by Atlanta Progressive News.
However, HUD's concurrence raises serious questions about its implementation of its own rules regarding physical obsolescence.
As previously reported by APN, AHA submitted inflated renovation budgets for multiple communities to make the cost of renovation seem unaffordable. They did this by including interior and exterior renovations to bring the units up to market standards as well as numerous luxury and aesthetic amenities. Meanwhile, HUD instructs AHA to provide renovation budgets for HUD's analysis, which include a reasonable program of modifications to bring the community back to "useful life," not market standards.
AHA initially placed the cost of redesigning and rehabilitating Bowen Homes at $103,351,472. HUD's SAC conducted a tour of the facility April 30, 2008, through May 2, 2008. "In summary, all major electrical and mechanical systems need upgrading and a central air conditioning system should replace the window-mounted units (these units were purchased by individual residents)," according to HUD's approval letter.
"None of the buildings' units comply with Section 504 requirements and the physical design makes retrofitting nearly impossible without major rehabilitation."
Jones attributed any disrepair at Bowen Homes to the lack of care and attention paid by the AHA over the years more than anything else.
While federal funding for public housing has decreased by 20% under the Bush Administration, AHA has increased revenue from its own residents by raising their rents; therefore, AHA has chosen to spend money on demolitions instead of improvements.
After the SAC inspection, the AHA removed "several ineligible items" from its estimate, such as a swimming pool, microwave range hoods, dishwashers, garbage disposals, and "other amenities and luxury items." This suggests that HUD took some notice of the questions raised by APN.
However, HUD allowed AHA to continue to include market-based improvements which are not based on any deficiencies with the buildings. "The exterior design readily identifies this site as public housing. Redesigning the exterior will require additions to the rear of the buildings, defined off-street parking, new fencing, sidewalks, and rear patios," HUD wrote.
"In order to make the units marketable, a redesign of the interior units is required since the bedrooms are too small by today's standards, a separate dining area is needed for larger families, and all kitchens and bathrooms will require upgrading," HUD wrote.
Still, with the swimming pool and other luxury items taken out, the new cost fell to
$72,649,543 with a separate cost for redesign that totaled $27,694,525.
Then, "the SAC modified the revised cost estimates by adjusting the quantity of interior doors, windows, light fixtures, and the demolition of some interior doors," according to HUD's approval letter. "The SAC also removed the rehabilitation cost for an administration and community building as [HUD] is comparing the rehabilitation cost with [Total Development Cost] TDC of units only."
As a result, the adjusted cost fell to $66,588,209, which is 58.90 percent of the Total Development Cost (TDC) limit. Regulations do not permit HUD to consider modifications cost effective if the modifications exceed 57.14 percent of the TDC at the time the application is submitted.
Thus, if the cost had been slightly lower-which it would have been by far if the exterior and interior market-based modifications were excluded-the demolitions could not have been approved.
RELOCATION - The relocation of remaining residents at Bowen Homes is expected to begin in July and will take approximately 12 to 18 months to complete. Relocation is expected to cost $5,718,120, which includes moving expenses for each family as well as staff salaries for relocation teams.
Hightower told APN residents are scared and uncertain of the future.
"They're not ready to leave but yet they want to go," she said. "They don't have the means to go."
As previously reported in APN, while the majority of residents attending association meetings at Bowen Homes and Bankhead Courts say they want to move, this does not reflect all of the communities. The majority of residents at Hollywood Courts and Palmer House have signed petitions stating they do not want to move. APN has no information regarding the wishes of residents at Herndon Homes, Thomasville Heights, or Roosevelt House.
The AHA said it will give residents Section 8 vouchers that will allow them to move elsewhere. Complaints on these Section 8 vouchers have included: not every resident that wants one has received one, residents are having a hard time finding another place to live, and some landlords do not take the vouchers.
Hightower told APN that those who have moved elsewhere on Housing Choice Vouchers are having a hard time adjusting.
"Most of the people I talk to on Section 8, it's not the rent, it's the utility bills that whip them," Hightower said. "In public housing, you get behind in rent, at least you get to catch up on your late fees. You're in Section 8, you don't pay your rent, you're gone."
Once all the residents are gone, AHA can begin demolishing Bowen Homes at an estimated cost of $5,850,000. The AHA plans to submit a Request for Proposal (RFP) to Atlanta's developer and investor community to build a mixed-use, mixed-income development.
AHA is no longer required to provide one-for-one replacement housing and HUD is not obligated to fund replacement housing due to changes in federal law over the last few years. Lindsay Jones, an Atlanta attorney who has been working with public housing residents for several months, told APN that HUD did not look close enough at the AHA's relocation plan, which he argues violates the US Fair Housing Act, which HUD enforces.
Jones, along with other individuals and groups, submitted evidence along with the AHA application that he said proves the violation. "It's obviously surprising to receive notice of HUD's approval, in light of all this evidence given to HUD," he told APN.
Jones and Hightower contend that under AHA's relocation plan, residents are either being moved from one public housing complex to another or placed in areas that are socially and economically segregated without access to good jobs, schools, or retail opportunities.
"I want to know, where are they going?" Hightower asked, adding the new places are "no better than where they left from." No resident should be relocated until the AHA brings its relocation plans in accordance with the Fair Housing Act, Jones said.
Advocates will take this complaint to the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office (FHEO) within HUD's Atlanta regional office for an appeal and also pursue other legal options.
RESIDENT CONSULTATION - HUD decided the AHA has met the requirements for resident consultation as required by federal law.
"In the application, the AHA states that they have worked diligently to keep AHA-assisted residents and the resident leadership fully informed of its plans for relocation and demolition and has engaged in significant consultation with residents and resident leaders to ensure that their questions, suggestions, and concerns have been addressed," according to HUD's approval letter.
The approval letter noted the AHA met with the Bowen Homes Resident Association April 26, July 26, and December 11, 2007; and with the Jurisdiction Wide Resident Council (JWRC) or Resident Advisory Board (RAB) on April 12, 2006, and February 14 and December 18, 2007.
While AHA has met with residents, these meetings involve AHA telling residents their plans, not asking residents their wishes. Also, AHA did not modify its plans to address any resident concerns.
APN previously reported the AHA sent in a false agenda and minutes for the February 14, 2007 JWRC meeting along with five demolition applications to HUD.
While the matter was referred to the HUD's Office of the Inspector General, the OIG never contacted APN about it, and the SAC did not even mention the issue in their letter. AHA submitted the same fabricated documents to HUD again in these applications.
APN had provided HUD's SAC with a copy of the forged and original documents by certified mail.
Moreover, the SAC did not mention the fact that the Resident Advisory Board had adopted a resolution opposing the demolitions, even though a copy of this resolution was also sent certified.
The application also noted several other meetings: April 4, 2006 (initial meeting to discuss demolition and relocation plans); April 18, 2006 (public hearing on 2007 annual plan at Atlanta City Hall; and April 19, 2007 (public hearing to discuss 2008 annual plan).
HUD also acknowledged receiving e-mails, faxes, and written comments from residents and other concerned groups and individuals who oppose the AHA's relocation/demolition plans, but did comment on what it saw.
Several of the acknowledged comments were from APN readers, who sent emails to APN for forwarding to HUD. These APN readers who HUD acknowledged were Alan M. Harris, John R. Caruso, and Elisabeth Omilami, Executive Director of Hosea Feed the Hungry.
HUD also acknowledged letters from the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless and attorney Lindsay Jones; receipt of APN's analysis; and receipts of letters from three resident presidents, Elaine "9X" Osby of Cosby Spears, Eleanor Rayton of Palmer House, and Diane Wright of Hollywood Courts and the RAB Board. APN had assisted the three Presidents in articulating their concerns.
"I'm not pleased with it at all," Hightower said of HUD's decision. "I haven't given up. We're not through with them at all."
Diane Wright declined to be interviewed for this article.
Friday, June 6, 2008
HUD Reviewing Resident & APN Concerns
From: The Atlanta Progressive News / By Matthew Cardinale, News Editor
(APN) ATLANTA – The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) responded to the city-wide Resident Advisory Board for public housing residents, in a May 13, 2008, letter obtained exclusively by Atlanta Progressive News, acknowledging residents’ concerns and promising to analyze the issues raised both by residents as well as by APN.
"Thank you for your letter of April 28, 2008, raising your concerns about the proposed demolition of seven developments by the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA)," Ainars Rodins, Director of HUD’s Special Applications Center in Chicago, which reviews demolition applications, wrote.
"The Special Applications Center (SAC) is aware of the 82 questions raised by the Atlanta Progressive News (APN) and has incorporated their analysis in its review, along with other issues raised by interested parties received via Email and other means," Rodins wrote.
"A final decision will not be rendered until all of the issues raised by concerned individuals have been analyzed, but we cannot commit to putting off a final decision for a specific amount of time as you request in your correspondence," Rodins wrote.
Ms. Eleanor Rayton, President of Palmer House senior high rise, and RAB Board members had previously sent a letter and resolution, respectively, requesting a 60 to 90 day extension on HUD’s review of the applications where residents and resident leaders were not provided the chance to review or respond to applications before they were submitted to HUD.
Meanwhile, in Wright’s April 28, 2008, letter, she requested a meeting with Mr. Rodins and others at HUD in Chicago, to discuss her concerns about the applications.
Residents from Hollywood Courts, Palmer House, and the RAB Board wanted also to attend a meeting in Chicago.
"I feel a meeting here in Chicago would add little to the process since our analysis is still underway. We have spoken several times on the phone, and I am aware of your constituents’ concerns," Rodins wrote.
It is unclear why analysis being underway would stand in the way of a meeting. After all, if Rodins met with residents after the analysis was done, it would defeat the purpose of the meeting.
As previously reported by APN, Ms. Rayton says she has spoken twice with Mr. Rodins and he told her he could not give her a date and a time for such a meeting.
Rodins attempted to assure the residents, however, that his office would review their concerns.
"The SAC reviewers have a compiled a list of the concerns that have been raised with us and will use it as their guide to get their questions answered, in addition to those they pose as part of their usual review process," Rodins wrote.
So far, multiple parties including Atlanta Progressive News, Georgia State University Assistant Professor of Sociology Deirdre Oakley, the RAB Board, and the resident associations of Hollywood Courts and Palmer House have sent certified packages including various letters, reports, documents, and resolutions to HUD’s Chicago Office.
APN also collected comments sent from readers after encouraging readers to email their concerns about the demolition applications to demolitioninput@gmail.com. APN sent in five comments from readers. If readers want to continue to send comments in, they should send them to directly to ainars.rodins@hud.gov and copy APN.
Previously, AHA promised City Council that they would respond to APN’s 82 questions, but their eventual written response was merely to thank APN for the questions and state they would consider them.
Resident leaders from the RAB Board and residents of Hollywood Courts signed a petition stating “WE WANT REAL ANSWERS!” to the 82 questions. This petition was sent in to HUD.
APN’s analysis of the demolition applications raised serious concerns about AHA’s apparent fraudulent claims regarding the physical conditions of some of the public housing buildings; AHA’s apparent fraudulent claims regarding residents’ preferences as to whether to move or stay; and the lack of evidence of available voucher-leasing opportunities for residents who would be displaced.
Recently, APN also exclusively reported that the Empire Board of Realtors is claiming that AHA only has 700 possible units identified for some 2000 families. This information was also sent to HUD.
This is the first time HUD has acknowledged Atlanta residents’ concerns in writing.
Wright told Atlanta Progressive News she was pleased to get some written response from HUD but still wants a meeting.
"I think it was very nice of him to send it, but I do have some problems with it. I just really want to know, why is it they can't meet with us?" Wright said.
"I'm really trying to figure out, they can just throw the residents out on the street and no one from HUD wants to talk with the residents about it?" Wright said.
"It should have been answered before now. We should've known what was going on. It's just like AHA is doing here, not wanting to talk to us, not wanting to meet with us like we're nobodies," Wright said.
At a meeting, "they'll be able to hear our concerns, not just put ‘em in an email and on paper. Maybe we could get better answers and find out what's really going on," Wright said.
"I think if they were going to answer the 82 questions, don't you think they would've analyzed them by now so people wouldn't be evicted?" Wright asked. Residents claim that AHA is already evicting many residents living in public housing on lease violations and criminal background, in order to empty out the communities before an application is approved.
"I just think they're holding something back," Wright said.
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