CLPHA Advocacy

CLPHA supports the nation’s largest and most innovative housing authorities by advocating for the resources and policies they need to solve local housing challenges and create communities of opportunity. We frequently champion our members' issues, needs, and successes on the Hill, at HUD, and in the media. In these arenas CLPHA also advocates for legislation and policies that help our members, and the public and affordable housing industry as a whole, strengthen neighborhoods and improve lives.

Click below for links to congressional testimonies, statements for the record, action alerts, comments to HUD and other federal agencies, and the latest information about CLPHA's multi-pronged housing advocacy.

Action Alerts

CLPHA Recent Comments

« first
‹ previous
…
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

View All CLPHA Comments

Latest News

11.25.19

CLPHA Receives Grant from The Kresge Foundation to Expand Postsecondary Education Work, Cross-Sector Collaboration

New Funds Will Develop and Sustain Public Housing Authority Initiatives to Improve Postsecondary Achievement for Low-Income Households

WASHINGTON (November 25, 2019) – The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, a housing advocacy organization and leader in efforts to improve life outcomes for low-income individuals and families, announced today that it has been awarded $300,000 from The Kresge Foundation to deepen connections between public housing authorities and their postsecondary education partners.

The three-year grant enables CLPHA to build on work that began last year, in partnership with The Kresge Foundation, to convene cross-sector housing and education partners who are collaborating to improve postsecondary achievement for students served by public housing authorities, including residents and housing insecure college students.

“Last year we showcased how these two sectors are working together to improve educational outcomes for low-income households. With generous funding from The Kresge Foundation, we will help more cross-sector partners develop and sustain their work,” said CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman. “As a national organization representing 70 of the largest public housing authorities in the country, CLPHA is well-positioned to identify promising innovations and facilitate peer-learning among those doing the work with the goal to scale successful initiatives that can be replicated nationally. We are very grateful to The Kresge Foundation for its multi-year support of our work.”

With the funds, CLPHA, through its Housing Is Initiative, will establish a leadership institute for a cohort of public housing authority staff and their partners who demonstrate the experience and capacity for postsecondary collaboration. In addition to virtual meetings aimed at institutionalizing their cross-sector work, members of the cohort will travel for in-person site visits to learn about the different projects in the field.

“By supporting stronger partnerships between housing authorities and postsecondary stakeholders, CLPHA’s leadership institute will help increase college access and success for both public housing residents who have postsecondary aspirations but need support to realize their dreams, and current college students, whose housing insecurity threatens to derail their educational progress," said Bethany Miller, program officer with the Kresge Education Program.

About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities is a national non-profit organization that works to preserve and improve public and affordable housing through advocacy, research, policy analysis and public education. CLPHA’s 70 members represent virtually every major metropolitan area in the country. Together they manage 40 percent of the nation’s public housing program; administer more than a quarter of the Housing Choice Voucher program; and operate a wide array of other housing programs. Learn more at clpha.org and on Twitter @CLPHA.

About CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative
The Housing Is Initiative, led by the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, helps build a future where sectors work together to improve life outcomes. Housing stability is a critical first step to improve life outcomes for low-income children, families, and seniors; CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative is based on the premise that sectors can better meet needs when they work together. Housing Is establishes, broadens, and deepens efforts to align affordable housing, education, and health systems to produce positive, long-term results. Learn more at housingis.org and on Twitter @housing_is.

About The Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation was founded in 1924 to promote human progress. Today, Kresge fulfills that mission by building and strengthening pathways to opportunity for low-income people in America’s cities, seeking to dismantle structural and systemic barriers to equality and justice. Using a full array of grant, loan, and other investment tools, Kresge invests more than $160 million annually to foster economic and social change. For more information visit kresge.org.

###

11.22.19

CLPHA Statement on PHA Radon and Mitigation Practices

11.8.19

HUD Publishes Revised Form ACC, Mixed Finance ACC Amendment, and MTW ACC Amendment

Public Housing ACC and Mixed Finance Amendment to the ACC

On Friday, November 8, 2019, HUD published proposed revised forms of the Public Housing Authority Annual Contributions Contract (“ACC”) and Mixed Finance Amendment to the ACC (“MFACC Amendment”) for public review and comment. The revised form ACC and MFACC Amendment were published as part of a 30-day Paperwork Reduction Act process (“2019 ACC Notice”).

HUD previously published a revised form ACC as part of a 60-day Paperwork Reduction Act Process on December 27, 2018 (“2018 ACC Notice”). CLPHA submitted comments with its counsel, Reno & Cavanaugh, PLLC, to the 2018 ACC Notice expressing, among other things, deep concern regarding HUD’s attempt to substantively change the relationship between PHAs and HUD without proper notice-and-comment rulemaking.

According to HUD, the ACC and MFACC forms were revised after the 2018 ACC Notice comment period as follows:

Deletion of the term “HUD Requirements,” which term would have required PHA compliance with HUD-issued notices;
Deletion of the definitions for “Operating Receipts” and “Program Receipts, ” which definitions appeared to restrict all program and operating funds to public housing expenditures;
Exclusion of all mixed-finance specific language from the ACC and incorporation into the MFACC;
Replacement of broad authority to reduce, offset, terminate, recapture, withhold, suspend, and reduce grant funding with “remedies allowed by the Public Housing Requirements”;
Deletion of unrestricted access to PHA records.

The deadline to submit comments on the new forms is December 9, 2019.

Access the 2019 ACC Notice here.

Access HUD’s detailed side-by-side comparison chart of the revisions to from the 2018 ACC form here.

MTW ACC Amendment

On Friday, November 8, 2019, HUD also published a revised form of the Moving to Work Amendment to the Annual Contributions Contract (“MTW ACC Amendment”) for public comment. The revised form MTW ACC Amendment was published as part of a 30-day Paperwork Reduction Act process (“2019 MTW ACC Notice”). The MTW ACC Amendment will govern the participation of the 100 new PHAs in the MTW Demonstration expansion.

HUD previously published a revised form MTW ACC Amendment as part of a 60-day Paperwork Reduction Act Process on December 27, 2018 (“2018 MTW ACC Notice”). Reno & Cavanaugh, in conjunction with the MTW Executive Steering Committee (now MTW Collaborative), submitted comments on the 2018 MTW ACC Notice. Those comments, among other things, raised concerns that the MTW ACC Amendment provided less flexibility to new MTW agencies and mandated new, more burdensome requirements. Read the comments here.

According to HUD, the MTW ACC Amendment was revised after the 2018 MTW ACC Notice comment period as follows:

Extension of the term of the amendment from 12 to 20 years;
Clarification that exemptions contained in the Operations Notice for the Expansion of the Moving to Work Demonstration Program applies to sub-regulatory requirements;
Clarification that a transition plan is not needed a year prior to termination if participation in the program is extended;
Deletion as a remedy for default HUD’s ability to suspend, reduce, or offset funding.

Access the 2019 MTW ACC Notice here.

The deadline to submit comments on the new form MTW ACC Amendment is December 9, 2019.