Welcome to CLPHA's Press Room
CLPHA experts welcome interview requests from print, radio, television, and online reporters and are happy to provide their insights on issues of public housing and related legislation and policy.
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David Greer
Director of Communications
(202) 550-1381 or dgreer@clpha.org.
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Last week, HUD and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded $16.1 million in HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers to 71 PHAs across the country. The HUD-VASH program provides housing and an array of supportive services to veterans experiencing homelessness by combining rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical services provided by the VA.
Twelve CLPHA members received HUD-VASH awards, totaling 319 vouchers and over $3.6 million in funding. CLPHA congratulates the following members on their awards:
- Alaska Housing Finance Corporation: 20 vouchers
- Dothan Housing: 20 vouchers
- Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino: 62 vouchers
- San Diego Housing Commission: 25 vouchers
- Boston Housing Authority: 15 vouchers
- Housing Authority of Prince George's County: 10 vouchers
- Housing Authority of the City of Goldsboro: 7 vouchers
- Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority: 50 vouchers
- Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority: 20 vouchers
- Bremerton Housing Authority: 15 vouchers
- Tacoma Housing Authority: 50 vouchers
- Housing Authority of Snohomish County: 25 vouchers
In advance of CLPHA Board Member and Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura CEO Denise Wise’s upcoming, well-deserved retirement, CLPHA interviewed Ms. Wise about her career and her perspective on the public housing industry.
How did you get into the public and affordable housing industry? What has your career been like?
I started out as a banker. I moved to Milwaukee and happened to see a job at a community development corporation, and I thought, “I’ve got this.” It was a humbling experience because no, I did not “have it.” At that job we would purchase foreclosed properties from the City of Milwaukee for a dollar, gut rehab them, and sell them to first-time homeowners. We also did development of affordable multifamily housing. The job made me realize that this is what I wanted to do – I wanted to work with low-income populations in the affordable housing industry.
I asked myself, “If I want to grow in this industry, what is my next step?” I worked for a while as a consultant to HUD, advising troubled public housing agencies on how to fix the issues that got them to that point. My banking background really helped me there.
I realized that to continue to grow I needed to work for a housing agency. I moved to Gunnison, Colorado in the mid-1990s to lead their small housing authority. It was a unique environment because it was near a resort community that was going through a lot of changes. There were a lot of second homeowners in the area, and it was my first exposure to inclusionary housing. We had a hearing with the county’s board of supervisors about inclusionary zoning, and it was packed with homeowners, which surprised me at the time. One of them said that our plans were going to “turn the neighborhood into a Cabrini-Green" and I thought, “What are they talking about?” I was able to talk with a lot of these second homeowners after the meeting, and it gave me some context about where they were coming from. So, keeping these concerns in mind, we were able to pass an inclusionary housing ordinance, the first of its kind in the area.
I decided I wanted to try working at a bigger housing authority, and I moved to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority – obviously much, much, bigger. After two years there I came back to California, where I’m originally from, due to some family members’ health issues. The Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura happened to have a leadership opening, and Ventura was conveniently located near family, so I took my current job at HACSB.
Though the various positions I’ve served in have had different challenges and bureaucratic structures, I’ve learned throughout my career that the most important thing is to focus on the residents and their needs. If you center the residents, any decision you make will be the right decision.
What achievements or projects are you most proud of in your career?
I think in order to do amazing things you need an amazing team. Some of the biggest accomplishments in my current position at HACSB involved working with the police department and developing a solid partnership. We’ve tried in our family communities to have police work and be seen as our community partners, rather than threats coming to take residents’ family members away.
Also, before I came to HACSB the housing authority had never done an acquisition rehab. We purchased a building that was on a key street in Ventura. This building had been a wreck – over 317 code violations, a heavy user of public services (primarily the police department). One half of the building had about 28 8-by-10-foot rooms with about four people living in each room, and there were only two toilets and two showers for them all to share. It was in horrible shape. Now, the complex, El Portal, is comprised of 28 permanent supportive housing units. We work with VASH, our coordinated entry system, our local behavioral health department, our Continuum of Care, and our county’s homeless services agency. Not only has it turned that building into a bright spot in the community, but it also houses and serves some of our area’s most vulnerable individuals.
Developing local partnerships have been some of the accomplishments I’m most proud of, because a housing authority can’t be everything to everybody. I could talk more about some of the brick-and-mortar developments we’ve built, but the things that make us more than brick and mortar are the partnerships we build in the community that help our residents receive as much benefit and enrichment as we can provide.
What have been some of the biggest challenges in your career?
Politics and political will. It’s hard to go into a new city and learn its politics. And from there, where is the political will? Where is the money coming from? Who has skin in the game? It’s important to understand where the political will is in your community so that you can work with your board to influence it. Furthermore, you need to leverage the influence and connections you have or build that influence if you don’t have it. In doing this it’s both challenging and important to educate your community about who your housing authority is serving. Our residents are integral to our community – they work in our hospitals, they serve us our food, they clean up after us. They are just as much equal citizens as the next person, and it’s important to convey that to our community.
What do you see as the future of the public and affordable housing industry? What are its biggest needs, and what should it prioritize?
The industry’s greatest need is to change HUD, to have HUD understand better how PHAs are changing – we are no longer the traditional housing authorities we used to be. HUD telling us to implement some of these new programs and policies without helping housing authorities be more flexible is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It protracts and confuses our processes and impedes us from achieving our shared goal of serving low-income populations. Also, the populations we are serving and their needs are changing, and we need to get HUD to better understand how they’re changing. HUD and housing authorities need each other, and I believe that we’re out of sync. While sometimes we have encouraging conversations with the highest levels of HUD, what they say doesn’t always filter down to the bottom of the agency. In order for us to continue to serve low-income families, this needs to change.
For housing authorities, those that are more traditional, that only have public housing and HCV programs, really need to consider how they’re going to survive given the current funding landscape. There also needs to be more support from HUD for PHAs that have undergone RAD conversions. A lot of capital has gone into these RAD units to rehabilitate them, so we want to ensure that they have the support to be successful.
What are your post-retirement plans?
For six months, nothing! Then, I’m taking my 89 year-old mother back to Portugal. After that, who knows? For now I’m looking forward to the free time, sleeping in, and being able to take a true vacation.
From the Minneapolis Housing Authority's press release:
Today, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Great Lakes Regional Administrator, Diane Shelley, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando joined MPHA staff, residents, and partners to celebrate the grand opening of the first of 84 new deeply affordable family homes across Minneapolis.
“Today is a historic day for the agency, welcoming home the first of 84 families to their beautiful new homes,” said Abdi Warsame, Executive Director/CEO of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. “This innovative modular project demonstrates the power of partnership among local governments to address our region’s affordable housing crisis. This successful project creates a blueprint for MPHA and housing authorities across the country to deliver quality, cost-effective, deeply affordable family housing.”
“Every American, regardless of their life experience, deserves a place to call home,” said Diane M. Shelley, HUD’s Great Lakes Regional Administrator. “I am excited to witness how HUD’s investment in these new homes, in partnership with other agencies and businesses, will help families level their opportunity to succeed and thrive in a beautiful new community.”
“The grand opening today is another step forward in our efforts to provide all Minneapolis residents with safe, stable, and permanent housing,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. “Today isn’t just about new public housing – it’s about constructing bridges to brighter futures and providing foundations for families to thrive in this city. I am incredibly grateful to MPHA, and our federal and county housing partners, who continue to partner with us on this important work.”
“The Family Housing Expansion Project meets so many of Hennepin’s priorities,” said Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando. “In partnership with MPHA, we are changing what’s possible for some of our most vulnerable friends, family members, and neighbors.”
The Family Housing Expansion Project (FHEP) will bring 26 two- and 58 three-bedroom units in fourplexes and sixplexes to 16 sites across Minneapolis. These new buildings will be a part of MPHA’s deeply affordable scattered site family housing portfolio. Sixteen of the units will be disability accessible, with another 17 being high-priority homeless units with services funded through Hennepin County’s Coordinated Entry program. The agency estimates these 84 new homes will be able to serve approximately 420 families over the next 30 years. This project is the agency’s largest new-unit development in more than two decades.
Projected to be fully completed within 13 months after its financial closing (and less than a year since its groundbreaking), FHEP includes several innovations that make it different from a typical housing development. Building 84 units on 16 sites is a highly unusual approach that provides families with housing options they can afford in many different neighborhoods. Using a modular construction approach has resulted in less noise and fewer neighborhood disruptions at each site while delivering the project 30 percent faster than a conventional construction approach. The first families are moving home in September, with the agency estimating the final units being available to families in December.
The agency maintains more than 700 deeply affordable family homes scattered across Minneapolis through its wholly owned and controlled nonprofit, Community Housing Resources (CHR). These homes account for more than 80 percent of the MPHA housing available for families with children. The agency maintains a family housing waitlist that has recently been as many as 7,500 people, with more than 80 percent of those on the agency’s waitlist being households of color. This new project aims to address the significant unmet demand for this kind of housing.
These scattered site homes are a critical piece of city infrastructure, as they are a proven tool to provide families with a solid foundation for upward mobility. Of the nearly 3,100 residents currently living in CHR homes, 87 percent are Black/African American, 55 percent are ages 17 or younger, 85 percent of households are female-led, and two-thirds of the households have five or more family members living there—families with young children.
Of the current heads of household, 19 percent were employed when entering their new home. On average, these residents earned $20,722 a year in income. Today, 67 percent of these residents are employed, earning an average of $34,225 a year, with more than 60 percent of these residents’ earned income increasing while in these homes. Better yet, between 2020 and 2022, 17 percent of all families leaving CHR homes went on to purchase their own homes.
From FHEP’s inception, MPHA residents have been involved in every step of the process. Before the agency conducted any external engagement, agency staff sat with residents to understand what should be prioritized in any new-unit developments. The agency created a resident design panel, connecting residents with project architects to provide guidance on everything from layout designs to finishings used on surfaces throughout the new units. The unique resident-led approach afforded project architects invaluable insights, including an emphasis on maximizing storage space throughout the units not previously considered.
The Family Housing Expansion Project was made possible through financing across various partners. This included $19.9 million in equity from Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (US Bankcorp Impact Finance), a $12.5 million contribution from MPHA, a $8.9 million permanent loan to cover project costs (Citi Community Capital), $4.6 million in federal ARPA dollars awarded from the City of Minneapolis, a $1.4 million Local Housing Incentives Account (LHIA) award from the Metropolitan Council, a $1.2 million award from the City of Minneapolis’ Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF), and a $500,000 award of Hennepin County’s Affordable Housing Development Accelerator fund. US Bankcorp Impact Finance provided a $25 million construction loan via Housing Revenue Bonds issued by Minneapolis’ Community Planning and Economic Development department. The project also benefitted from more than $500,000 in equity through solar tax credits, which nearly doubled because of the recent federal Inflation Reduction Act. The project’s solar system (361.6 kW) is projected annually to cover nearly 30 percent of all electrical consumption in the new homes.
From The Columbian:
While residents experiencing homelessness and housing leaders recognize the issues preventing the unhoused from accessing health care, some have taken matters into their own hands and made care more accessible.
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The Apple Health and Homes program launched in Washington last year, and provides housing and other health care necessities to people with physical and mental health challenges. The program uses Medicaid dollars to pay for housing assistance and tenant resources.
“This is a novel approach that the state of Washington is doing … providing housing for some of the most needy people,” said Dr. Richard Kubiniec, medical director at Sea Mar. “I think what will follow is a model that is going to be adopted elsewhere.”
PeaceHealth partners with Vancouver Housing Authority to provide medical care at permanent supportive housing locations and Share of Vancouver provides medical respite shelter beds.
Read The Columbian's article "Bringing health care to the streets of Clark County," featuring the Vancouver Housing Authority.
From Opportunity Home San Antonio's press release:
The San Antonio City Council voted today to support Opportunity Home San Antonio through an Accessibility and Modernization fund as part of the FY 2024 Annual Operating and Capital Budget. The purpose of the fund is to address the pressing capital needs including repairing, rehabilitating and modernizing housing units operated by Opportunity Home, particularly those occupied in family and elderly communities.
With the support of District 5 Councilperson Teri Castillo, who formally submitted the Accessibility and Modernization fund proposal to City Council, Opportunity Home introduced the proposal in an effort to establish a funding stream to aid in the critical work of the organization for San Antonio residents.
The $1 million budget allocation will help address capital needs at some of the more than 70 housing communities across the city affecting more than 60,000 families.
“The city’s vote to provide annual local funding to Opportunity Home will make actual, sustainable inroads in providing quality local housing for San Antonio residents that they can access and afford,” said Ed Hinojosa, Jr., president and CEO of Opportunity Home. “These critical funds will help us to maintain and modernize our existing affordable-housing stock to improve the quality of life of those we serve.”
Specific funding goals are to improve housing infrastructure conditions, enhance accessibility, increase the resiliency of housing units to natural disaster and other emergencies, heighten safety in Opportunity Home communities, and impact the local economy by generating employment opportunities with the creation of construction and maintenance jobs.
“We are grateful for the support of Mayor Nirenberg and the City of San Antonio. It truly underscores our collective effort to address the housing crisis and potential cuts in federal funding,” said Gabe Lopez, Opportunity Home Board of Commissioners chair.
Opportunity Home will continue to work with local, state and congressional partners to explore all available financial avenues to address public housing infrastructure.
Since 1937, Opportunity Home San Antonio has built and maintained affordable housing for the residents of San Antonio, which is primarily funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Opportunity Home San Antonio’s aging public housing infrastructure, some of which was built in the late 1930s, is deteriorating. More than 6,000 families live at these properties. Federal funding is currently limited and there are potential cuts in funding for 2024. HUD allocates approximately $13 million a year for capital improvements despite the nearly half a billion in infrastructure needs for the aging housing portfolio. To adequately address maintenance concerns and upgrades, local funding is essential to closing this financial gap.
Currently, the organization provides housing assistance to more than 62,500 children, adults and seniors through its Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher and Mixed-Income housing programs. Opportunity Home manages more than 70 public housing communities, 27 mixed-income apartment complexes and administers over 13,000 rental vouchers throughout San Antonio.