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DHA CEO Anthony Scott Testifies Before House Appropriations Subcommittee on Behalf of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities: Aggressive Action is Needed to Undertake Affordable Housing Production and Preservation
WASHINGTON (March 7, 2019) – This morning, Durham Housing Authority CEO Anthony Scott testified on behalf of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies during its hearing, “Stakeholder Perspectives: Affordable Housing Production.” Scott emphasized the critical need for reinvestment in the nation’s Public Housing and Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher programs, which are the foundation of the affordable housing market.
“As a nation, we are now at a critical stage for needing aggressive action to undertake affordable housing production and preservation,” testified Scott.
In addition to calling for increased appropriations to the public housing capital and operating funds, Scott urged Congress to combat the affordable housing shortage by providing housing authorities greater flexibility to preserve and transform public housing through the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program, the Moving to Work program, and with selected and targeted flexibilities through a defined statutory process.
“Fundamentally, the RAD program allows DHA to create mixed-use and mixed-income communities that allow a more diverse socio-economic living environment,” testified Scott. “Our barriers are a RAD program that doesn’t allow enough flexibility to fully leverage development opportunities with private sector development… The private market moves at a faster pace and waiting on a RAD approval to transfer units could result in a missed opportunity.”
Scott also recommended Congress eliminate the Faircloth Amendment, which prohibits the development of new public housing units; invest in broad place-based solutions such as the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative to address neighborhood and community development needs; encourage greater interdepartmental collaboration to facilitate cross-sector partnerships with housing; and distinguish public and affordable housing as an integral part of the national infrastructure.
“We thank Chairman Price for inviting CLPHA and Mr. Scott to participate in today’s hearing, and for recognizing that public housing authorities are essential to local housing markets as the owners and operators of most of the assisted housing that serves extremely low-income households while generating wide reaching economic impacts,” said CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman. “We look forward to working with the committee to increase support for public and affordable housing programs that provide decent housing to the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, connect low-income workers to economic opportunities, and spur regional job creation and economic growth.”
Along with Scott, representatives from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency and National Housing Trust were invited to participate in the Appropriations Subcommittee hearing.
The testimony is posted to the Committee website and the live-stream recording of the hearing can be viewed on the Committee's YouTube channel.
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 and follow @housing_is for news on CLPHA’s work to better insect the housing field and other areas of critical importance such as health and education.
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Washington, DC – Members of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF) hosted a national call with over 2,200 registrants yesterday, January 15, about the effects of the partial government shutdown on low-income people and communities and the affordable housing programs that serve them.
Experts from multiple affordable housing organizations shared information on the shutdown’s impact on federal affordable housing and community development programs and emphasized that the longer the shutdown continues, the more negatively it will impact people with the lowest incomes – seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children. Panelists spoke about the shutdown’s effects on public housing, project-based rental assistance, housing vouchers, rural housing, and housing and services for seniors, people with disabilities, the homeless, and those at risk of homelessness.
The panel encouraged listeners to contact their members of Congress and tell them to vote now—before residents in federally assisted housing experience rent hikes and evictions—to reopen the federal government and pass clean fiscal year 2019 spending bills. Listeners were also urged to encourage their members of Congress to sign onto a “dear colleague” letter led by Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Representative Marc Veasey (D-TX) to be sent to President Trump on the shutdown’s severe consequences for affordable housing.
“Nearly 700 property owners that have HUD contracts to operate housing affordable to the lowest-income seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children have seen those contracts expire due to the shutdown, and more will expire this month and next,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel. “These contract suspensions put the homes of nearly 70,000 low-income renters at risk of serious rent hikes and evictions. HUD has asked owners of these properties to dip into their savings, if they have any, to cover the costs. Some will be able to do so, but not forever, and some have already communicated to their tenants that rent hikes are coming. The longer the shutdown goes on, the more untenable it will become for properties owners to keep scraping by without their federal contracts - and the more the lowest-income renters will suffer.”
“Public housing authorities, which are responsible for housing over 3 million low-income households nationwide, are doing everything they can to keep things running during this period of tremendous uncertainty, but it is unclear how long they can continue with business as usual for residents and landlords,” said Council of Large Public Housing Authorities Executive Director Sunia Zaterman. “Without a guarantee from HUD that funding will be available in March, many PHAs will need to notify landlords and residents next month that delayed payments are a possibility. Anxious residents and landlords fearful of missed payments, combined with other cascading impacts due to lack of staffing at HUD, including program grants not being renewed and affordable housing development deals not being approved, amount to an unmitigated disaster for millions of low-income families.”
“As the budget stalemate continues, the impact on small towns and rural families grows more severe. Everyday Americans are losing out on billions of dollars’ worth of affordable housing, clean drinking water, and community facilities, like town halls, fire stations and hospitals,” said Housing Assistance Council CEO David Lipsetz.
“HUD has made clear already, in December, [it has] not renewed 224 contracts for rental assistance in Section 202 Housing for the Elderly communities, and more are set to expire in January,” said LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan.“LeadingAge’s members, all nonprofits, rely on regular and adequate funding to provide quality affordable housing to some of the nation’s lowest-income older adults. The average older adult in HUD’s Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program has an annual income of $13,300, an income far too little to make ends meet in any private housing market. More than 400,000 older adults rely on the Section 202 program, while another 1.2 million rely on other HUD programs for housing assistance. We urge Congress and the White House to end the shutdown so that . . . these 1.6 million older adults have the stable housing they need to age with dignity.”
“The shutdown’s impacts range far beyond Washington, DC,” said National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials CEO Adrianne Todman. “It’s hurting workers, small businesses, farmers, and housing providers across the country. Housing providers are struggling with contingency plans to make repairs to units and to pay landlords in the voucher program. And guess who will suffer the most? The low-income families and seniors who rely on a functioning federal government. They are at risk now and will be at even greater risk as the shutdown continues. If any of these families are harmed by the shutdown, the blame lays squarely at the feet of the White House and the Congress.”
“Every day that it drags on, the needless government shutdown threatens more low-income seniors, people with disabilities, and seniors who rely on critically important federally assisted affordable housing,” said National Housing Trust Federal Policy Director Ellen Lurie Hoffman. “Private rental housing owners are scrambling to cover operating costs for which the federal government is contractually responsible, with no end in sight.”
Listen to the CHCDF national call on the impacts of the shutdown on affordable housing programs and community development at: https://bit.ly/2DersVM
Read NLIHC’s latest update on the shutdown at: https://bit.ly/2AzHoju
Check out NLIHC’s interactive map and a state-by-state breakdown of how the shutdown is impacting some HUD-assisted housing.
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About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA): 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.
About National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC): Established in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.
About Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF): An education, strategy and action hub led by NLIHC. The coalition of more than 70 national organizations works to ensure the highest allocation of resources possible to support affordable housing and community development. CHCDF’s members represent a full continuum of national housing and community development organizations, including faith-based, private sector, financial/intermediary, public sector and advocacy groups.
A coalition of more than 70 national organizations tell the Administration & Congress that people with the lowest incomes will be hit hardest if the shutdown continues.
Washington, DC - Members of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF) sent a letter to congressional leaders today calling on them to protect low-income Americans by ending the government shutdown and passing full-year spending bills that provide strong funding for affordable housing and community development programs.
CHCDF, a coalition led by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, expressed strong concern for the shutdown’s immediate and long-term impacts on affordable housing programs and the low-income people they serve. The letter also called out the shutdown’s impact on the housing stability of low-wage government contractors, like janitors, security guards, and cafeteria servers, who often live paycheck-to-paycheck. These individuals working without pay are at risk of being unable to cover their rent payments, putting them at risk of eviction.
The government shutdown is thwarting critical investments in local communities and in affordable and accessible housing for low-income families, threatening to destabilize over four million households that depend on HUD’s rental assistance programs and creating widespread uncertainty for affordable housing investors.
“The longer the shutdown continues, the more the lowest income people will be hard hit,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel. “Residents living in HUD-subsidized properties are some of our country’s most vulnerable people - the clear majority are deeply poor seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children. They rely on government assistance to remain housed, and a prolonged government shutdown puts them at increased risk of eviction and potentially homelessness. It’s incredibly reckless to risk the homes of our country’s lowest-income and most vulnerable people as perceived leverage for a border wall.”
“The partial government shutdown is a disaster for the millions of low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities who depend on HUD assistance for safe, stable housing,” said Council of Large Public Housing Authorities Executive Director Sunia Zaterman. “Funding uncertainty puts more than two million voucher households at risk of losing their homes, and a lack of operating fund payments will force public housing authorities to shut units that cannot be repaired or properly maintained.”
“The bottom line for us is care and concern for the people we serve, and the shutdown hurts them,” said CSH President and CEO Deborah De Santis. “Every hour the deadlock drags on means people who really need housing and services are not going to get them. And the longer critical agencies stay shuttered the more likely it is families, children and other individuals now counting on help to stay housed and healthy will have their lifelines cut off.”
“Each day of the shutdown makes it harder and harder for the nearly 10 million people who live in HUD-assisted housing – low-income families, people with disabilities, veterans, and the elderly – to avoid eviction, keep their heat turned on, and access health care and supportive services,” said Enterprise Community Partners President Laurel Blatchford. “Congress and the Administration must find a way to restore funding for programs critical to the livelihoods of Americans across the country.”
“As the shutdown continues, HUD has made clear it will become unable to renew rental assistance contracts for housing providers,” said LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan. “LeadingAge’s members, all nonprofits, rely on regular and adequate funding to provide quality affordable housing to some of the nation’s lowest-income older adults. The average older adult in HUD’s Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program has an annual income of $13,300, an income far too little to make ends meet in any private housing market. More than 400,000 older adults rely on the Section 202 program, while another 1.2 million rely on other HUD programs for housing assistance. We urge Congress and the White House to end the shutdown so that each of these 1.6 million older adults have the stable housing they need to age with dignity.”
“Local governments rely on consistent contact with HUD in order to ensure reliable funding for services, projects and developments funded with grant programs like the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships program,” said National Association for County Community and Economic Development Executive Director Laura DeMaria. “These programs provide vital services and resources to low-income families across the country. As long as HUD remains shut down, local governments, their community partners, and the low-income families they serve will lack the stability and constant flow of funds they need to operate.”
“This shutdown is hurting families across the country whether or not they work for the federal government and prolonging it will make matters worse,” said NAHRO CEO Adrianne Todman. “Capital expenses that require approval from HUD employees are left undone, and housing vouchers are not reaching families in need as housing agencies curtail additional spending. We should be especially concerned about the public- and private-sector landlords in the project-based rental assistance program who are left without funding and/or contract renewals. Those who can are already dipping into their reserves to make repairs and respond to their residents’ needs, but these reserves only go so far. This is unacceptable. End the shutdown.”
“Vulnerable Americans are the casualty of the current political battle. As a partial federal shutdown drags on, essential federal housing programs and tenant protections are in jeopardy,” said National Housing Law Project Executive Director Shamus Roller.
“The needless government shutdown has put the lowest-income residents at risk and left private rental housing owners scrambling to cover operating costs for which the federal government is contractually responsible,” said National Housing Trust Federal Policy Director Ellen Lurie Hoffman. “This threatens seniors, people with disabilities, and families who are struggling to make ends meet, as well as the viability of critically important affordable housing properties.”
Read the complete letter outlining the impact of the shutdown on specific affordable housing programs at: https://bit.ly/2RkB8Xd.
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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.
About National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC): Established in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.
About Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF): An education, strategy and action hub led by NLIHC. The coalition of more than 70 national organizations works to ensure the highest allocation of resources possible to support affordable housing and community development. CHCDF’s members represent a full continuum of national housing and community development organizations, including faith-based, private sector, financial/intermediary, public sector and advocacy groups.
The disinvestment in housing and supportive services is a disinvestment in our nation’s most vulnerable populations.
WASHINGTON (March 12, 2019) - Sunia Zaterman, Executive Director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, issued the following statement today in response to President Trump’s FY 2020 Budget proposal, which would slash funding for the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development by more than 16 percent, including a $4.6 billion cut to the public housing capital and operating funds.
“This budget is a study in contradiction. While the administration is promising safer, healthier, more affordable housing, this budget proposes a 16 percent cut to HUD funding.
“While promoting HUD’s efforts to end homelessness and reduce home health and safety hazards, this budget slashes the public housing operating fund and zeroes out the capital fund.
“While rightly raising the cap on RAD conversions and requesting $100 million for the program, this budget renders the program effectively unusable with the proposed funding cuts.
“It is not possible for public housing authorities to dedicate resources to meeting capital needs when there is no capital fund, or to house the homeless without the resources to operate housing.
“The administration wants us to think beyond investing in bricks and mortar, and instead think about investing in people. This budget does neither of those things. The disinvestment in housing and supportive services is a disinvestment in our nation’s most vulnerable populations, including the 2.2 million low- and very low-income families, children, elderly, and persons with disabilities who are served by public housing.
“Congress has previously rejected draconian budgets that shred our safety net, and we call on them to do so again.”
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 and follow @housing_is for news on CLPHA’s work to better insect the housing field and other areas of critical importance such as health and education.
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Statement from CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman
WASHINGTON (September 21, 2018) – In support of housing authorities and residents impacted by Hurricane Florence, Sunia Zaterman, Executive Director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, issued the following statement:
“Though the storm itself is behind us, flooding and other destructive impacts of Hurricane Florence may take weeks or months to subside. As we consider the ongoing damage to Virginia and the Carolinas, our thoughts immediately turn to the most vulnerable segments of our population: low-income families and those who risk displacement from their homes.
“The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) and its entire membership supports providing assistance in any way we can to colleagues, partners, friends, and housing residents who have been affected by the devastation caused by Hurricane Florence. We will make available to the fullest extent any vital resources and support services we have at our disposal to help cities, PHAs, and residents recover from the storm.
“Please know that our thoughts are with all those who have suffered losses from the hurricane and its aftermath. CLPHA and its entire network of affordable housing professionals stands ready to work across all sectors to extend both short-term and long-term assistance to anyone in need. As we have in the past, we will advocate for HUD and FEMA programs such as DHAP and CDBG-DR that help disaster-impacted low-income Americans establish housing stability and improve their life outcomes.”
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 26 percent of the Housing Choice Voucher program; and operate a wide array of other housing programs. Learn more at clpha.org and on Twitter @CLPHA.
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program is a Proven Means of Securing the Future of the Nation’s Public Housing Stock
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Federal Housing Commissioner Brian Montgomery joined the Housing Authority of the City of Austin, its development partners Atlantic | Pacific Communities and Madhouse Development Services, and the Austin community to celebrate the groundbreaking of HACA’s most recent redevelopment of one of its public housing properties, Goodrich Place, which also represents the 100,000th public housing unit being converted through HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program.
In recognition of this important milestone, Sunia Zaterman, Executive Director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities and Patrick Costigan, Strategic Advisor to the RAD Collaborative, issued the following statement:
Today we are celebrating an important milestone addressing the critical need for affordable housing by enabling housing authorities to convert public housing to more stable long-term Section 8 based contracts that will serve PHAs and residents for years to come.
Through the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, agencies across the country can leverage private financing to complete capital improvements needed to preserve and improve the public housing stock, without giving up control of the asset. RAD engenders creative local partnerships, stimulates ongoing economic activity, and leads to improved housing quality for low-income seniors and families.
As we celebrate the 100,000th RAD unit, it’s clear that we have proof of concept. To give PHAs greater certainty, HUD’s program should be permanent with unlimited opportunity for conversions to agencies meeting the requirements.
Congratulations to HUD at this significant juncture, and to HACA and the residents of Goodrich Place who will soon have access to improved units in one of Austin’s highest opportunity neighborhoods.
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 26 percent 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 the RAD Collaborative
The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA)—with the support of the National Equity Fund (NEF), HAI Group, Reno & Cavanaugh, and CF Housing Group—organized the RAD Collaborative for interested Public Housing Authorities, their partners and residents using the Rental Assistance Demonstration to preserve and revitalize public housing properties. Our focus also includes extending RAD to multifamily housing at risk of being lost from the affordable inventory--including Rent Supp, RAP, Mod Rehab and Section 202 PRAC properties. Learn more at radcollaborative.org and on Twitter @SucceedwithRAD.
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Statement From Council of Large Public Housing
Authorities Executive Director Sunia Zaterman
Washington, DC – “The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA), representing more than 70 of the country’s largest and most innovative housing authorities, is calling on Congress to reject the Trump Administration’s FY18 budget, which proposes to slash $6.2 billion in funding to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including $2 billion in cuts to public housing. If realized, the draconian cuts included in this budget would not only have severe and cumulative effects on public and affordable housing programs across the country, but it would also shred the safety net of other public assistance programs on which many low-income Americans rely.
“The Trump Administration’s full FY18 budget proposal, released today, Tuesday, May 23, would devastate HUD programs that are currently helping over 1.2 million households that reside in public housing, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, and close to 800,000 children. The budget targets America’s most vulnerable citizens with drastic cuts to Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), while also slashing disability benefits and student loan and education programs, thereby crippling essential support systems affecting many of the residents we serve in low-income housing.
“The Administration’s dramatic HUD reductions come at a time when the federal government should actually be investing in public housing as part of the nation’s infrastructure, as such investment generates economic growth, creates jobs, bolsters productivity, and generates tax revenue for localities.
“The budget proposes $628 million for the Public Housing Capital Fund compared to $1.942 billion in FY17; $3.9 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund compared to $4.4 billion in FY17; $17.584 billion for Section 8 voucher renewals compared to $18.355 billion in FY17; and $1.55 billion for administrative fees compared to $1.65 billion in FY17.
“Everyone should be alarmed by the magnitude of these proposed cuts -- the Public Housing Capital Fund alone sustains a cut of over 67 percent. The irony of this particular cut is that it not only undermines basic health and safety improvements, it also makes it virtually impossible to leverage private investment, which HUD claims is a major policy priority.
“Another example is the proposed $771 million reduction to the Housing Choice Voucher program, which provides housing vouchers to needy families. These budget reductions, coupled with rising rents and inflation, will result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of vouchers and threaten currently-housed families with homelessness.
“CLPHA and the nation’s largest public housing authorities are asking members of Congress to reject the cuts proposed by the Trump Administration, as they will significantly harm our most vulnerable citizens and undermine our already significant public investment in this affordable housing stock.”
The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA), representing more than 70 of the country’s largest and most innovative housing authorities, calls on the Administration and Congress to reject the draconian proposal to slash more than $6 billion in funding to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including $2 billion in cuts to public housing.
There are over 1.2 million households currently residing in public housing. Seniors and persons with disabilities constitute over half of all residents, and there are over 600,000 children residing in public housing. Public housing cuts will fall directly on the shoulders of residents currently residing in public housing and reduce opportunities for millions of families languishing on waiting lists across the country.
The public housing capital fund provides modernization and rehabilitation funding for the 1.2 million unit public housing portfolio. The reported cut to the capital fund of $1.3 billion represents close to a 70% reduction from last year’s funding level. These proposed cuts will dramatically accelerate the current estimated loss of 10,000 to 12,000 public housing units already lost annually due to chronic underfunding.
The public housing operating fund covers day-to-day operational and maintenance expenses not covered by resident rents. The reported cut to the operating fund of $600 million is a 13% percent reduction from last year, and approximately 72% of what is needed. This funding level will have a devastating impact on the ability to operate and maintain this housing and severely endanger the health, wellbeing, and safety of our most vulnerable children, families, and seniors reliant on housing assistance.
These cuts directly contradict the findings of the congressionally-mandated 2010 HUD study on the backlog of public housing capital repair needs estimated at $26 billion and annual accruing capital needs estimated at $3.4 billion. HUD’s budget does not come close to meeting the annual need and contributes to the growing backlog need.
The tenant based rental assistance program which provides housing vouchers to needy families will also experience a $300 million reduction according to the reports on the budget. This cut coupled with rising rents and inflation will result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of vouchers and threaten currently housed families with homelessness.
We call on the Administration and Congress to reject these draconian cuts that will harm our most vulnerable citizens and undermine our already significant public investment in this affordable housing stock.
CLPHA will host a call on May 21 at 2:00 PM ET to solicit member feedback on draft comments of the recently published notice on proposed changes to Section 3 and the related notice on proposed benchmarks. Comments are due on June 3.
On April 17, the New York Times reported that HUD sent a proposed rule to Congress for a 15-day review period. The proposal would prevent undocumented immigrants from living in federally assisted housing. The notice is not yet publicly available.
The NYU Furman Center and Abt Associates invite applications from interested cities or counties for the first-ever Local Housing Solutions Institute, “a five-day working retreat to help cities and counties refine and strengthen their housing strategies to better meet their affordability and other housing challenges.” The Institute is funded by a grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
From the Kitsap Sun:
A first-of-its-kind project that combines affordable housing, mental-health care and ongoing support services for Kitsap’s most vulnerable residents will be built off Kitsap Way just west of Highway 3, city leaders unveiled this week.
The proposed 74-unit apartment building, dubbed Pendleton Place, is a collaboration between the city of Bremerton, Kitsap Mental Health and the Bremerton Housing Authority. Its goal: to create permanent housing for the county’s most vulnerable residents — those who are struggling with chronic homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse — while providing on-site services like mental-health care, case management and substance-abuse treatment.
Kitsap Mental Health would own and operate the building and provide 24-7 staff support for residents. Bremerton Housing Authority has kicked in $3.1 million to help build the facility and would also supply 56 housing vouchers to cover ongoing costs. The city was instrumental in locating and re-zoning the site to fit the project.
Read the Kitsap Sun's article “Officials move ahead with project that will bring supportive housing to homeless,” featuring the Bremerton Housing Authority.
From the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee's website:
On March 21, 2019, Governor Ever’s honored the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM) for its “Make Your Money Talk” (MYMT) program, a financial empowerment program that provides financial literacy training and helps HACM’s residents build wealth. HACM was among 13 organizations and individuals in Wisconsin selected by the Governor’s Council on Financial Literacy to be recognized for their efforts in promoting financial literacy.
Read “HACM Receives Governor's Financial Literacy Award” on HACM's website.
From the District of Columbia Housing Authority's e-newsletter:
For the first time in nearly a decade, the District of Columbia Housing Authority was awarded $717,000 in a ROSS grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This funding will be project specific.
The Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) – Service Coordinator Program helps public housing authorities, resident associations, non-profit organizations, and other HUD-funded entities receive funds for service coordinators, who work directly with residents to assess their needs and connect them with education, job training and placement programs, and/or computer and financial literacy services available in their community to promote self-sufficiency. The grant is paid out over a three-year period.
“These funds present a great opportunity for the new leadership at DCHA to facilitate connections between our customers and local programs that will help them meet their needs,” said DCHA Executive Director Tyrone Garrett. “This is exciting because it increases our capacity to position our residents for success.”
Read “DCHA Awarded with a ROSS Grant” in the District of Columbia Housing Authority's e-newsletter.
From Westside Seattle:
The Seattle Housing Authority is the agency behind the proposed expansion of the Lam Bow Apartments at 6955 Delridge Way SW. The apartment complex suffered a devastating fire in September of 2016. 35 people lost their homes in the blaze and the proposed new expansion will look to expand and improve on the existing buildings. The project is currently under Administrative Design Review. It is being designed by SMR Architects.
Read Westside Seattle's article “Lam Bow Apartments getting new 79 unit addition on Delridge Way SW,” featuring the Seattle Housing Authority.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune:
Calvin McGary rolled his red wagon filled with many of his belongings into his new apartment Thursday afternoon and began to settle into his new life.
“I love it,” he said looking at the kitchen and admiring the new cabinets, which reminded him of the days when he worked construction.
At 66, the Army and National Guard veteran has seen some tough times. He said he was homeless by choice in the 1970s, but things got more rough in the decades that followed.
“I cared, but I didn’t see a way out,” he said. “You just get angry. At yourself at first, and then at everyone else for not helping.”
On Thursday, McGary felt he had proof that somebody does care as he and other veterans moved into Alpha Lofts, a new affordable housing complex in Normal Heights run by the Alpha Project.
Read the San Diego Union-Tribune's article “Former homeless vets have new home in Normal Heights,” featuring the San Diego Housing Commission.