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.
For media inquiries, please contact:
David Greer
Director of Communications
During the COVID-19 quarantine, David can be reached at (202) 550-1381 or dgreer@clpha.org.
*Please let us know if you are working on deadline.
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Grants will help PHA residents with immediate and locally defined needs exacerbated by COVID-19
Washington, D.C. (February 9, 2021) -- The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) is pleased to announce the ten recipients of its COVID Resident Support Grants. The recipients are CLPHA member public housing authorities (PHAs) from across the country that will utilize their grants to meet immediate and locally defined needs exacerbated by COVID-19 for projects such as providing residents with essential household supplies, helping households successfully lease affordable units with their housing vouchers, and supplying technology and devices that will help resident children attend virtual school or connect resident seniors with healthcare resources. The recipients were chosen via a competitive selection process, and the robust response to CLPHA’s call for applications demonstrates the need for additional funds to support COVID-19 relief services and supplies for low-income Americans.
“As housing providers for some of the nation’s most vulnerable children, families, and seniors, our members are uniquely positioned to serve the low-income residents in their communities that are hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects,” said CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman. “We are pleased to provide these ten grants that will support PHAs in their efforts to not only keep residents stably housed, but also to provide crucial supplies and resources that will help residents cope with the new normal created by the pandemic."
The grantees are:
- INLIVIAN (Charlotte, NC)
- Elm City Communities (New Haven, CT)
- Housing Authority of the City of Goldsboro (Goldsboro, NC)
- Jersey City Housing Authority (Jersey City, NJ)
- Lucas Metropolitan Housing (Toledo, OH)
- Oklahoma City Housing Authority (Oklahoma City, OK)
- Home Forward (Portland, OR)
- Housing Authority of the City of San Buenaventura (Ventura, CA)
- Tacoma Housing Authority (Tacoma, WA)
- Wilmington Housing Authority (Wilmington, NC)
Learn more about CLPHA’s grantees and how they will use these funds to help meet the public health, education, employment, and basic urgent needs of their residents profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic here.
These ten sub-grants are made possible through CLPHA’s grant from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s (CDP) COVID-19 Response Fund.
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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. 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 Center for Disaster Philanthropy
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s mission is to leverage the power of philanthropy to mobilize a full range of resources that strengthen the ability of communities to withstand disasters and recover equitably when they occur. CDP manages domestic and international Disaster Funds on behalf of corporations, foundations and individuals through targeted, holistic and localized grantmaking. For more information, visit: disasterphilanthropy.org, call (202) 464-2018 or tweet us @funds4disaster.
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About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
About CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative |
November 20, 2020
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 Center for Disaster Philanthropy
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s mission is to leverage the power of philanthropy to mobilize a full range of resources that strengthen the ability of communities to withstand disasters and recover equitably when they occur. CDP manages domestic and international Disaster Funds on behalf of corporations, foundations and individuals through targeted, holistic and localized grantmaking. For more information, visit: disasterphilanthropy.org, call (202) 464-2018 or tweet us @funds4disaster.
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(Washington, D.C.) March 9, 2022 -- Council of Large Public Housing Authorities Executive Director Sunia Zaterman released the following statement about the HUD budget in fiscal year 2022 spending omnibus package:
“The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities applauds the $4 billion increase in funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over last year in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 omnibus appropriations bill released last night. The increase amounts to $53.7 billion for HUD in this omnibus bill. "Subcommittee Chairman David Price and the Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee recognized the critical role that public housing and Housing Choice Vouchers play with several funding increases. First, an expansion of up to 25,000 new incremental vouchers for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness, including survivors of domestic violence and veterans as part of the $200 million increase in the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Program. Second, the Project-Based Rental Assistance budget increase of $475 million over the FY 2021 budget will continue to safely house 1.2 million very low- and low-income households.
“For public housing a $645.5 million increase over FY 2021, including $3.2 billion to meet the full annual capital accrual need in order to improve the quality and safety of public housing for more than 2 million residents. Finally, the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative received an increase of $150 million above FY 2021, which represents a 75 percent increase. While America’s housing crisis continues, these funding increases recognize that public and affordable housing programs are the most effective way to keep low-income families housed.”
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(Washington, D.C.) February 25, 2022 -- Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) Executive Director Sunia Zaterman released the following statement about President Joe Biden’s nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court: “The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities applauds President Biden’s historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, Judge Jackson will be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court after more than two centuries of the Court’s existence, and she will bring near gender parity with four women serving on the Court. Judge Jackson will bring experience as a public defender to the Court for the first time since Justice Thurgood Marshall retired in 1991. “President Biden campaigned on the promise to be intentional with his first Supreme Court pick. Intentionality is at the heart of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion movement to bring greater racial equity to our nation’s workplaces. President’s Biden choice of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for a seat on the nation’s highest court represents an important step forward for racial justice in our country.” |
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Honored to Be Only Housing Organization to Sign Commitment Letter (Washington, D.C.) December 7, 2021 — The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) applauds the Biden-Harris Administration’s Maternal Health Call to Action announced today, and CLPHA was honored to be the only housing organization to sign the letter of commitment to the action. This recognition speaks to CLPHA’s leadership in health equity and long-standing dedication to improving maternal health among residents of CLPHA’s member public housing authorities (PHAs). CLPHA launched its commitment to maternal health and many other health-related issues with the creation of the pioneering Housing Is Initiative in 2015. Housing Is helps broaden and launch efforts to align housing, education, and health organizations to produce positive long-term outcomes for those experiencing poverty. Collaboration across systems and sectors—through shared goals, focused resources, and coordinated efforts—strengthens our collective ability to serve the needs of low-income individuals and families effectively and efficiently, and our work’s focus includes young mothers who are disproportionally impacted by housing insecurity. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s decision to lift maternal health to a White House initiative reflects their continuing commitment to address issues impacting low-income families,” said Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities. “From the American Rescue Plan Act that contained an expansion of emergency rental assistance and the child tax credit to the Build Back Better Act that expands housing opportunities for low-income families, the Biden-Harris Administration is proposing a transformational investment in America’s low-income women and families." Maternal health is an issue embedded with racial, health, and housing disparities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related causes than white women. With the majority of PHA residents being Black, indigenous, or people of color, PHAs understand they play a critical role in addressing racial inequities through increased focus on maternal health. CLPHA’s members have been at the forefront of developing programs around maternal health for their residents. The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority and CelebrateOne partnered to create Healthy Beginnings at Home, an initiative to reduce infant mortality through a housing intervention. The Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority has partnered with the Full Term First Birthday Initiative to replicate the Healthy Beginnings at Home program. The Boston Housing Authority and Boston Public Health Commission created the Healthy Start in Housing Program that provides housing for homeless men and women with very small children with medical issues, as well as pregnant women experiencing homelessness. CLPHA looks forward to supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s Maternal Health Call to Action with its own activities, including a Martin Luther King Jr. Day virtual event on January 18, 2022 that will discuss how racial discrimination has jointly impacted housing inequities and maternal health outcomes and the interaction of these two disparities. During the 2022 Housing Is Summit on May 18-19, 2022, will also hold a leadership panel to discuss how different sectors can come together to create innovative solutions for the maternal health crisis in this country. ###
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Pew Charitable Trust's state policy news outlet Stateline quoted CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman and CLPHA member executive directors in an article about the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on public housing authorities.
Zaterman told Stateline that PHAs need $5 billion in emergency supplemental funding due to several challenges PHAs are facing during this crisis, including a "significant reduction" in rental income, a dramatically reduced workforce, massive cleaning-related expenses, and communications challenges with residents while PHAs' physical offices are closed. PHAs also need a further $3.5 billion in emergency supplemental funds for the for the Housing Choice Voucher program.
“I’m worried,” Emilio Salas, acting executive director of the Los Angeles County Development Authority, told Stateline. “Tremendously.”
Douglas Guthrie, president and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, told Stateline that his PHA is working hard to address his city's homelesssness crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We can't wait for waivers from HUD to do what needs to be done today,” Guthrie said. “Shelter is the most important thing right now.”
Andrew Lofton, executive director of the Seattle Housing Authority, told Stateline that PHAs are also preparing for the inevitable surge of residents who test positive for COVID-19: "It’s just a matter of time."
Read Stateline's article "Public Housing Authorities Hit Hard by the Pandemic."
As of January 1, 2020, California has a state-wide law prohibiting landlords from rejecting potential tenants solely on their use of a housing voucher. The law, known as Source of Income (SOI) protection, replaces SOI ordinances that were previously in place in several California cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santa Clara County to cover voucher holders across the state.
A recent HUD-commissioned study on landlord acceptance of voucher holders in five cities found that those cities with an existing SOI law protecting voucher holders had higher rates of landlord acceptance compared to those cities without SOI protection. While cities with SOI laws devote varying amounts of resources to enforcement, HUD’s study suggests awareness of local SOI protections meaningfully deter discrimination by landlords. The Poverty & Race Research Action Council maintains an updated list of all SOI laws in place across the country.
In an effort to call attention to the affordable housing crisis during the 2020 election cycle and to spur presidential debate moderators to ask candidates about their affordable housing plans, the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Our Homes, Our Votes: 2020 campaign placed a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times on December 16 & 17. The ad featured OHOV: 2020’s letter urging PBS NewsHour, Politico, and debate moderators to ask presidential candidates how they would address the nation’s affordable housing crisis during the next debate, which will be held on December 19 at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. CLPHA joined more than 1,000 organizations as co-signers to OHOV: 2020’s letter.
Following the devastating November fire at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s (MPHA) Cedar High apartments, Minneapolis’s Star Tribune reported on the chronic federal underfunding of public housing that contributes to the massive, nationwide capital needs backlog at public housing communities and requires PHAs to make tough choices about building maintenance and repairs.
“Our priority is to make sure that life and safety are always taken care of,” said MPHA Interim Executive Director/CEO Tracey Scott in an October interview with the paper. “Quite simply that’s the hard choice you have to make because you would like to replace a kitchen cabinet but that has to come second to life and safety. We have to make choices.” MPHA estimates that its properties need an estimated $152 million in maintenance and renovations.
New York City Housing Authority Chair & CEO and CLPHA Board Member Greg Russ, MPHA’s former Executive Director/CEO, underscored the difficult choices housing authorities have to make when it comes to prioritizing maintenance and renovation projects: “We don’t have enough funding to keep basic systems in place nationally and have to pick and choose when we do get the capital money.” Russ added that inadequate federal funding is why MPHA and other agencies employ the RAD program to diversify and their funding sources so that they can afford the important and expensive rehabilitation of their properties.
CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman said that more “organized political will and bipartisan support” is needed in Congress in order to increase funding and fully address PHAs’ capital needs. “We are at the turning point in part because the affordable housing crisis is so heightened in our communities,” Zaterman said. “This is such an essential resource, the understanding that we have to invest is more pervasive and people are beginning to understand that ... but we haven’t had the reflection in our funding yet.”
Scott further stressed the effects that insufficient federal funding has on her agency’s ability to house and serve their low-income residents. “We’re a public agency and the mission is that we provide quality, well maintained homes for families to thrive and these are members of our community that need support and that helping hand,” she said, “We are providing a roof today, but if we don’t maintain it there would not be a roof tomorrow.”
CLPHA Members Elm City Communities, Miami-Dade Public Housing & Community Development Also Featured
Affordable Housing News magazine featured Executive Director Sunia Zaterman in its Fall 2019 issue, where Zaterman discussed CLPHA’s priorities, goals, and strategies for preserving and improving public and affordable housing. “We are very focused on appropriations and polices that support public housing authorities and the people they serve,” said Zaterman, adding that “[f]rom the beginning, we’ve been very focused on supporting the most innovative housing authorities in the country.” She cited programs like the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and Moving to Work (MTW) as flexible, locally-oriented policies that innovative housing authorities are using to improve their housing stock and resident outcomes. Zaterman also emphasized the public housing portfolio’s capital needs backlog of more than $50 billion and the chronic underfunding of public housing programs, issues that are at the center of CLPHA’s advocacy efforts.
The article also highlights CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative, which seeks to broaden and deepen efforts to align housing, education, and health organizations to produce positive long-term outcomes for low-income individuals and families. Zaterman discussed some of the Housing Is Initiative’s work, including the Housing Is Summit, an annual convening dedicated to collaboration among the housing, education, and health sectors, and the creation of a data sharing agreement template for housing authorities and school systems so that they can identify shared issues and interests and develop evidence-based interventions. “We understand that housing is absolutely essential and foundational, but often, for families and special needs populations, is not sufficient in and of itself,” Zaterman said. “Our goal with the Housing Is Initiative is to improve and enhance our partnerships in healthcare, education, and workforce development to improve life outcomes for families, seniors, and persons with disabilities who reside in assisted housing.”
Read Affordable Housing News' article (on pages 20 and 21).
CLPHA members Miami-Dade Public Housing & Community Development (Miami-Dade PCHD) and Elm City Communities (ECC) were also featured in Affordable Housing News’ Fall 2019 issue. Read about Miami-Dade PCHD’s RAD-assisted Liberty Square redevelopment on pages 34-36 and about ECC’s employment of MTW flexibilities to create innovative resident programming and redevelop its public housing portfolio on pages 64-65.
From the Los Angeles Community Development Authority's press release:
The Los Angeles County Development Authority is excited to announce the launch of the Senior Grant Program which provides grants to help low-income seniors to remain in their homes and age in place.
The Senior Grant Program will replace the Single-Family Home Improvement Loan Program to serve the growing senior population without the burden of requiring a property lien as a requirement for the assistance. The funds are made available through the Federal Community Development Block Grant Program.
Eligible homeowners in Supervisorial Districts 1, 2, 4 and 5 may receive a grant of up to $15,000 for mobility and habitability repairs.
Seniors interested in applying for the program must be homeowners over 62 years old, low-income and must own their own home. Examples of modifications include wheelchair ramps, grab bars, widened doorways, non-slip floor covering, or conversions from tubs to roll-in showers.
Additionally, the program will finance deferred maintenance repairs such as plumbing, electrical or heating that are necessary to improve the structural integrity of the home and prolong the home’s useful life.
From the San Diego Housing Commission's press release:
An empty dirt lot in San Ysidro is getting a new purpose as an affordable housing community with rental apartments for 100 seniors with low income, including 25 for seniors who have experienced homelessness, a transformation made possible through collaboration with the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC).
“What we’re doing today is opening the door – or I guess in this case, the windows – of opportunity for more folks in our community, 100 affordable housing units for seniors,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said at a groundbreaking ceremony today for Ventana al Sur, which is “window to the south” in Spanish. “Projects like these are how we tackle our region’s housing affordability and our homelessness crisis. And I’m particularly grateful that MAAC would go the extra mile and reserve 25 of these homes for homeless seniors. And there’s no bigger issue facing our city currently than our homelessness crisis.”
Developed by MAAC and Kingdom Development, Ventana al Sur’s rental apartments, a mixture of one- and two-bedroom units, will remain affordable for 55 years for seniors with income up to 50 percent of San Diego’s Area Median Income, currently $52,050 for a two-person household. The development also includes one manager’s unit.
“Today’s groundbreaking is a significant milestone. For this development, it represents the start of construction. For the San Diego community, it is the latest progress in the ongoing work to address the shortage of affordable housing. This is especially important for the senior population that will call Ventana al Sur home,” said Colin Miller, SDHC’s Senior Vice President of Housing Finance and Property Management.
SDHC awarded 25 rental housing vouchers to Ventana al Sur to help pay rent for seniors who previously experienced homelessness. These residents will also receive on-site supportive services.
SDHC also awarded a loan of up to $4.4 million toward the development of Ventana al Sur, which will consist of funds SDHC administers: the City of San Diego’s Affordable Housing Fund and California Department of Housing and Community Development’s (HCD) Local Housing Trust Funds.
SDHC supported the Ventana al Sur development through HOUSING FIRST – SAN DIEGO, SDHC’s homelessness action plan, which has created more than 10,600 housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness or at risk of Homelessness. HOUSING FIRST – SAN DIEGO launched in November 2014.
From Mountain Housing Opportunities' press release:
The Asheville Housing Authority (AHA) and Mountain Housing Opportunities, Inc. (MHO) were awarded a new construction 9% housing tax credit development in Buncombe County.
The new rental development is the first phase of our “Reimagining Deaverview” initiative and will have 82 units located at 275 Deaverview Road, Asheville, NC 28806. The three buildings will have a mix of 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedroom units sited upon approximately 3.1 acres. The units will be rented to families making 60% and below the area median income.
A limited number of tax credits are awarded each year across the state. This year, AHA and MHO were successful in obtaining this competitive award. The state tax credit and loan package, announced October 4th, were key to making the project financially viable.
“We are excited to see this important project moving forward,” said Tara Irby, COO of Asheville Housing Authority, “We have been working closely with the residents and other stakeholders in the community for two years and this is a great milestone to celebrate.”
“The housing credits are the main source of funds for developing affordable housing in America and in NC. They are very competitive and difficult to win, so I want to thank NCHFA for making these available to help the people of Buncombe County,” said MHO’s Executive Director, Scott Dedman.
Construction is expected to begin Summer 2023 and will be completed in Fall 2024. In the 2022 cycle, the North Carolina Finance Agency awarded competitive housing tax credit funding to 28 developments in 23 counties, totaling 1,716 affordable apartments.
From the City of Norfolk's press release:
The City of Norfolk is joining the Community of Practice for Healthy Housing Equity, led by the National League of Cities (NLC), to develop community-wide approaches that support healthy housing in our community. Norfolk joins five other cities from across the nation to do intensive work on healthy housing and healthy equity.
The full cohort includes Chicago, IL; Golden, CO; Grand Rapids, MI; New Orleans, LA; Norfolk, VA; and Osceola, AR. The yearlong Community of Practice provides municipal leaders a proven, comprehensive and coordinated framework for improving health outcomes through housing, as well as abundant resources and hands-on support from NLC, an organization with nearly a century of expertise in this area.
The goal for the City’s engagement in this Community of Practice is to identify baseline data, measurable outcomes and achievable initiatives for improving the health of Norfolk residents through housing interventions. Primary participants include the Departments of Housing and Community Development, Neighborhood Services, Human Services and Public Health as well as Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
The Healthy Housing Community Practice, an initiative of NLC’s Institute for Youth Education and Families, provides expert assistance to help municipal teams make changes—centered in equity—to policies, practices, systems and structures that impact home-based health for children and adults, such as lead and asthma triggers.
From NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth:
This new development in Fort Worth's Stop Six neighborhood sits where Cavile public housing once stood.
"Just to see how far this project has come and get a sneak peek of what is to come is great because it's nothing like it was before," former Cavile resident Brasalin Mosely said.
Mosley was one of many people relocated for the project. But they all have the option to return.
"They're telling us if you want to come back you're on our first priority list to come back you can,” Mosley said. “You don't have to. Like that's the best thing because now we have options you know. We can stay where we are or we can come back to something better, so we aren’t losing. We are gaining."
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge toured the site and is glad that bringing people back is a priority.
"This is their neighborhood,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said. “This is their home. This is where they want to be. We should be able to accommodate it. So, I think it is especially important for core communities to rebuild. Because not only do we build housing. We build neighborhoods."
It will be Cowan Place Senior Living. It's part of a 1,000-unit, mixed-income rental community that will include affordable housing.
Read NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth's article and watch the local news story here.