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
(202) 550-1381 or dgreer@clpha.org.
*Please let us know if you are working on deadline.
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To view all of CLPHA's press statements, click here.
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December 22, 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.
(202) 550-1381
For Immediate Release
December 11, 2020 |
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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) December 11, 2020 – The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) called on the incoming Biden-Harris administration to address poverty, homelessness, and racial injustice by investing in public and affordable housing. These recommendations are among 52 proposals that CLPHA provided in a transition document to the incoming Biden-Harris administration.
“The Biden-Harris ticket’s decisive victory is a moral mandate to address the chronic problems of poverty, racial inequity, and housing insecurity,” said Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities. “CLPHA’s 52 recommendations are a roadmap to achieve these goals.”
Expanding the Housing Choice Voucher program is one of CLPHA’s top-line recommendations and a key plank in the Biden-Harris plan. Currently only one in four low-income households that are eligible receive housing assistance due to limited funding. We know that housing stability is central to economic mobility for low-income Americans, even more so during the pandemic and economic downturn.
Recapitalizing the public housing portfolio is also a top priority for CLPHA. "A capital backlog of $70 billion is putting the health and wellness of low-income seniors and children at risk," Zaterman said. “We call on the Biden administration to develop and implement a 10-year roadmap to ensure the long-term sustainability of this public asset.”
CLPHA also calls for expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and increasing operational flexibilities to better meet local housing needs. “These recommendations would result in significant investment in eradicating poverty and dismantling systemic racism,” said Zaterman.
CLPHA founded the Housing Is initiative to develop cross-sector resources of education and health five years ago. The Housing Is Initiative is calling for expanded coordination between federal agencies including the departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Housing and Urban Development, and increased funding for research and data sharing.
Over the past four years, the Trump administration has proposed or enacted egregious rules that disenfranchised marginalized people, such as immigrants and transgender Americans. CLPHA urges swift reversals of these dangerous rules.
“The Biden-Harris administration has a real opportunity to improve the lives of low-income Americans. CLPHA looks forward to working with the administration to make it happen," Zaterman concluded.
About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
About CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative
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(202) 550-1381
For Immediate Release
December 10, 2020 |
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(Washington, D.C.) December 10, 2020 – The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) is proud to support the nomination of Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) to be the 17th Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department. CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman released the following statement:
"Congresswoman Fudge is a longtime champion of affordable housing, urban revitalization, and infrastructure investment. She has demonstrated her leadership as a mayor, as a Member of Congress, and as the head of the Congressional Black Caucus. She understands that racial and economic inequities are deeply rooted, particularly in our housing systems, and that working across sectors is imperative. Her many years of work on economic justice issues such as food insecurity and education access can bring much-needed leadership to aligning systems and services to better meet the needs of low-income Americans. We look forward to working with Congresswoman Fudge in her role as HUD Secretary to address the growing need for COVID emergency rental assistance and safe, affordable housing."
About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities |
The Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Martin Luther King Branch opened this month in Columbus’s Near East Side neighborhood. The new library is a result of Partners Achieving Community Transformation (PACT), a partnership between Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, Ohio State University, and other local stakeholders created in 2010 to transform and revitalize 800 acres of Near East Side.
The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) broke ground on Oso Apartments, a 48-unit apartment complex in Chicago’s Albany Park. Financed with help from $10 million in CHA RAD funds, 100 percent of Oso Apartments’ units will be affordable rental housing for individuals and families.
The Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County and partners cut the ribbon on The Lindley, a 200-unit high-rise in Chevy Chase, MD. The opening of The Lindley constitutes a net increase of 22 units of affordable housing in the neighborhood. You can watch a time-lapse video of The Lindley’s construction here.
The long-awaited Opportunity Atlas, published today by the Census Bureau in collaboration with researchers at Harvard and Brown, got top billing on today’s homepage of the New York Times’ data-driven digital property The Upshot. “Detailed New National Maps Show How Neighborhoods Shape Children for Life,” includes the new interactive mapping tool, some of the project’s main findings, and examples of the mobility work that public housing authorities are currently doing, and plan to do, with the data. In addition to quoting Raj Chetty, one of the project’s researchers, authors Emily Badger and Quoctrung Bui feature quotes and examples from CLPHA members Greg Russ, Executive Director of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, Andrew Lofton, Executive Director of the Seattle Housing Authority and Andria Lazaga also of SHA who each discussed how PHAs are using the data as part of their Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) work.
Additional news coverage of the Opportunity Atlas includes an NPR segment during today’s Morning Edition broadcast that features interviews with Chetty and local officials in Charlotte, NC, who intend to use the data to shape future policy decisions.
Read the article and use the interactive maps on the NYT website and listen to the Morning Edition story on NPR’s site.
On August 9, HUD sent the 2017 Worst Case Housing Needs Report to Congress, providing national data and analysis of critical problems facing low-income renting families throughout the nation. The report, which is HUD's 16th in a longstanding series, chronicles an increase in severe housing problems, with the number of households considered to have worst case housing needs jumping from 7.72 million in 2013 to 8.3 million in 2015. HUD also reports that, since 2007, the U.S. has seen a 41 percent increase in severe housing problems, and a 66 percent increase since 2001. The Worst Case Housing Needs Report defines households with worst case needs as very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and who paid more than one-half of their income for rent, lived in severely inadequate conditions, or both.
Using data from the 2015 American Housing Survey, HUD found that the economic benefits of an improving national economy are not reaching the lowest-income renter households and that overall severe housing problems are on the rise. The report acknowledges a large shift from homeownership to renting as playing a major role in the increase of worst case housing needs, noting that, "modest gains in household incomes were met with rising rents, shrinking the supply of affordable rental housing stock in an increasingly competitive market."
You can view the 2017 Worst Case Housing Needs Report by clicking here.
From Tacoma Weekly:
The bright colors of two new housing structures in town have been catching the eye of passersby lately, and now Hilltop Housing North and Hilltop Housing South are officially christened as Tacoma Housing Authority’s largest affordable housing project in 20 years.
To celebrate the Housing Hilltop project, dignitaries, Hilltop residents and people from communities across the city gathered the morning of Aug. 3 for the official ribbon cutting ceremony.
Apartments in Housing Hilltop’s South building are currently being leased and the North building is on track to open by the end of this year. Together, both buildings bring 231 living units, 94 in Housing Hilltop South and 137 in Housing Hilltop North.
Housing Hilltop is leasing at 60 percent Area Median Income and is offering priority leasing opportunities to households that have been displaced or at risk of displacement from Hilltop "to help keep the Hilltop community whole,” according to information posted at tacomahousing.org. This means, for example, that a single occupant must make below $48,660 a year, below $55,620 for a family of two, and below $69,480 for a family of four.
To increase affordability in both buildings, the THA Board of Commissioners has approved additional subsidy to the project to ensure that 25 percent of units in both buildings are affordable to more residents.
Elected leaders speaking at the ribbon cutting event included Mayor Victoria Woodards, Sen. Maria Cantwell, Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, Pierce County Council Chair Ryan Mello, and U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer by remote video.
"One of the crises we face as a city is affordable housing,” Woodards said. "To have these units coming online at 60 percent AMI is going to make a real difference. It doesn’t stop here, but this will go a long way to allowing us to build those 10,000 units that we feel we need to have in the city of Tacoma in the next 10 years.”
Cantwell brought a view of a bigger picture, that of the need for 200,000 more units nationwide over the next two years.
"I’m trying to do something in Washington D.C. – and that is to get a hell of a lot more money for affordable housing. We’re going to keep fighting until we get it done,” Cantwell said.
Read Tacoma Weekly's article "Ribbon cutting celebrates Housing Hilltop."
From CBS News Fort Worth:
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs recently announced more than $95 million in housing tax credits to develop or renovate 63 rental properties across Texas to address the affordable housing need.
Eleven of the developments are slated for North Texas.
"It's a big issue for all cities," said Amy Connolly, the assistant director of City of Fort Worth Neighborhood Services. "In the DFW area, growth is just so tremendous."
Fort Worth in particular has been impacted by the population and business boom.
"We're building a lot of apartments and we're building a lot of single-family homes, but we're not really keeping up with the affordable housing need," Connolly said.
...
Fort Worth Housing Solutions will put the tax credits toward the continued construction of a massive housing redevelopment in the Stop Six neighborhood. The Former Cavile Place public housing will be replaced with new apartment buildings.
Read CBS News Fort Worth's article "Fort Worth affordable housing developments receive $8 million in tax credits."
From the Los Angeles Times:
Teenage residents at Jordan Downs, one of L.A.’s largest public housing communities, will earn a paycheck this summer while learning hands-on skills like carpentry and welding, launching them on pathways to careers in industries facing strong demand and a critical lack of qualified workers.
The program is made possible by the joint efforts of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, the flagship program of The Smidt Foundation, and BRIDGE Housing. BRIDGE Housing is a nonprofit housing developer participating in the $1-billion redevelopment effort of Jordan Downs. First built in the 1940s, Jordan Downs is now going through a physical transformation that includes doubling the number of residential units and adding retail and community spaces along with new parks and open spaces for residents.
“The City of Los Angeles is committed to providing opportunity to all Angelenos. The launch of this program will equip young Angelenos with hands-on experience and essential skills that can help them succeed now and in the future,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “I want to recognize Harbor Freight Tools for Schools for establishing this real-world learning model and for your work to ensure L.A.’s skilled workforce remains strong.”
Operating like a construction workplace, the program uses the “earn and learn” model where students are paid while developing meaningful skills that can lead to future employment. The 15 high school-aged residents participating in the summer’s pilot program at Jordan Downs were recruited by community-based service providers to participate.
Students will complete 40 hours of hands-on project work to practice foundational trade skills, such as plumbing, electrical wiring, welding and framing a mini house. Students will also master basic skills that apply to a variety of construction disciplines, including safety, measurement, site prep and clean-up.
“The transformation of Jordan Downs goes far beyond buildings – it’s about quality of life for residents,” said BRIDGE Housing president and CEO Ken Lombard. “We jumped at the opportunity to partner with Harbor Freight Tools for Schools because we’re literally putting tools in young people’s hands to help them prepare for careers.”
Read the Los Angeles Times' article "Teens from Jordan Downs Community in Watts Getting Paid to Learn Skilled Trades This Summer."
From the Chicago Housing Authority's press release:
Davora Buchanan was shy while growing up in Trumbull Park Homes. She kept to herself and read. Then she attended CHA’s Learn and Earn program, where teenage students explore career fields like entrepreneurship, arts and technology while earning a paycheck.
“It was the first program I did outside of Trumbull, the first program where I interacted with other kids and took the bus all the way to South Suburban College,” she said. “It was a turning point, not just because of what I was learning but because of the people I met. It was a life-changing experience for me.”
Ten years later, Learn and Earn – six weeks of career exploration for CHA residents ages 13-15 that includes a $600 stipend – continues to inspire. It and other summer programs are on track to reach CHA’s performance goal of a 10 percent increase in participation (2,429) over last year (2,215) with summer earnings that are expected to reach $3 million.
The Learn and Earn experience certainly helped Buchanan, who got involved in other CHA programs like Summer Youth Employment Program. She eventually graduated from DeVry University Advantage Academy, earned a bachelors and masters in sociology and now works for Metropolitan Family Services as a Domestic Violence Advocate and Housing Coordinator doing what she loves: housing people.
“If I’m able to house one person I feel successful,” she said. “I put my all into it because someone put their all into it for me and my mother when it was time to get housed.”
Learn and Earn is one of several paid summer opportunities for CHA residents ages 13-24 that CHA is offering this summer, providing early exposure to career and education pathways and opportunities that stem potential summer learning loss. It concludes Aug. 1.
Other CHA summer programs include:
Become a Filmmaker: Participants in this award-winning program collaborate with DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts to learn all aspects of filmmaking, from story development to editing. Guided by graduate students, they create short films for global festivals, with industry expert visits and field trips. Participants earn $15.80/hour.
Be Your Own Boss: High school age participants develop a startup addressing a passion-driven problem, guided by entrepreneurs and business professionals through virtual sessions, meetings, and field trips. Youth gain skills in identifying opportunities, acquiring customers, building prototypes, and pitching to investors for lifelong success! Participants earn $15.80/hour.
Counselor in Training (CIT), a collaboration between the Chicago Housing Authority and the Chicago Park District, provides 40 teens 15 years old a summer opportunity as a counselor. Youth gain life skills and the opportunity to grow, learn and gain skills in leadership and financial capability while earning a $1,320 stipend.
CHA Student Internship Program: This program provides opportunities for college students to participate in a professional environment, building workplace skills and gaining experience for future careers. Participants earn $17.00/hour.
Movie and TV Scripts 101: Participants in this screenwriting program with DePaul University's award-winning screenwriters learn to write original screenplays through film analysis, format, style, scene craft, story structure, character development, and dialogue. The program includes writing a short movie or TV script, followed by a table read with actors from DePaul’s Theatre School, alongside industry expert visits and field trips. Participants, ages 15-20, earn $15.80/hour.
Next Level Photography: In collaboration with the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts, participants master technical foundations, explore genres like nature and portraiture, develop personal styles, and build portfolios for freelance opportunities. Participants, ages 15-20, earn $15.80/hour.
PeacePlayers: PeacePlayers Chicago provides participants a transformative summer experience centered around fostering healthy relationships and unlocking the leader in youth. This program offers a unique blend of basketball, leadership development, career readiness, and peace building. Participants earn a $600 stipend.
Summer of Code: This program teaches programming basics using Swift, helping build a fundamental understanding and practical skills to develop a basic iOS app from start to finish, including essential user interface design principles. Participants earn $15.80/hour.
Summer Youth Employment Program: This program offers youth ages 16-24, meaningful, paid work-based opportunities with a variety of industries throughout the city. Participants earn $15.80/hour.
From the Charlotte Observer:
A Charlotte-based reentry organization renewed a contract with Inlivian on July 3 to support families recognized by a federal law that ensures children lacking stable housing receive an education.
The Freedom Fighting Missionaries board of directors allocates the vouchers to families with children currently recognized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Inlivian is a nonprofit formerly known as the Charlotte Housing Authority.
Freedom Fighting Missionaries announced the contract renewal.
Through funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, low-income families can rent safe, affordable homes thanks to the Inlivian vouchers.
Families who join the program will receive a voucher that enables Inlivian to pay the property management or owner directly for a portion of their rent.
Freedom Fighting Missionaries said in a news release that over 5,400 children in Charlotte are enrolled in the program.
Read the Charlotte Observer's article "Charlotte nonprofit expands housing support to homeless parents with prior convictions."