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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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 intersect the housing field and other areas of critical importance such as health and education.
August 10, 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 and follow @housing_is for news on CLPHA’s work to better intersect the housing field and other areas of critical importance such as health and education.
- Listen to HousingWire's coverage of our letter in their Daily Download podcast.
- Read HousingWire's article about our letter.
August 3, 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 and follow @housing_is for news on CLPHA’s work to better intersect the housing field and other areas of critical importance such as health and education.
On August 1, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing, “America’s Affordable Housing Crisis: Challenges and Solutions.” The hearing focused primarily on the challenge of increasing the supply of affordable housing and strategies to address the significant housing cost burdens faced by many Americans. Senator Hatch opened the hearing, stating that the affordable housing crisis, “is a problem that should be ready for a bipartisan solution.” To view our write-up of the hearing, click here.
To help tackle the affordable housing issues discussed in the hearing, Senators Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) have introduced legislation, S. 548, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act. The bill would increase Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) credit authority by 50 percent, as well as enact roughly two dozen changes to strengthen the program by streamlining program rules, improving flexibility, and enabling the program to serve a wider array of local needs.
During the hearing, Committee Members expressed their support for the Cantwell-Hatch bill and there was broad bipartisan consensus that the LIHTC program is a vital tool for increasing the production of affordable housing and providing low-income households, safe, quality, affordable homes. However, there were also concerns raised regarding oversight and compliance of the program. Daniel Garcia-Diaz, director of financial markets and community investment at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), presented testimony that IRS oversight of LIHTC is minimal and that there are no robust controls in place to ensure reasonableness of costs or compliance with program requirements. According to Mr. Garcia-Diaz, the GAO recommends that HUD, as an agency with a housing mission, play a greater role in the oversight of the program.
In our Statement for the Record, CLPHA applauded the leadership the Senate Finance Committee has shown in support of LIHTC to date and encouraged the Committee to support S. 548. The bill is especially beneficial to the public housing program, which has experienced decades of underfunding and federal disinvestment. We noted that LIHTC has proven to be an extremely important preservation tool for public housing, and PHAs have a long history of leveraging private equity through LIHTCs to fill the funding gap created by decreased federal appropriations. Without the LIHTC program, preservation of their public housing stock would not be possible.
CLPHA also acknowledged that competition for more valuable 9% LIHTCs is fierce in many states and that there have been concerns within the affordable housing community about increased demand from the public housing portfolio. Increasing the allocation authority by 50 percent would support the preservation and construction of up to 400,000 additional affordable apartments over a ten-year period, including the renovation of vital public housing units that are currently at-risk. Additionally, the legislation allows for an increased basis boost for projects serving extremely low-income households. This would be particularly beneficial to housing authorities, as 75 percent of public housing residents are extremely-low income.
CLPHA has been strongly supportive of the legislation. In addition to the Statement of Record above, CLPHA has also engaged in this work as a member of the A.C.T.I.O.N. Campaign Steering Committee (A Call to Invest in Our Neighborhoods). The A.C.T.I.O.N. Campaign has taken a lead role in promoting the expansion of LIHTC, including support of S.548. Last month the Campaign submitted a letter to Senator Hatch in response to his request for comments on tax reform, urging Congress to expand and strengthen the housing credit. Along with other Steering Committee members, CLPHA endorsed and signed the letter.
As Congress takes on tax reform in the upcoming months, we will continue to support this important legislation that would provide needed resources to public housing. CLPHA members should support the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act by contacting their senators during recess to urge them to support the bill.
Two-Generation Economic Act reflects the cross-sector collaboration that CLPHA’s Housing IsInitiative promotes.
Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) recently reintroduced bipartisan legislation in the Senate, calling for the development of support programs that improve family economic security by breaking the cycle of multigenerational poverty through a comprehensive strategy that addresses the needs of parents and children. The Two-Generation Economic Act of 2017, or S. 435, seeks to align and link existing service systems and funding streams that currently support parents and children separately. Heinrich and Collins believe that aligning the support systems to help parents and children together will increase the whole family’s chances for success in life. The bill also establishes the Interagency Council on Multigenerational Poverty to provide guidance on two-generation programs; establish a system of coordination among agencies and organizations; identify best practices; and identify gaps, research needs, and program deficiencies.
The Two-Generation Economic Act of 2017 is a significant step in the fight against poverty. It would be the first piece of legislation to incorporate a two-generation approach aimed at increasing economic security, educational success, social capital, and health and well-being for parents and children together. In seeking to better align service systems and funding streams, the bill would give states, local governments, and tribes more flexibility to develop programs that meet their specific needs. The approach outlined in S. 435 would greatly improve the effectiveness of service delivery, and it highlights the same principles and goals around which CLPHA’s Housing Is initiative was founded, to better intersect housing and other sectors in order to improve life outcomes. CLPHA has long promoted two-generation initiatives as a best practice and has been a leader in fostering partnerships to encourage innovative solutions to address generational poverty.
The Interagency Council on Multigenerational Poverty will create a national focus on multigenerational poverty by facilitating coordinated efforts across multiple agencies and departments. This interagency collaboration will align and link fragmented systems and funding streams, resulting in holistic approaches that simultaneously address the needs of children and their parents or guardians.
A collaboration that has been in the works for several years, the Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act includes a balance of input and interests from local service providers, families, administrators, and other stakeholders. Heinrich and Collins hope that this innovative approach will help collectively ensure that people will have an opportunity to use already existing federal resources or attract private investment to implement the two-generation approach in their community, regardless of one’s zip code.
When Senator Collins first introduced the bill, she told the story of a five-year-old girl named Arianna who was homeless, living in a tent with her family outside of Portland, ME. A state social worker worked with the Maine Homeless Veterans Alliance to provide support services to the girl and her family, who are now living in an apartment near where Arianna is attending school. This is a small-scale example of the holistic approach that Collins and Heinrich wish to achieve with their legislation.
“Just as a child’s ZIP code should not determine his or her future success, neither should bureaucratic inflexibility make it so difficult for families to get the help they need to escape intergenerational poverty,” Senator Collins said.
You can learn more about the Two-Generation Economic Act of 2017 by reading this fact sheet that explains the principles of the bill or view a copy of the bill by clicking here.
Birmingham, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Wilmington, DE Housing Authorities Will Use Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Awards of up to $50 Million Each to Transform Low-Income Neighborhoods and Improve Residents’ Lives
CLPHA is pleased to announce that yesterday four CLPHA members received FY22 HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation awards! CLPHA congratulates our members on their grants:
Housing Authority of Birmingham District: $50 million for HABD’s Smithfield Court and Birmingham’s Smithfield, College Hill, and Graymont neighborhoods
Atlanta Housing: $40 million for AH’s Bowen Homes and Atlanta’s Bowen neighborhood
Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh: $50 million for HACP’s Bedford Dwellings and Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood
Wilmington, DE Housing Authority: $50 million for WHA’s Riverside community and Wilmington’s Northeast neighborhood
HUD awarded a total of eight CNI grants totaling $370 million. A summary of each award is available here. Communities that received funding have completed the planning process and will use these Choice Neighborhoods funds to implement their plan. These eight new awards have leveraged an additional $3 billion in public and private commitments.
Congratulations to HABD, AH, HACP, and WHA on these prestigious awards! They join a long list of CLPHA members who have leveraged, or are currently leveraging, CNI funds to redevelop their public housing communities, transform the neighborhoods around them, and improve life outcomes for the low-income residents they serve.
From the New Haven Independent:
Pre-approve certain building plans. Eliminate parking minimums. Support single-room apartments. Implement a land tax.
The Housing Authority of New Haven and its nonprofit affiliates recommended those city-level policies and others while delivering a message to City Hall: when it comes to the housing crisis, “we can’t count on the state.”
Elm City Communities, an umbrella group including the city’s public housing agency and its nonprofit development and property management arms, released a new report on affordable housing titled “Breaking Ground” on Monday morning.
The report culminates a series of community conversations hosted by Elm City Communities (ECC) on the affordable housing crisis, strategizing with NYU Furman Center’s Housing Solutions Lab, and research by ECC’s policy director Will Viederman. (Read the full report here.)
At a press conference outside the agency’s headquarters at 360 Orange St. on Monday, ECC President Karen DuBois-Walton said that though ECC is New Haven’s largest provider of deeply affordable housing, there are 30,000 households on the waitlist for the public housing apartments and federal Housing Choice Vouchers that the Housing Authority administers.
“Every night, I go to bed concerned about the thousands of voucher holders who are looking for quality housing in a place of their choice, a unit that they can afford, and who are struggling,” said DuBois Walton. “Probably even more concerning are the families we are not reaching” — families who are homeless or living in unsafe or unaffordable housing.
While much of ECC’s policy advocacy has related to statewide initiatives to develop more affordable housing in neighboring towns, the Breaking Ground report focuses on zoning reforms and other policies that the city of New Haven can enact on its own.
“Our state legislature and our governor failed to pass meaningful reforms” on housing this year, Viederman said. “We can’t count on the state. It’s not enough [for New Haven] to say, ‘It’s not our fault and our neighbors should act.’ ”
Read the New Haven Independent's article "Housing Authority Details Path To More Housing."
From NY1 Spectrum News:
A program launching this fall aims to replace thousands of gas cooking stoves in NYCHA-owned buildings with new electric induction stoves.
NYCHA is teaming up with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the New York Power Authority on an initiative called the "Induction Stove Challenge," the agencies said in a news release Monday.
As part of the "challenge," NYPA will issue a request for proposals seeking manufacturers who can create “energy-efficient, electric cooking systems” that will work in older NYCHA buildings, according to the release.
Once NYPA selects its proposals, NYSERDA will buy 100 stoves, and install and test them in 100 NYCHA apartments, authorities said.
Eventually, NYCHA will purchase at least 10,000 electric induction stoves and install them in additional apartments "with the goal of fully displacing gas cooking stoves in NYCHA-owned buildings," the release said.
According to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, induction stoves heat pots and pans by generating an electromagnetic current within the cookware itself. Most pans currently sold are compatible with induction stoves, according to the NYSERDA.
The transition to induction stoves will avoid "costly electrical upgrades" for stove replacements in the selected buildings, the release added.
Read NY1 Spectrum News' article "NYCHA program aims to replace gas stoves with induction stoves."
From WLWT 5 Cincinnati:
A massive renovation is underway for two historic apartment buildings in East Walnut Hills.
The $38 million project will upgrade more than 100 units throughout the Riverview and San Marco.
The renovations will include new flooring, appliances and renovated bathrooms and kitchens, all while remaining affordable.
The Riverview is a nine-floor building built in 1902 with 110 units. San Marco, in the heart of the East Walnut Hills business district, was built as a seven-floor hotel in 1930 and converted to 30 residential units in the 1960s.
Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority will begin construction in August.
"Closing on this latest Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) project continues our commitment to invest one billion dollars in our affordable housing portfolio," says Gregory D. Johnson, CMHA's chief executive officer. "Residents of Hamilton County deserve quality affordable housing, and we're delivering."
Read WLWT 5 Cincinnati's article "Massive renovation underway for two historic apartment buildings in East Walnut Hills," featuring the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority.
From Patch.com:
Fairfax County officials broke ground Thursday morning on The Lodge at Autumn Willow, an independent living community that will add 150 units to the county's affordable housing stock.
“We know that Fairfax County’s older adults need options to age in place affordably. These 150 units will provide people that opportunity,” said Jeffrey C. McKay, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in a release. “We want the people who grew roots in Fairfax County to stay in their community of choice. This development is special because it provides an affordable place for older adults to keep writing our local history.”
...
In July 2022, the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority signed an interim agreement with Michaels Development to develop The Lodge at Autumn Willow project via the Virginia Public-Private Educational Facilities Infrastructure Act.
"Getting to the moment where we break ground on an affordable housing community requires a complex set of resources and experts. That is what we do at the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority," said RHA Chair Melissa McKenna. "We are committed to bringing together experts in the development, real estate, environmental engineering, and finance industries to create affordable housing opportunities for our community. This is especially critical for older adults, who deserve to live and thrive in their desired community."
Read Patch.com's article "New $8.7M Affordable Housing Project Breaks Ground In Fairfax County," featuring the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority.