Welcome to CLPHA's Press Room
CLPHA experts welcome interview requests from print, radio, television, and online reporters and are happy to provide their insights on issues of public housing and related legislation and policy.
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David Greer
Director of Communications
During the COVID-19 quarantine, David can be reached at (202) 550-1381 or dgreer@clpha.org.
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CLPHA Statement on PHA Radon and Mitigation Practices
WASHINGTON (November 22, 2019) - The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities issued the following statement in response to news coverage about radon testing and mitigation practices in public housing:
Public housing authorities (PHAs) are committed to providing rental housing that is safe, decent, and affordable for millions of low- and very-low income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. PHAs are regulated and funded by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which sets health and safety standards for PHA properties.
HUD does not require or fund PHAs to test for or mitigate radon in public housing units. While HUD does have radon testing and remediation requirements for certain multi-family properties, these do not apply to public housing.
Chronic underfunding of public housing has led to a mounting capital needs backlog of an estimated $70 billion, yet HUD’s most recent budget proposal would have slashed funding for public housing by $4.6 billion and zeroed out the Public Housing Capital Fund, which is designed to address capital needs.
PHAs welcome consistent standards with adequate funding to mitigate hazards through grants or other funding opportunities. As an example, CLPHA strongly supports bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate to mandate the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in all public housing units. The Safe Housing for Families Act would provide $300 million over a three-year period to install and maintain the detectors.
CLPHA is supportive of these and other comprehensive efforts to improve conditions in HUD-assisted housing for low and very low-income residents.
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“In the coming weeks, the House will consider bipartisan legislation to permanently authorize the disaster relief funding platform for housing programs. The Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2019 is rational, comprehensive, badly needed, and Congress should pass it. Its proposed standardization and codification would make it easier for public housing authorities (PHAs) to apply for, and receive, relief funds after being impacted by disasters the way our colleagues and their residents were in Houston during Hurricane Harvey, in Wilmington during Hurricane Florence, in San Buenaventura during the Camp Fire, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico during Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
“Perhaps if the bill were law today, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development would have a harder time intentionally stalling the disaster relief funding process for Puerto Rico, which two senior HUD officials admitted to doing during a hearing last month, and Secretary Carson has not denied.
“This is unconscionable and a blatant disregard of a statutory deadline. Though Congress has allocated $20 billion in CDBG-DR funds to Puerto Rico, HUD has only disbursed $1.5 billion, while thousands of American citizens struggle to recover.
“To remedy this, Senate appropriators included strong language in the THUD spending bill to prevent HUD from implementing its financial transformation initiative until the Department takes the appropriate steps to make all disaster recovery funds available along with necessary administrative requirements, which would include remaining allocations to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Congress must take action to compel HUD to follow the law. We urge support for the House and Senate efforts to ensure that all Americans, regardless of income and geography, whose housing is impacted by natural disaster receive the support they need quickly and efficiently.”
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 Housing Is Initiative to better intersect the housing field and other areas of critical importance such as health and education.
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WASHINGTON (September 20, 2019) – Sunia Zaterman, the Executive Director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, issued the following statement today in response to President Trump’s and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Carson’s recent comments on the crisis of homelessness in America:
“It is astounding that this administration is calling for an end to homelessness while refusing to reinvest in public and affordable housing. People without a place to live need stable housing, not just campaign rally rhetoric or politically driven economic reporting based on cherry-picked research to manufacture a root cause of homelessness.
“The reasons for homelessness vary and no single solution will end the crisis, but there is no question that the lack of affordable housing opportunities exacerbates the problem for families, people with disabilities, and veterans.
“The Housing First model, recognized by HUD as recently as December as the most effective way to end homelessness, treats stable housing as a platform for supportive services that meet immediate and long-term needs for individuals and families.
“Meanwhile, this Administration has tried to gut funding for HUD and for public housing authorities, which are essential partners in local efforts to provide safe, stable housing to low and very-low income families, and those most vulnerable to homelessness.
“PHAs work with their Continuums of Care to provide transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and vouchers to households exiting homelessness. They also coordinate with a variety of local service providers to offer supportive services to ensure housing stability, and work with health and education partners to promote access to services that are essential for family well-being and self-sufficiency.
“The hundreds of thousands of unsheltered people living on the streets in our country need real solutions, not campaign speeches.”
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 Housing Is Initiative to better intersect the housing field and other areas of critical importance such as health and education.
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Today, CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman was quoted in Affordable Housing Finance discussing how the shutdown threatens the stability of low-income households. Though HUD has prepared payments for housing vouchers and the public housing operating subsidy through February, Zaterman notes that the “existential threat” for voucher holders looms given the uncertainty of when the shutdown will end. If housing authorities cannot utilize HUD funding after February, there is a risk that that they will not be able to pay landlords and that landlords will subsequently begin to evict voucher-holding tenants.
Zaterman added that as HUD funding remains suspended due to the shutdown, local housing authorities are growing increasingly concerned about how they will maintain properties, make repairs, and pay employees.
CLPHA will continue our advocacy in support of PHAs and will provide members with additional news about the shutdown as we learn it.
In this December 27, 2018 article by Bruce Japsen for Forbes.com, CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman discusses the importance of cross-sector collaborations between housing and health care to improve life outcomes for low-income families and seniors.
“We’re housers with expertise in the management and operation of affordable housing for low-income families and seniors, but we are not experts in the complexities of health care service delivery,” Zaterman said. “That’s why nearly all of the public housing authorities we surveyed work with a partner to provide health services. Most would do more if they had the funding and resources to commit to their health partnerships.”
Anthony Scott, CEO of Durham Housing Authority (left) and A. Fulton Meachem, President & CEO of Charlotte Housing Authority (right) in Durham, NC.
CLPHA is pleased to see that our members are visiting each other’s communities to share knowledge, ideas, and best practices for preserving and strengthening their public housing portfolios and resident services.
In August, the Charlotte Housing Authority (CHA) hosted the Durham Housing Authority (DHA) and Durham city officials on a bus tour of Charlotte public housing properties. The Durham delegation also met with CHA staff, board members, and residents to discuss how Charlotte is transforming its housing portfolio and resident services through entrepreneurial efforts in real estate development, bond programs, property management, and family self-sufficiency programs. You can watch a video slideshow of the Charlotte & Durham meeting here.
In October, residents, staff, and board members from the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) traveled to Cambridge, MA to meet with Cambridge Housing Authority staff and tour public housing communities. MPHA learned from Cambridge about their ongoing, comprehensive public housing transformation financed through the RAD program, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and other funding tools. In a post-trip recap, MPHA said their residents expressed the importance of seeing and hearing for themselves that these programs did not result in displacement. In fact, said MPHA, “CHA residents were often able to simply move units and continue living in their building even as the work proceeded around them.” You can watch a video about MPHA’s trip to Cambridge here.
Representatives from the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority on a bus tour of Cambridge Housing Authority properties.
The coronavirus pandemic and its associated effects have greatly impacted the U.S. Virgin Islands’ lowest income residents, especially its seniors. To lift their spirits and help them stay sanitized and protected against COVID-19, the Virgin Islands Housing Authority distributed care packages funded by CARES Act coronavirus relief funds to the 65 senior residents of its Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas. The packages included cases of water, face masks, Clorox, puzzles, games, and the star attraction -- Red Cross emergency radios. This event was the first in a round of distributions that VIHA will make in the coming weeks to over 2,600 families in its public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
All photos and captions courtesy of Patrcia Borns, Virgin Islands Housing Authority.
Bernice Joseph gets a case of water and other giveaways delivered to her room at the Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas courtesy of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, which is distributing CARES packages in the coming weeks to over 2,600 families at public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix. Funds for the packages come from a HUD coronavirus relief grant to help communities combat the virus and alleviate economic hardship. “For someone living on a disability check, these items are a big help,” Joseph said of the face masks, Clorox and other items distributed by VIHA.
Eduardo Carmona, a community outreach specialist for Senator Marvin Blyden, helps senior residents at St. Thomas’ Lucinda Millin Home unpack Red Cross emergency radios on Friday; part of a distribution campaign of CARES packages by the Virgin Islands Housing Authority that will be rolling out in the coming weeks to over 2,600 families at public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
The lobby of Lucinda Millin Home on St. Croix fills with music on Friday as Senator Marvin Blyden shows resident Iona Wattley how to tune her new Red Cross radio to her favorite station. The radios were part of a CARES package of goodies provided by the Virgin Islands Housing Authority as part of a distribution campaign it is rolling out in the coming weeks that will reach over 2,600 public housing residents on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
Manuelita Richardson gets a case of water, Clorox and other giveaways delivered to her room at the Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas courtesy of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, which is distributing CARES packages in the coming weeks to over 2,600 families at public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix. Funds for the packages come from a HUD coronavirus relief grant to help communities combat the virus and alleviate economic hardship.
Noreen Michael, Board Chairwoman of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, helps Lucinda Millin Home resident Bernice Joseph operate her new Red Cross emergency radio on Friday. The radio and other giveaways are part of a distribution campaign of CARES packages by the Virgin Islands Housing Authority that will be rolling out to over 2,600 families at public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix in the weeks to come.
Noreen Michael, Board Chairwoman of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, helps Lucinda Millin Home resident Emmanuel Liburd unpack a CARES package of COVID-fighting giveaways whose star attraction is a Red Cross emergency radio. VIHA will be distributing the CARE packages to over 2,600 families at public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix in the coming weeks.
Lucinda Millin Home resident Sinclair Claxton listens to health advice from Noreen Michael, the Board Chairwoman of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, during a visit on Friday to help distribute CARES packages to the community’s 65 senior residents. VIHA will be distributing the packages – whose star attraction is a Red Cross radio -- to over 2,600 public housing communities across the Territory thanks to a HUD coronavirus relief grant.
Ruth Petersen gets a case of water, Clorox and other giveaways delivered to her room at the Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas courtesy of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, which is distributing CARES packages to over 2,600 families at public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix in the coming weeks. Funds for the packages come from a HUD coronavirus relief grant to help communities combat the virus and alleviate economic hardship.
Senator Marvin Blyden hands out CARES packages to seniors at the Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas courtesy of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, which is distributing the packages to over 2,600 families at public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix in the coming weeks. The biggest hit with the seniors: a Red Cross emergency radio. Funds for the packages come from a HUD coronavirus relief grant to help communities combat the virus and alleviate economic hardship.
Senator Marvin Blyden shows Lucinda Millin resident Ruth Petersen how to tune her new Red Cross radio to her favorite station. The radios were part of a CARES package of goodies provided by the Virgin Islands Housing Authority as part of a distribution campaign it is rolling out to over 2,600 public housing residents on St. Thomas and St. Croix in the coming weeks.
Reginald Andrew, a Virgin Islands Housing Authority employee, unloads cases of water on Friday for distribution to the 65 senior residents of the Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas. Along with face masks, sanitizers and – the most popular item -- Red Cross emergency radios, the water is part of a CARES package that VIHA will be distributing to over 2,600 public housing residents across the Territory thanks to a HUD coronavirus relief grant.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Hundreds of school-age children in suburban Cook County public housing will get free laptops paid for by federal coronavirus stimulus money starting Wednesday, as part of an ongoing effort to ensure digital access after the COVID-19 pandemic upended in-person learning.
About $270,000 of CARES Act money allocated to the Housing Authority of Cook County will be used to purchase laptops for 900 students who live in the public housing complexes to keep and otherwise would struggle to complete remote learning. The giveaway is part of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s efforts to address long-standing racial inequities that have intensified under the grip of the coronavirus.
“A majority of those who do not have access are members of our Black and brown communities,” Preckwinkle said at the Richard Flowers Apartments in south suburban Robbins. “This is inequity, needless to say, and this doesn’t give our residents, especially our children, the tools they need to learn, grow and succeed. It relegates them to second-class citizenship. And that to me is not acceptable.”
Read the Chicago Tribune's article "900 children in suburban Cook County public housing to get free laptops as remote learning continues to present digital barriers," featuring the Housing Authority of Cook County.
The Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) welcomed with Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA) yesterday to Corcoran Park Apartments, a deeply affordable housing development in the Congresswoman’s District, to announce legislation she is introducing that would help public housing authorities such as CHA and other affordable housing providers to continue moving forward in efforts to protect and preserve federally-assisted housing. CLPHA worked with Congresswoman Clark and her staff in helping draft the legislation.
CLPHA endorsed the ‘Support Allowing Volume Exception’ (SAVE) for Federally-Assisted Housing Private Activity Bonds Act, which would create a pathway to preserving housing without taking anything away from other initiatives with similar goals. By creating an exemption for public and federally-assisted affordable housing to the volume caps that limit the number of affordable projects that can proceed each year, the bill opens the door for rehabilitation and preservation of critical projects that are in the pipeline for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to immediately begin the work needed to “SAVE” these assets.
Rep. Clark (in red mask) at CHA event announcing the SAVE Act
“Private activity bonds and the resultant low-income housing tax credits have been the most significant, and only tool, that the Cambridge Housing Authority and any housing authority in the country has to obtain the financial resources needed to complete the renovations for preserving existing federally-assisted affordable housing.” said CHA Executive Director Michael J. Johnston.
“Over the past ten years, the CHA has used approximately $430 million in private activity bonds to fund $586 million in construction improving over 2,000 units - generating nearly $1 Billion in economic benefits. Despite these enormous accomplishments, the CHA is only halfway through its reinvestment in affordable housing in Cambridge. Congresswoman Clark’s proposed legislation creates a pathway to preserving the housing which absent the legislation would require CHA to wait 10 or 15 years for access to the amount of private bonds it could use and needs today to protect and preserve nearly 1,000 additional affordable housing units,” Johnston added, while also acknowledging that the proposed legislation would benefit other Massachusetts Housing Authorities such as Boston, Worcester, Brockton, Medford, and Watertown, among others.
The Cambridge Housing Authority and CLPHA look forward to working closely with Congresswoman Clark on the passage of this important and much-needed legislation.
OCHA is Transforming Public Housing to Meet the Needs of Their Oldest Low-Income Residents
Through thoughtful, targeted, and health-focused redevelopment, the Oklahoma City Housing Authority (OCHA) is helping low-income Oklahoma City seniors to thrive. In new communities around Oklahoma City, OCHA offers independent and assisted living units alongside on-site health care amenities that allow the housing authority’s oldest low-income residents to easily access affordable, comprehensive health care as they age in place. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present an unprecedented threat on the health of all Americans, especially the elderly, and requires us to stay at home as much as possible, increasing housing opportunities for low-income seniors where they can access affordable healthcare right outside their doors is more critical than ever.
Similar to popular retirement communities with continuing care options for residents to move from independent to assisted living, OCHA’s latest project Thrive on 10th will offer both types of apartments plus an on-site healthcare campus comprised of a wide array of medical and wellness services. The senior assisted living facility (ALF) will replace the housing authority’s existing The Towers senior independent living apartments in downtown Oklahoma City with 176 independent and 142 assisted living apartments. Having both types of units on one new site will allow OCHA’s more self-sufficient senior residents, when necessary, to easily move into housing that meets their evolving needs and physical abilities without having to leave their community. “Combining independent and assisted living in one building allows us to take care of residents, keep them in their downtown homes, and create an ‘urban care campus,’” said OCHA Assistant Executive Director Ian Colgan in an interview with CLPHA.
Aerial View of Thrive on 10th's future location near downtown Oklahoma City
OCHA estimates that the Oklahoma City market can utilize approximately 400-500 units of affordable assisted living, and Executive Director Mark Gillett believes OCHA is well-positioned to address the deficit. “OCHA has the capacity and responsibility to ensure low-income seniors have a nice place to call home,” said Gillett. “Assisted living is not affordable for many public housing residents and when they are no longer able to live independently, they often transition to a nursing home. We wanted to provide an affordable assisted living option.”
OCHA is partnering with experts in the field to help furnish senior care services at Thrive on 10th – the housing authority credits developer Tom Langdon, who partnered with ALF provider Healthmark on similar communities in Arkansas, for bringing this model of affordable senior housing with on-site healthcare to OCHA. OCHA will connect with local health care providers to help build the medical clinic and partner with a special-purpose management company for property operations. Thrive on 10th will also include commercial space, and Colgan said that OCHA hopes to house a restaurant onsite that would create workforce development opportunities for public housing residents.
When completed in 2022, Thrive on 10th will be OCHA’s third of four ALFs it plans to operate in the north, south, east, and west parts of town. The first iteration of OCHA’s model of combined senior housing and on-site health care services is John H. Johnson Care Suites, named for a former OCHA executive director, on Oklahoma City’s north side. In addition to 120 assisted and 10 independent living units, the community offers a medical clinic, a pharmacy, and a wing for skilled nursing and memory care. OCHA has also developed partnerships with private market senior care facilities nearby to broaden health care access for their residents.
Even through the COVID-19 pandemic OCHA has been leasing up Johnson Care Suites, and their successful COVID prevention plan has resulted in zero cases at the site. Mr. Gillett noted that across OCHA’s portfolio of nearly 4,000 units, there has been a very small number of self-reported cases of COVID-19 among residents – a major feat for a PHA in the middle of a state hit hard by the pandemic.
Johnson Care Suites
OCHA’s new senior- and health-focused communities are part of the housing authority’s larger transformation plan. In the next few years, OCHA plans to utilize tools like RAD to reposition its entire portfolio, rehab its existing 3,000 public housing units, and add hundreds of units of permanent supportive housing and workforce housing.
But OCHA is trying to think beyond portfolio conversion, noted Colgan. Their strategy includes renovation, redevelopment, and strategic thinking about their communities and the needs of their residents. OCHA is focused on transforming their existing properties into neighborhood assets and expanding resident services within them, and they want to create housing communities in neighborhoods with better schools, job prospects, and other important services that will help improve their residents’ life outcomes. “We want to expand housing opportunity and put units in higher opportunity areas,” said Colgan.
OCHA plans to finance this massive transformation plan with funds from Oklahoma City’s MAPS 4, a debt-free public improvement program funded by a penny tax approved by voters in a December 2019 special election. Once MAPS 4 takes effect in April 2020, the housing authority plans to use nearly $50 million from the program to leverage over $400 million in outside funding for their portfolio repositioning. This MAPS 4 funding will help finance OCHA’s future senior assisted living/on-site health care communities.
Colgan emphasized that now is the time for transformation while Oklahoma City’s rents are relatively affordable compared with other American metropolitan areas consumed by the affordable housing crisis. OCHA is motivated to make smart business and development decisions to preserve affordable housing opportunities in the event that rental affordability in Oklahoma City skyrockets. “We want to be active, not reactive,” said Colgan. “If we can plan ahead, we can provide housing supply in a more strategic manner.”
Through new senior properties with co-located health care services, OCHA is doing just that. By offering their oldest low-income residents a continuum of care usually only accessible to wealthier senior citizens--a mission made even more critical by the COVID-19 pandemic--OCHA is reimagining what public housing looks like in Oklahoma City, and this is just the beginning.
The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) is embarking on an exciting new partnership with CVS Health. The healthcare giant is investing $13.7 million over a three-year grant into CMHA’s Rosewind community to help renovate the property and provide community health programming.
While the 230-unit Rosewind is already in the process of a RAD conversion, CVS Health’s investment will help to fund and expand CMHA’s renovation of the property. Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) is the LIHTC creditor on the Rosewind project and OCCH was instrumental in bringing CVS Health to the table on the tax credit side.
Plans for CVS Health’s investment include enhancements to Rosewind’s community center and funding for an on-site community health worker and health services. The funds will improve the new community center kitchen, which will now allow for cooking demonstrations, and allow for new technology services (e.g. a computer lab, smartboards, and a business center). The investment will also contribute to a wide variety of health programs and services, including initiatives aimed at improving food access, maternal health, and racial equity.
“The redevelopment of Rosewind is part of CMHA’s $250 million investment in affordable housing in 2020,” said CMHA President and CEO Charles Hillman in apress release. “Stable housing provides a solid foundation, but people also need access to health care, employment, training and other services to reach their fullest potential. We’re excited to collaborate with CVS Health to provide new opportunities for our residents and revitalize the Linden community.”
“The best thing about this partnership is that we were ready,” said Sonja Nelson, CMHA’s AVP of Resident Initiatives on a call with CLPHA members. Because CMHA participated in CLPHA’s Aligning Health & Housing Systems initiative,“[the initiative] gave us the knowledge and confidence to pursue this partnership with CVS Health.” She added that the AHHS initiative helped CMHA to recognize the importance of health and housing and see where the opportunities were in their community. Also, thanks to data-sharing component of the initiative, CMHA was encouraged to look at their health data differently and to use this data to express their community’s needs to CVS Health.
Learn more about this exciting new partnership:
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9/16/20, Columbus Dispatch: CVS Health will invest $13.7 million to renovate Rosewind in South Linden
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9/16/20, WOSU Public Media (Columbus, OH): CVS Funds South Linden Apartment Renovations As Part Of Health Initiative
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9/16/20, Becker’s Hospital Review: CVS Health to invest $13.7M to renovate low-income housing in Ohio