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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To view all of CLPHA's press statements, click here.
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Thanks again for your interest in CLPHA!
Web tool targets idea-sharing and improves cross-sector
collaboration to help low-income families
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(202) 550-1381
For Immediate Release
March 31, 2021 |
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(Washington, D.C.) March 31, 2021 – Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, released the following statement upon President Biden’s announcement of the American Jobs Plan:
“The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities applauds President Biden’s transformative American Jobs Plan to reimagine and rebuild the American economy by centering housing as key to accomplishing the administration’s top priorities of economic impact, racial equity, and climate change. The $213 billion to produce, preserve, and retrofit more than one million housing units, with $40 billion targeted at the long-neglected public housing capital needs, is the size and scale that can move the needle on improving public housing infrastructure. CLPHA has called for a 10-year road map to recapitalize the public housing portfolio.
“The centrality of public and affordable housing means its impact reaches beyond shelter. It is also critical to other key elements of the American jobs plan including expanding broadband, improving childcare, and increasing health care opportunities. Public housing authorities are the most efficient delivery mechanism for these critical services because of their understanding of local needs, especially the needs of underserved communities of color. Public housing authorities stand ready to implement the bill when it becomes law.
CLPHA will work closely with Congress to ensure that the housing provisions are fully funded and remain central to the bill.”
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About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
About CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative |
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March 11, 2021
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(Washington, D.C.) March 11, 2021 – Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, released the following statement upon President Biden’s signing of the American Rescue Plan Act into law:
“The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities applauds President Biden for signing into law the groundbreaking American Rescue Plan Act. When combined with the $25 billion in emergency rental assistance in the previous relief bill, the total $45 billion in emergency rental assistance and $5 billion to prevent homelessness is scaled to the enormous scope of the rental crisis with more than 11 million renters behind on rent. The law is also historic in nature as it represents the largest federal investment since the creation of the Great Society programs more than 55 years ago, which launched what is now known as the Housing Choice Voucher program. Estimates show that the American Rescue Plan Act’s war on poverty will reduce the projected poverty rate this year by half. This historic investment in alleviating poverty and expanding housing opportunities constitutes one of the most significant steps towards ending racial inequity since the legislation passed during the Civil Rights Era.
"The American Rescue Plan acknowledges that housing stability for all Americans is essential to the economic well-being, racial equity, and public health of the nation. While this legislation directs critical federal investment to pandemic relief, new transformational federal investments will be needed to address the affordable housing crisis that was only exacerbated by the pandemic, including a 10-year roadmap to recapitalize the public housing portfolio and a permanent and significant expansion of the Housing Choice Voucher program.
"CLPHA looks forward to working with the Biden-Harris administration to make stable housing a reality for all Americans."
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About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
About CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative |
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(202) 550-1381
For Immediate Release
March 10, 2021 |
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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.
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.
From FOX 29 San Antonio:
After several years of turmoil, progress is being made on the reimagined Alazan Courts on the near Westside.
The Courts have been the subject of discontent from residents who are desperate for better living conditions.
For Pearl Antu, a single mother who has lived at Alazan for five years, help can't come soon enough.
"I have four kids in a two-bedroom right now," she says.
Antu pays just $115 a month to live at Alazan. She was pleased to learn her rent won't go up when the $120-$150 million renovation project is complete.
"I'm happy with how it's going," she says. "It's just that there's still a couple of things that we're getting around to."
Since architectural firm Able City took over the design portion of rebuilding the dilapidated 83-year-old complex with Opportunity Home (formerly the San Antonio Housing Authority), residents have been pleased their opinions are being used in the new plans.
"I'm very impressed with the way that Opportunity Home and Able City have interacted with tenants," says Kayla Miranda, another Alazan-Apache Courts resident. "I think there's a little more on the community side that could be improved. I have my reservations on the designs. They will be knocking down several buildings that are currently in flood plains."
Read Fox 29 San Antonio's article "Reimagined Alazan Courts getting new tenant-influenced $150 million redesign," featuring Opportunity Home San Antonio.
HUD has awarded $10.4 million to PHAs for capital improvements in public housing developments that will enhance safety and security for residents. These funds are being awarded through HUD’s Capital Fund Emergency Safety and Security Program, and they support the Biden-Harris Administration’s Comprehensive Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gun Crime and Ensure Public Safety.
CLPHA previously reported that PHAs interested in seeking funding for installing, repairing, or replacing equipment and systems that enhance safety for residents, such as security systems/surveillance cameras, fencing, lighting systems, emergency alarm systems, carbon monoxide detectors, window bars, deadbolt locks, and doors could be eligible to fund projects up to $250,000 per PHA fiscal year.
CLPHA sends congratulations to the following members that received awards.
- Elm City Communities
- Housing Authority of Baltimore City
- New York City Housing Authority
- Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority
- Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority
- Opportunity Home San Antonio
- Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee
73-year-old Chicago resident Joe Ann Wilson spent nearly two decades in the same apartment, but during the COVID-19 pandemic she was forced to leave her home due to rising rents and subsequently moved between homeless shelters for a year and a half.
With help from Lakynna Dorrough, a rapid re-housing case manager, Ms. Wilson got a lifeline and a new apartment thanks to a Chicago Housing Authority Emergency Housing Voucher.
“It’s what we hope to accomplish every day,” Cheryl Burns, CHA’s Chief Housing Choice Voucher Officer, told CBS Chicago in a local news segment about Ms. Wilson’s story. “We wake up with the goal of helping families, so when you hear a story like [Ms. Wilson’s] it really does remind you why you’re doing this work.”
“I’m so very thankful,” Ms. Wilson told CBS Chicago.
You can watch the local news segment about Ms. Wilson’s story and the success of CHA’s EHV program here.
As part of a series of articles entitled “Rebuilding America,” Forbes Magazine featured CLPHA Board President and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority CEO Jeffery K. Patterson discussing how CMHA is working to transform its communities and increase opportunities for low-income Clevelanders.
In the article, Mr. Patterson highlights CMHA’s work to recapitalize its public housing portfolio and improve the conditions of its units through its 2045 Initiative. He also tells Forbes how the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced people to work, learn, and connect online has spurned CMHA to work harder and more intentionally to increase digital inclusivity for its residents, seeking out partners from other sectors to help expand high-speed internet access and offer digital devices to CMHA households.
Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced a new leadership structure at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), splitting the roles of NYCHA chair and chief executive officer. CLPHA Board Member Gregory Russ will continue in his role as chair of NYCHA’s board of directors, while General Counsel Lisa Bova-Hiatt will serve as interim CEO during the national search for a permanent CEO.
“Knowing the residents and NYCHA staff will be led by Lisa in the interim is an important move to continue strengthening NYCHA. As I step back into the role of chair of NYCHA’s Board of Directors, I will remain a resource and partner to Lisa, the NYCHA team, NYCHA residents, and the city,” said NYCHA Chair Gregory Russ. “My commitment to NYCHA remains as strong as ever, and as we strengthen the authority and deliver the Public Housing Preservation Trust together, I feel confident in the future of NYCHA.”
The restructuring represents a step forward in the next phase of NYCHA’s Transformation Plan and is consistent with the amendment to NYCHA’s bylaws adopted on June 15, 2022. In a press release, New York City Mayor Eric Adams notes that “[t]he separation of these roles establishes a new and more effective leadership structure — aligning NYCHA with the operating structure of public housing authorities nationwide and the leadership structure laid out in NYCHA’s Transformation Plan.”