The House showed strong bi-partisan support in voting to pass HR 1851, the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA), a couple of days ago on July 12th.

Overall, this is a good piece of legislation that will make a lot of improvements to HUD housing policies. You can view a nice breakdown of SEVRA by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) by clicking here.

Since support was so strong for this bill, the Senate is expected to file a companion bill fairly soon, perhaps by the end of the month.

However, the bill is not perfect. One troubling amendment that was added to the SEVRA bill is similar to the new HUD proposal that is mentioned below concerning identification requirements. According to Barbara Sard, the Housing Policy Analyst for the CBPP, it:

will require every member of a household, including those not receiving assistance due to proration, to provide a Social Security card and government-issued photo ID or passport (including a foreign passport) or other “REAL ID” in order for the household to receive housing voucher assistance. This provision likely would require the termination of voucher assistance for many current “mixed households,” including citizens and legal residents, and could result in termination of assistance for other citizens or legal residents who are not able to provide the required forms of identification.

From BeyondChron:

HUD Proposal a Big Threat To Subsidized Renters

by Lynda Carson‚ Jun. 26‚ 2007

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has proposed some big changes to the way its public housing and Section 8 tenants are being scrutinized, and wants the tenants in both programs to be able to prove their citizenship or provide Social Security cards at any given notice no matter what their age, or face termination or funding cuts from the programs.

Currently, housing authorities are restricted and can only demand that its tenants (U.S. citizens) in public housing and the Section 8 program verify their Social Security numbers and citizenship one time only, whlie residing at the same residence, or before moving in. HUD wants to end the “one-time policy,” and demand papers at any given notice.

Now HUD wants to end the “one-time policy,” which would catch tenants off guard, and end the 60 day provision that allows tenants time to have the Social Security Administration send them a social security card.

The following is from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s latest “Memo to Members,” which describes some new proposals that are designed to catch existing renters in public housing & Section 8 off guard, and force them out of the nation’s housing assistance programs:

HUD Proposes Changes to Housing Beneficiaries’ Social Security and Citizenship Documentation

On June 19, HUD proposed several changes relating to the processes for people applying for or continuing to participate in the public housing, voucher, private multi-family housing and HOME programs.

Currently, HUD requires applicants and participants in these HUD programs to provide Employer Identification Numbers, citizenship or eligible immigration status, and Social Security Numbers (SSNs) for all those over 6 years of age. HUD proposes eliminating the SSN age threshold and requiring a SSN as well as an actual Social Security card or other form of documentation for all ages, including those under 6.

HUD also proposes to eliminate the current 60-day period for people to obtain a Social Security card or other documentation when they have a SSN but can’t prove it. In addition, HUD proposes to pro-rate assistance to a household, reducing assistance in proportion to the number of household members unable to provide a SSN and documentation.

Existing regulations require citizens to simply sign a declaration that they are citizens. HUD proposes that all applicants provide documentation such as passport, birth certificate, Social Security card, Alien Registration card, Employment Authorization card or Temporary Resident card.

HUD proposes to eliminate the “temporary deferral of termination of assistance” for families that have members who are not citizens. However, families that were covered on June 19, 1995 and have a member formally recognized by the government as a refugee or asylum seeker may continue to be eligible.

HUD proposes to change the definition of annual income from anticipated future income to actual income received during the 12-month period prior to admission to housing or prior to the effective date of an annual income re-examination.

HUD proposes that public housing agencies (PHAs) be required to use the new upfront income verification (UIV) process. HUD explains that UIV is the use of independent sources to verify a family’s income before application for housing assistance and during annual re-examination. Currently PHAs have to contact individual employers and review handwritten documents.

UIV will use HUD’s existing Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system or computer matching agreements with a federal, state or local government agency or with private entities. The obligations of private multifamily owners is cloudy due to the limited availability of EIV to them and due to the difficulty they might have in securing computer matching arrangements with other government entities.

Public Comment is due August 20.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Lynda Carson is a tenant activist who lives in Oakland.

Here’s an excerpt from a story in the Washington Post that really outlines the importance of our organization and why tenants need to organize:

The Washington region stands to lose about 26,000 affordable housing units over the next five years as a number of property owners opt out of a housing program designed to keep rents low.

Many contracts signed under the project-based Section 8 program are expiring. And with property values having risen dramatically, some owners are selling their buildings or converting them to condominiums or upscale rentals.

The District lost 312 affordable units, or about 13.7 percent of the eligible properties, between 2001 and 2005, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Maryland lost 2,036 units, or about 13.3 percent of its total, and Virginia lost 1,827, or 10.5 percent.

And 26,000 additional units in the District, Virginia and Maryland are owned by for-profit landlords whose contracts expire within five years.

Housing officials are concerned, especially because the project-based Section 8 program accounts for 22,000 properties and 1.5 million units nationwide. “We couldn’t build them again,” said Stephanie Killian of the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs. A separate Section 8 voucher program provides rent subsidies for another 1.8 million low-income households.

More than three decades ago, the federal government came up with a novel approach to creating affordable housing: guarantee subsidies to property owners who agreed to keep rents low for 20, 30, even 40 years.

As the Section 8 program dwindles, the need for affordable housing continues to grow. In a newly released report by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department, nearly 6 million Americans faced severe difficulties paying rent or lived in substandard housing in 2005, up substantially since 2003.

The National Low-Income Housing Coalition recently sent out this eye opening press release about the housing crisis in our country:

HUD Report Shows 16% Increase in Unmet Housing Needs of Nation’s Poorest Families: Major Federal Recommitment to Low Income Housing Needed

WASHINGTON, DC – A significant increase in the unmet housing needs among very low income renters in the U.S. underscores the urgency for Congress to rebuild important federal housing resources which have been underfunded for many years, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

Affordable Housing Needs 2005: Report to Congress, a biannual report released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows a substantial increase in unmet housing needs among the nation’s very low income renters. The number of households with “worst case housing needs” jumped from 5.18 million in 2003, the year covered in the last report, to nearly 6 million in 2005, a 16% increase.

HUD defines households with “worst case needs” as unassisted renters with incomes below 50% of area median income who live in substandard housing and/or pay more than half of their income for housing. Unassisted renters are renters who do not receive any housing aid.

NLIHC President Sheila Crowley said a substantial increase in funding for federal housing programs is necessary to make up several years of neglect of serious housing problems by the Administration and Congress.

“An increase of 800,000 households with ‘worst case needs’ in just two years provides quantitative evidence for what millions of low income families already know – the vaulted American housing market does not work for them,” Crowley said. “And the federal government has failed to intervene to assure the most basic of human needs – safe, decent and affordable housing – for all its citizens. This severe housing shortage means that the benefits from good, affordable housing, including educational achievement, better health, successful employment, optimal child well-being and high functioning neighborhoods remain out of reach for a large and growing number of households.”

NLIHC calls for the establishment of a National Housing Trust Fund to build or preserve 1.5 million rental units affordable for the lowest income families over 10 years, the addition of at least 100,000 new housing vouchers a year for at least 10 years, restoration of funding needed to preserve and improve the nation’s public housing stock, and expansion of federal programs to end and prevent homelessness, among other measures.

“In the absence of a renewed commitment to federal housing programs, the 10-year plans to end homelessness that the Administration is pushing state and local governments to write are not worth the paper they are written on,” said Crowley. “I hope this report convinces policymakers that housing for low income families must be a priority again.”

According to the report, worst case needs are most prevalent among extremely low income households, defined as households earning less than 30% of area median income. In 2005, 72% of these households had a worst case need, up from 66% in 2003. Moreover, in 2005, there were only 35 affordable, available and physically adequate homes for every 100 extremely low income renters, compared to 40 in 2003.

Other key findings in the report include:

* The composition of households with worst case needs is diverse, including 1.29 million elderly households, 542,000 households headed by a non-elderly person with a disability and 2.32 million families with children, the group with the largest increase from 2003 to 2005. * All regions of the country were affected. Cities, suburbs and non-metropolitan areas all experienced increases in the number of households with worst case needs, with 14.9%, 5.3% and 51% increases, respectively. * 91% of households with worst case needs experience severe rent burdens (pays more than 50% of income for rent), while another 4% experience severe rent burdens along with substandard housing.

Affordable Housing Needs 2005: Report to Congress uses the latest available data from the 2005 American Housing Survey. The report does not include data from the latter part of 2005, so increases in unmet housing needs are not attributable to the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The full report can be found here: http://www.huduser.org/publications/affhsg/affhsgneeds.html

NLIHC is a Washington DC-based national policy and advocacy organization dedicated solely to ending America’s affordable housing crisis.

Thanks to Senator Whitehouse, Mayor Cicilline, RI Housing, and POAH for their dedication to preserving low-income housing in the state.

Excerpt of story from Providence Business News:

PROVIDENCE – U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Mayor David N. Cicilline today joined in announcing a multimillion-dollar initiative that will keep 254 apartments affordable for at least 40 years.

The deal, announced this afternoon at Pocasset Manor, is a collaboration between of Rhode Island Housing, Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc. (POAH) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The apartments in question are at Pocasset and two other complexes – Hillside Village and Hillcrest Village – that have been purchased recently by POAH using $36 million in financing and tax credits from Rhode Island Housing.

(A national nonprofit organization that purchases housing to preserve its long-term affordability, POAH already owns 232 housing units in Narragansett and Jamestown.)

Besides committing to keeping the Providence apartments affordable, POAH also has agreed to finance $8.2 million in repairs and renovations at the three complexes.

“Saving these homes is an essential investment in a Providence where everyone can afford a home, now and in the future,” said Amy Anthony, president of POAH.

From HUD:

HUD UNVEILS LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY (LEP) GUIDANCE
Agency to translate apartment lease into multiple languages to assist landlords and managers

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it published guidance in the Federal Register today to assist housing providers in ensuring that people with limited English proficiency (LEP) have equal access to housing.

On July 8, 2002, a letter from then Assistant Attorney General Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., noted that President George W. Bush affirmed his commitment to Executive Order (EO) 13166, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with LEP.” EO 13166 requires all federal, local and state agencies that receive federal funding ensure that people with limited skills have meaningful access to government programs and services.

The policy is not a regulation but rather guidance. Title VI and its implementing regulations require that recipients take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access by LEP persons. The guidance provides an analytical framework that recipients may use to determine how best to comply with statutory and regulatory obligations to provide meaningful access to the benefits, services, information, and other important portions of their programs and activities for individuals who have limited English proficiency.

“The goal of the LEP guidance is to eliminate the disparities in access to housing between those with a limited comprehension of English and fluent English-speakers,” explained Kim Kendrick, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “When signing a lease for an apartment or a contract for a new home, people—regardless of their nationality—should have access to forms, brochures and other important housing information they can understand.”

HUD currently has discrimination complaint forms in Arabic, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese and Spanish, and one model lease in Spanish. These documents are currently available on HUD’s website for free to the public. In the future, HUD, an agency that offers a Spanish-language website, also plans to translate a model apartment lease into French, Portuguese, Korean, Americ, Russian and Chinese.

“From the battered immigrant women and their children, to the low-wage immigrant worker, to the owner operating a business in an economically distressed neighborhood, language barriers confront so many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (APPI) and limit their ability to improve their economic situation,” said Lisa Hasegawa, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development. “Over half of Vietnamese, Hmong, Cambodian, Bangladeshi, Laotian, and Taiwanese are limited in their English proficiency. This guidance is an important tool to ensure that HUD programs are accessible to all people living in the United States, regardless of the language they speak.”

HUD will hold a meeting at HUD Headquarters on February 13, 2007, to brief interested members of the public on the LEP Final Guidance and respond to questions about the guidance. The LEP Guidance meeting will be held from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm (Eastern time) at HUD Headquarters, for which the address is the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410.

Members of the public who are interested in attending this meeting must submit a request by sending an email to limitedenglishproficiency@hud.gov. The email must contain the participant’s name, contact information, and basis for interest in this meeting. In addition, participants who require a reasonable accommodation should identify the accommodation they need to attend and fully participate in this meeting. The deadline for submitting requests is Friday, February 9, 2007.

FHEO and its partners in the Fair Housing Assistance Program investigate approximately 10,300 housing discrimination complaints annually. People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at
1-800-669-9777 (voice), (800)-927-9275 (TTY). Additional information is available at www.hud.gov/fairhousing.

Residents of the HUD-subsidized Medina Village apartments in Providence’s West End have come together to save 83 affordable homes from possible foreclosure.

Since April, the Medina Village Tenant Association has been fighting for HUD to approve the money for the repairs. If the apartments are not repaired, the property may be foreclosed, resulting in a loss of 83 affordable homes, causing neighborhood conditions to deteriorate, and a rise in violence and delinquency. Some tenants have put up with deteriorating apartment conditions such as leaking ceilings and holes in their walls for ten years.

In 2004, Cornell Management, which specializes in turning around dilapidated properties, took over management of Medina Village. The company has submitted a repair and refinance plan to HUD’s Office of Affordable Housing Preservation, and is waiting a response, which may take months. Meanwhile, the majority of the apartments are in poor condition and many have been abandoned. The nation has lost more than 300,000 affordable, HUD-subsidized units in the last decade, often through foreclosure of troubled properties like Medina Village. The loss of HUD housing is one factor in our country’s current affordable housing crisis.

The tenants seek a quick, affirmative decision from HUD’s Office of Affordable Housing Preservation. They are seeking the support of local politicians, churches, businesses, and social organizations who can write letters to HUD in support of their cause.

Community members who would like to help may contact Lizandra Eusevio, spokesperson for the Medina Village Tenant Association, at 351-2912.

We are thrilled to post this excerpt from the Providence Journal. Click the link to read the full story. Special thanks to Karen Davis for her continued coverage of important housing issues.

PROVIDENCE —South Side residents of the Colony housing complex were notified last week that a state housing agency has stepped forward to pay for $900,000 in repairs to save the 17-unit building from foreclosure.

The good news came from Rhode Island Housing on Aug. 10, just as residents of the federally subsidized apartments were preparing to rally at City Hall.

“The Colony residents are tickled pink, Alma Green [the president of the Women’s Development Corporation, which will be the building’s new owner] is tickled pink . . . we’re all just so happy,” said Lisa Reels, an organizer from the Rhode Island HUD Tenant Project, which has helped tenants launch a campaign to save the building at 625 Public St. from being condemned.

Residents have been in limbo for more than four years as the building’s former owner and Green have tried to negotiate with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to allow for the mortgage to be refinanced.

While negotiations dragged on, the building continued to deteriorate.

Earlier this year, Colony residents stepped up their yearlong campaign to draw attention to the building; they traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby lawmakers for money and also urged state and city officials to pitch in.

Rhode Island Housing responded by providing more than $1 million to help pay off the mortgage and finance repairs.

The state Housing Commission agreed to allocate $300,000 from the Neighborhood Opportunities Program.

Green’s nonprofit company, the Women’s Development Corporation, pledged $125,000.

But the project was still $300,000 short.

Earlier this month, the residents began lobbying the Providence Redevelopment Agency to allocate money from a housing trust fund to help save the Colony.

Reels said the tenants were able to suspend their lobbying efforts after Rhode Island Housing officials agreed to “totally fund the revitalization project for the tenants.”

“I feel good, I am very relieved,” said Mayrovi Cedano, who has lived at the Colony for three years and has one son. “I was hoping that something like this would happen.”

Once again, Karen Davis from the ProJo has done a great job covering the plight of low-income tenants in RI.

Here’s an excerpt from her latest story:

An additional $300,000 is needed to preserve affordable housing at the Colony apartments.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 9, 2006

BY KAREN A. DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE —Residents of a small federally subsidized apartment building who have been lobbying to help save their deteriorating complex are appealing to the Providence Redevelopment Agency for financial assistance.

Tenants of the Colony, a 17-unit building at 625 Public St., have lived in limbo for four years as the building’s owner and a potential buyer have tried to negotiate with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to allow for the mortgage to be refinanced and to pay for $900,000 in repairs.

In the meantime, the building has become so neglected that the property could be condemned if repairs are not made soon, according to Rachel Van Cleve, a spokeswoman for the Rhode Island HUD Tenant Project, an advocacy group.

In May, the tenants held a cleanup day to get rid of debris on the property and draw attention to the problem. They have also traveled to Washington, D.C., in a failed effort to seek more money or a favorable solution from HUD.

They have asked the City of Providence and Rhode Island Housing to step in to make the repairs and save their affordable housing.

Van Cleve said Rhode Island Housing provided more than $1 million to help pay off the mortgage and finance repairs.

State officials have agreed to commit $300,000 from the Neighborhood Opportunities Program. The Women’s Development Corporation, a nonprofit corporation that seeks to buy the building at a minimal cost, has pledged $125,000.

The project is still $300,000 short, Van Cleve said.

Tomorrow, tenants will take their campaign to the Providence Redevelopment Agency’s monthly meeting in an attempt to get money from the city’s housing trust fund.

The fund, estimated at $4 million, was created last year by consolidating proceeds from federal grants for affordable housing, neighborhood bond money and contributions from developers.

Van Cleve said the residents have felt stymied in their quest to get housing trust fund money because planning officials will not tell them how much the fund contains or how the money will be spent.

Colony residents believe saving affordable housing—in a city and state that is experiencing a severe shortage of affordable housing—is a legitimate way to spend the money.

“The bottom line is to save the 17 affordable housing units,” said Van Cleve, who has requested documents that outline how the housing trust fund is to be used. “On principle, we think the city needs to play it straight with what they have and what it’s going to be used for and considering using for the Colony, where a little bit of funding can go a long way.”

The tenants sent a letter to Mayor David N. Cicilline, noting “there are seven families living in poor conditions and we want to see our building repaired as soon as possible. If the city can devote resources to help fix buildings downtown, why not help us when we are in danger of losing our homes?”

After a 9-month tenant organizing campaign, Barbara Jordan I owner Katrina Davis Griffin has agreed to renew her project-based Section 8 contract for one year, according to a statement released today by Mayor David Cicilline.

Tenant association members expressed a mixture of satisfaction and relief. “That shows us something happens when you push,” commented Cecilia Arias, a member of the tenant association.

The Barbara Jordan Tenant Association organized in the fall of 2005, after receiving a 1-year notice from Ms. Griffin of her intent not to renew her project-based Section 8 contract when it expired at the end of July, 2006.

Tenants pursued a three-pronged strategy to convince the owner to renew. First, they engaged Rhode Island Housing, convincing the agency to enforce the state’s 2-year notice law with a lawsuit submitted on June 30.

Second, the tenants led a successful campaign at the state legislature, culminating in the nearly unanimous passage of a new amendment requiring owners who intend to leave the project-based Section 8 program to offer to sell the property to a preservation buyer, including the tenant association, RI Housing, local housing authority, or municipal government. The amendment, a brainchild of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants in Boston, was championed by Representative Joe Almeida (D-Providence) and Senator Harold Metts (D-Providence), and signed by Governor Carcieri on July 3.

Finally, tenants appealed directly to Ms. Griffin in a letter-writing campaign in late March.

Tenant organizers from the RI HUD Tenant Project credit RI Housing for its significant role in winning a 1-year contract renewal. “Ms. Griffin is doing the right thing,” said Rachel Van Cleve, Lead Organizer of the RI HUD Tenant Project. “Rhode Island Housing’s lawsuit helped make that choice clear.”

The mayor’s press release indicated that Ms. Griffin would use the next year to seek a long-term agreement with HUD, and that if an agreement could not be reached, might again attempt to leave the Section 8 program. However, to be in compliance with state law, Ms. Griffin must give tenants 2 years notice of any renewed intent to opt out. In addition, the newly amended Affordable Housing Preservation Act restricts her ability to leave the program without first offering to sell to a buyer who could keep the project affordable.