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.
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Experts to Present First National Snapshot of Health Partnerships in Public Housing
Free Webinar Aug. 29, 12 PM ET
WASHINGTON (August 28, 2018) - Half of the nation’s public housing authorities (PHAs) are engaged in a resident health initiative, most with a health organization partner according to Health Starts at Home: A National Snapshot of Public Housing Authorities' Health Partnerships, the latest report released by the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC). The report provides the first national snapshot of PHA efforts to address residents’ health care needs and emphasizes opportunities for collaboration between the health and housing sectors.
Report authors Steve Lucas, MPH, CLPHA Health Research and Policy Manger for the Housing Is Initiative, Keely Stater, PHD, PAHRC Director of Research and Industry Intelligence, and Kelly McElwain, PAHRC Research Analyst III, will present their analysis during a free webinar on August 29, 2018 at 12:00 PM ET.
“Housing and health systems need to work together,” said Lucas, who designed and implemented the original survey that led to the report. “Public housing authorities are significant providers of housing to those in need, offering the health sector scale and expertise. We found that PHAs across the country are engaged in a wide range of partnerships with different health organizations that address various target populations and health priorities. Though there are barriers to housing-health collaboration, such as funding and staffing capacity, these can be overcome with cross-system partnerships that seek to address these needs.”
Lucas published the initial survey findings in an issue of CityScape, a research publication of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. The article, “Connecting Fragmented Systems: Public Housing Authority Partnerships with the Health Sector,” is posted to the HUD User website.
What: Free Webinar: Building PHA Health Initiatives and Cross-Sector Partnerships
When: Wednesday, August 29, 2018, 12:00 PM ET
WEBINAR RECORDING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5-jm5eF_YU&t=24s
Webinar Presenters
Steve Lucas, MPH
Health Research and Policy Manager, Housing Is Initiative,
Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
Keely Stater, PhD
Director of Research and Industry Intelligence,
Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation,
HAI Group's Research Division
Kelly McElwain
Research Analyst III,
Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation,
HAI Group's Research Division
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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 26 percent 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 Housing Is
CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative helps establish, broaden, and deepen efforts to align affordable housing, education, and health systems to produce positive, long-term results. We are building a future where systems work together to improve life outcomes for low-income people. Learn more at HousingIs.org and on Twitter @Housing_Is.
CLPHA Opposes Administration Proposal to Increase Rent Burden on Lowest-Income Residents
WASHINGTON (May 14, 2018) - The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) strongly opposes the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) recently announced proposal to increase rent burdens on low-income residents residing in public housing and assisted housing.
The core of HUD’s rent reform proposal is to shift the burden of chronic federal underfunding of assisted housing to low-income residents who can least afford it. While there are advantages to a proposal that simplifies rent calculations and reduces administrative burdens for public housing authorities (PHAs), this proposal requires that PHAs raise rents in order to benefit from common sense rent simplification. Even with the benefit of housing assistance, many public housing residents are already spending more than 30% of their income on rent. A 2017 HUD study reported that the average Housing Choice Voucher recipient had a rent burden of 37% in 2015. Nationally, we represent PHAs serving residents in the most expensive housing markets in the country, where voucher holders are especially likely to have to incur high rent burdens to gain access to higher opportunity neighborhoods of their choice.
Given existing rent burdens, this proposal raises serious concerns about the negative impact the proposed rent calculations would have on residents. Through changes to 35% of unadjusted income for families and 30% of unadjusted income for the elderly and disabled, many assisted households would see significant rent increases. For example, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) estimates that public housing residents would see an average 36% rent increase while Housing Choice Voucher households would experience an average 23% rent increase. With an average annual household income of $21,000 for public housing residents and $16,000 for voucher holders served by HACLA, these increases represent substantial burdens that may interfere with a household’s ability to afford other necessities.
Beyond concerns regarding the fairness of further cost-burdening residents, there is some evidence to suggest that increased rents do not financially benefit PHAs and may have the opposite effect. When the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) implemented a HUD-mandated flat rent increase in 2014, impacted residents experienced an average rent increase of 46%. NYCHA saw their rent collection rate decrease among those impacted by the increase. NYCHA’s experience reflects the reality that increased rent payments only exacerbates affordability issues and puts more residents at risk of delinquency and eviction, resulting in more challenges for PHAs and less predictable revenue.
In addition to our concerns about the impacts of the proposed rent calculations, we note that the timing of these proposed changes are problematic for two reasons. First, some components of the proposal contradict important changes to housing assistance made through the recent federally enacted Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA) in 2016 by unanimous vote of the House and Senate. HUD has yet to publish implementation regulations for some of the key provisions in the bill. For example, HOTMA increased the deduction of medical expenses for elderly and disabled families and tied the deduction to inflation, while HUD’s proposal eliminates these deductions entirely. A significant number of elderly and disabled households currently use medical deductions, many of whom have substantial medical costs. We question the elimination of this deduction particularly when it is already undergoing a very different set of changes through congressionally-mandated HOTMA.
We also question the timing of these proposed changes given the fact that in 2012, HUD commissioned a four-site demonstration from MDRC to study several rent reform elements included in the proposal, including triennial recertification, elimination of income deductions, and ignorable asset limits. One of the research questions the demonstration is explicitly testing is whether these reforms reduce work disincentives and increase family self-sufficiency among families receiving vouchers. With results expected in 2019, HUD should use insights from the study to inform design of a rent reform model that most effectively promotes self-sufficiency.
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About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
CLPHA, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit organization working to preserve and improve public and affordable housing through advocacy, research, policy analysis and public education. It represents most of the nation’s largest public housing authorities.
Web tool targets idea-sharing and improves cross-sector
collaboration to help low-income families
April 22, 2021
About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
About CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative |
April 9, 2021
About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
About CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative |
(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 |
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 the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority's press release:
The VI Housing Finance Authority’s (VIHFA) Board of Directors announce the appointment of Eugene Jones, Jr. as its new Executive Director, effective Monday, April 8, 2024. With a strong track record of transformative leadership in public housing agencies across the United States and Canada, Mr. Jones brings a fresh perspective and a bold vision to address the housing challenges in the Virgin Islands.
“I am thrilled to announce that after a rigorous and thorough search process, the Board of Directors of the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority has selected Mr. Eugene Jones as the new Executive Director. Mr. Jones brings with him a wealth of experience and expertise, having previously served in numerous roles, including most recently as the Executive Director of the Atlanta Housing Authority,” shared VIHFA Board Chair Jenifer O’Neal.
“His leadership and vision will undoubtedly steer our organization towards greater heights, furthering our mission of providing affordable housing solutions to the residents of the Virgin Islands. As Chair of the Board, I join the other members in extending a warm welcome to Mr. Jones as he embarks on this new journey with us,” she added.
Mr. Jones has spent his entire career dedicated to improving housing conditions and fostering vibrant communities. Renowned as "Mr. Fix-It" within the industry, he has been instrumental in revitalizing troubled housing agencies in cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Toronto, New Orleans, and Detroit.
Reflecting on his appointment by the VIHFA Board of Directors, Mr. Jones remarked, "I am honored to join the Virgin Islands community as the Executive Director of VIHFA. Throughout my career, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of safe and accessible housing. It's not just about providing shelter; it's about building communities where people can truly call home, where they can thrive, and create lasting connections."
Mr. Jones is known for challenging conventional thinking in the housing sector and emphasizes the importance of creating inclusive communities. As Executive Director, Mr. Jones will lead VIHFA in its mission to provide quality housing and promote economic development throughout the Virgin Islands.
CLPHA congratulates Mr. Jones on his new role!
We are pleased to announce that the Brookline Housing Authority has become a member of CLPHA!
The Brookline Housing Authority provides rental assistance to over 1,500 households in Brookline, MA. Michael Alperin serves as the agency's Executive Director. Learn more at brooklinehousing.org.
Please join us in welcoming BHA to CLPHA – we look forward to working together to improve life outcomes for families served by PHAs!
Seattle Housing Authority’s Pioneering Foster Youth Wraparound Services Highlighted
HUD announced $12.7 million will be available to PHAs on a competitive basis through HUD’s Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Initiative to provide housing assistance to young adults transitioning out of foster care. These FYI vouchers will be used to provide housing assistance to young adults in between the ages of 18 years and not more than 24 years old who left foster care or will leave foster care in the next 90 days and are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Eligibility requirements to apply for the FYI Competitive vouchers can be found here.
FYI makes Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) assistance available to PHAs in partnership with Public Child Welfare Agencies (PCWAs). This funding helps connect youth and young adults in foster care with stable housing and mitigate experiences of homelessness during their transition out of foster care.
Questions regarding the FYI Competitive Notice of Funding Opportunity for Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024 should be directed to FYICompetitive@hud.gov.
HUD’s new Northwest Regional Administrator and former CLPHA Board Member Andrew Lofton made the announcement in Seattle at an event with the Seattle Housing Authority. In nearly 15 years of working with youth exiting the foster care system, the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) has developed an integrated model to provide personalized wraparound services designed to equip youth with the housing and education, training and employment services they need to stabilize and build toward self-sufficiency. Based on its success, and a regional network SHA partners with, it was one of the first housing authorities to receive an allocation of Foster Youth to Independence vouchers, followed by a second allocation approximately a year later. SHA’s funding flexibility through HUD’s Moving to Work program has also enabled SHA to extend the time frame for voucher and service support to formerly foster youth who are actively working to establish independence but need a little more time to be successful.
From the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC):
Lack of affordable housing is a barrier for many in America and has left many community college students facing homelessness.
More than a quarter (26.6%) of all public community colleges have on-campus housing. And in the last year, more community colleges have been working—often in partnership with outside organizations — to provide affordable housing options for their students.
In early March, Columbus State Community College announced plans for Opportunity Pointe, a $47 million housing project adjacent to the college’s downtown campus.
The Ohio college has an independent real estate nonprofit, Columbus State Community Partners (CSCP), which was authorized in 2019 by Columbus State’s board of trustees to “advance, encourage and promote real estate development that supports the college’s mission,” according to the college’s website.
CSCP is partnering with housing developer Woda Cooper Companies, Inc., which will build and manage the 160-unit affordable apartment complex. Twenty units in the complex will be set aside for Columbus State students.
CSCP will contribute seven parcels to the project through a long-term land lease with Woda Cooper, which aims to secure additional parcels on the block.
Read AACC's article "Expanding affordable housing options for students."
From the Fairfax County and Redevelopment Authority's press release:
The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) plans to implement a major increase in the rental assistance to individuals with serious mental illness.
During their March 14, 2024 meeting, the FCRHA’s commissioners approved a $20 million agreement with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) to increase access to supportive, affordable rental housing options for individuals with serious mental illness. The additional funding is expected to help prevent homelessness among individuals with serious mental illness, as well as reduce census at state psychiatric hospitals.
“Increasing access to affordable housing reduces homelessness. To be successful, we need to think about the individual’s whole life and what is needed to get them back on their feet. That is why this funding is so important – it provides critical support services along with rental assistance needed for people to be successful in their new home,” said Tom Fleetwood, Director, Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development.
Beginning in May 2024, the approved Memorandum of Agreement between the FCRHA and DBHDS will:
- Add 300 new supportive rental assistance vouchers available to Fairfax County residents over three years
- Create three new staff positions at the FCRHA to operate the program
Through a separate partnership with Pathways Homes, 50 participants will receive critical supportive services such as psychiatry, case management, and skill-building services with psychosocial rehabilitation. They can also gain access to funds for moving expenses, security deposits, and other expenses needed to lease a unit. The remaining 250 participants will be coupled with two Supportive Housing Teams under a separate contract.
The Fairfax County Community Service Board (CSB) will be coordinating referrals from various stakeholders such as state hospitals and the homeless Continuum of Care. The program prioritizes individuals experiencing long-term or repeated episodes of homelessness, individuals and those whose housing instability frequently leads to crisis, hospital visits, or contact with criminal justice systems. It also emphasizes those who are leaving state psychiatric hospitals, and people residing in congregate care settings with a high concentration of individuals with serious mental illness.