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David Greer
Director of Communications
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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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CLPHA Applauds Appointment of Greg Russ to Lead New York City Housing Authority
Greg Russ is the right leader at the right time to oversee NYCHA and tackle the unique challenges facing the nation's largest and oldest public housing authority.
WASHINGTON (June 19, 2019) - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the City of New York yesterday announced the appointment of Gregory Russ to serve as the next Chair of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).
Sunia Zaterman, Executive Director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) issued the following statement in support of the city's selection of Russ, who is the current CEO/Executive Director of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) and a member of CLPHA's Board of Directors:
"Greg Russ is the right leader at the right time to oversee NYCHA and tackle the challenges facing the nation's largest and oldest public housing authority. Greg is a distinguished public housing executive and proven change maker who has led with innovation to positively transform affordable housing for residents and communities. He is uniquely qualified for this position because of his experience as the Director of Troubled Agency Recovery and his work at the Chicago and Philadelphia housing authorities.
"Throughout his career, Greg has shown a commitment to preserving and improving the public housing stock while promoting self sufficiency and economic opportunities for HUD-assisted families in PHAs across the nation. In addition to his leadership in the field, Greg is considered a national expert on public housing policy.
"CLPHA applauds Mayor Bill de Blasio's selection of Greg Russ to serve as NYCHA's next chair and we look forward to supporting Greg in his new role."
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 insect the housing field and other areas of critical importance such as health and education.
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This month, HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) newsletter focused their spotlight on the Housing Authority of Kansas City's Sam Rodgers Place and discussed how HAKC and Kansas City successfully developed and implemented a comprehensive Choice Neighborhoods housing plan that responded to resident needs and culminated in a healthy living community that combined health and wellness with mixed-income housing.
From the Tacoma Housing Authority's press release:
Ballmer Group has awarded the Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) a three-year $1,233,000 grant. The funds will be used to expand capacity in THA’s successful 2GEN Family Engagement Program, which emphasizes a multi-generational approach to housing and family engagement, stability, and thriving for THA clients. The goal of the program is to create opportunities for families of elementary, middle, and high school students to learn about and practice Social Emotional Learning (SEL) together.
“We are excited to receive this grant from Ballmer Group in support of our 2GEN program,” said Tacoma Housing Authority Executive Director April Black. “2GEN is one of our most critical and successful programs in engaging THA families beyond housing, supporting their social, emotional, educational, and career development growth.” The 2Gen program focuses on whole family engagement and support, and this funding will help us bring on 50% more partners to a total of 18 partner organizations, to provide programming and support on-site and will allow for double the number of families served and goal plans completed. Ultimately, the program will serve no less than 110 families annually, including all members of the household, by the end of 2025.
Grant funding will support 2GEN staffing, professional development, and contracted partnership costs for expanded learning opportunities and mental and emotional well-being. THA’s Client Support & Empowerment (CSE) department, the department that created and oversees the 2GEN program, seeks to use these funds to expand access to our 2Gen program across our THA portfolio, including the Salishan neighborhood. We will continue to expand family-centered coaching practices into a supportive services model that recognizes the natural assets of multi-generational families and the importance of a multi-layered support ecosystem. We will integrate mental and emotional well-being into the model through social-emotional learning, mental health partnerships, and family-driven goal setting. Professional development dollars will enable CSE to implement The Prosperity Agenda’s Family-Centered Coaching model and help institute a sustainable train-the-trainer model to all 2GEN staff. This funding will also allow CSE to double the number of service contracts with smaller, grassroots organizations providing culturally relevant programming.
From the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority's website article:
The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) provides public and deeply affordable housing to nearly 10,000 residents at 30 percent of the resident’s adjusted income. For the thousands of residents on a fixed income, that means being vulnerable to macroeconomic conditions like inflation for their regular cost of living expenses. While paying $20 more for groceries a week might not seem like a lot to some, for those living in MPHA housing on a fixed income, that change can significantly alter their monthly budget.
Since the pandemic, MPHA has seen a significant increase in the number of residents not making rent payments. Unfortunately, because federal regulations require MPHA to collect rent and prevent the agency from waiving owed balances from current residents, the agency has seen a growing number of residents who had their housing threatened because of changes in their personal expenses.
Seeing this trend emerge early in the pandemic, MPHA established an internal housing stabilization team dedicated to connecting residents that had back-owed rents with various financial and service supports. The team was intended to help residents solve both their immediate financial needs to remain housed and aid in making lasting changes to ensure continued rent payment.
During the pandemic, MPHA assisted nearly 750 MPHA families receive more than $2.5 million in rent relief through RentHelpMN. But while state rental assistance went away, the economic hardships of MPHA residents did not. As a result, the housing stabilization team shifted to Hennepin County’s emergency assistance program. In 2023, the team assisted nearly 450 MPHA families receive more than $800,000 in rent relief payments from Hennepin County’s emergency assistance program.
Leading this work at MPHA is A Vue, Housing Stability Coordinator. A works across MPHA teams and with external partners to ensure residents can remain housed when they face financial challenges.
“Whether it is a single event—like a hospital stay—or a series of unexpected expenses that prevented a resident from paying their rent, having to pay back-rent can be overwhelming,” said A Vue, Housing Stability Coordinator at MPHA. “Our housing stabilization work saves many from eviction.”
When a resident first misses their rent payment, numerous MPHA teams work to connect with the resident. Team members from property management, rent collection, and on-site social services teams work to connect with the residents to understand their unique situation and needs. In some cases, it is as simple as the resident forgetting to pay, but often the missed payment is a result of a changing financial situation.
If a MPHA resident misses a rent payment, staff takes an all-of-the-above approach to help the resident make their payment. On-site property management and social service teams will work to make sure the resident is receiving any social, medical, or wellness benefits they need. The housing stabilization team will connect with the resident to discuss a possible emergency rent assistance application to help clear owed balances.
“We are committed to assisting our residents. Offering support and resources, especially when they aren’t expecting it, brings hope,” said A.
From the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority's press release:
The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) Board of Commissioners today approved a combined total of nearly $100 million in new investments that will develop or preserve more than 700 apartments for Columbus-area seniors, families and people with disabilities.
“This major investment represents CMHA’s continuing commitment to provide affordable housing and meet the needs of our neighbors in Columbus and throughout Franklin County,” said CMHA Board Chair James L. Ervin Jr. “We remain dedicated to our values of community, commitment, and collaboration. CMHA will continue to leverage all our resources to find innovative paths to help meet the region’s evolving housing needs."
The community investments approved by CMHA’s Board include:
- River and Rich (phase II): Authorizing the issuance and sale of $47.5 million in general revenue bonds to acquire, construct and equip an approximately 234-unit rental housing community with commercial space. Partners on this project include: Casto, The Robert Weiler Company, The Kelley Companies, and Mark Cain, of S. Cain Development and Construction.
- Country Ridge: Issuing $17.5 million in general revenue bonds to renovate the 96-unit multifamily residential apartment complex at 5656 Farmhouse Lane in Hilliard.
- Maplewood Heights Apartments & Sugar Grove Square Apartments: Issuing $25 million in general revenue bonds to renovate the 71-unit complex of one-bedroom apartments at 91 Maplewood Ave. in Westerville and the 120-unit complex of one-bedroom apartments at 530 S. State St. in Whitehall. These apartment complexes serve senior families and provide comprehensive support services.
- Southpoint Place – Family & Singles: Investing $9 million to renew CMHA's Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) through 2039 for residents of the 40-unit family complex of two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments and 15 single-unit apartments, which also receive comprehensive support services.
- Nelson Park Apartments: Acquiring and renovating the 172-unit multifamily community. Partners on this project include Renewal Housing Associates, LLC, and The Orlean Company. Financial details will be released pending final authorization of the terms.
The $90 million bond plan and $9 million allocation of PBVs is part of CMHA’s long-term strategy to grow investment in the region’s housing stock and to more effectively address central Ohio’s housing shortage, agency officials said. The additional $90 million in bonds will bring CMHA’s total bond issuance to more than $171 million for the development and preservation of affordable housing. This was spurred by the A+ rating the authority received from S&P Global Ratings.
S&P is considered the largest of the three major credit rating agencies, which also include Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings. The A+ rating was secured after extensive third-party reviews and reporting from CMHA’s finance team.
“Our S&P A+ rating will significantly reduce the agency’s cost of financing by providing access to the bond markets,” CMHA CEO Charles D. Hillman said. “These factors create a self-sustaining model that will assist us in delivering on our strategic goal of adding to our portfolio a minimum of 500 units of housing per year over each of the next five years.”
CMHA’s PBV program is part of the federal Housing Choice Voucher program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Families or individuals in units with PBVs contribute 30% of their income for rent and utilities. The voucher pays the difference between the tenant contribution and the unit’s total rent and utility costs. Tenants in PBV units are assisted as long as they live in the unit and continue to qualify for the program.
PBVs are the largest, most available tool to create new project-based rental assistance, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute that works at the federal and state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.
Data from the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio (AHACO) shows only 29 affordable housing units are available for every 100 extremely low-income households in the Columbus and Franklin County area. AHACO estimates 54,000 low- and moderate-income households in Franklin County pay more than half their income toward housing costs. Central Ohio also faces a deficit of 11,000 to 14,000 new housing units every year to support a healthy housing market.
From the San Diego Housing Commission's press release:
As crews on excavators and other heavy machinery worked to clear concrete and prepare the East Village site for construction, a groundbreaking ceremony across the street today celebrated an affordable housing development in collaboration with the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) that will provide 270 affordable rental apartments for San Diegans with lower income, including people experiencing homelessness.
“As Mayor, I’ve been working to make needed game-changing reforms to our city policies to increase the amount of housing that San Diegans can afford,” Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement read at the groundbreaking. He was unable to attend the ceremony due to the ongoing efforts to support recovery from last week’s storm. “In partnership, it’s the home builders who put hammer to nail and do the work on the ground to create the homes that bring stability to people’s lives. It’s firms like Chelsea Investment Corporation and projects like Harrington Heights that are the real difference-makers in our efforts to solve our homelessness and housing crisis.”
Developed by Chelsea Investment Corporation near the intersection of Broadway and 13th Street in San Diego’s East Village neighborhood, Harrington Heights will remain affordable for 55 years for households with income up to 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), approximately $62,000 for a three-person household. Some units will serve San Diegans with lower incomes, including individuals earning about $24,000 a year or less.
“When I speak to community groups, I often refer to this project, Harrington Heights, as an example of the kind of housing that San Diego needs to build,” said San Diego Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, whose District 3 includes the development site. “First, it has a lot of affordable units—270. This project is going to help a lot of people. And second, it’s deeply affordable and permanent supportive housing, which will help people who are struggling the most. This is the type of housing development that I hear from so many San Diego, it’s what they want to see.”
A mix of residents with diverse needs will call Harrington Heights home, including unhoused veterans, non-veterans experiencing homelessness, families and individuals with lower income, and families with members who have intellectual or developmental disabilities.
“When it is completed, the Harrington Heights development will be life-changing for many individuals and families who are struggling economically in our city today,” SDHC President & CEO Lisa Jones said. “More than ever, a stable place to call home with rent that is affordable is essential. And people can’t live their best quality of life without housing, every quality-of-life indicator, education, career opportunities, health, is better with housing. And we know how critical that is. And yet it remains out of reach for so many people.”
SDHC awarded 115 rental housing vouchers to help Harrington Heights residents pay their rent. Of those, 75 housing vouchers will assist individual experiencing homelessness, including 10 set aside specifically for veterans experiencing homelessness. The remaining 40 SDHC housing vouchers will be for households with lower income who are not experiencing homelessness, with annual income ranging from 25 to 40 percent of AMI. All the vouchers that SDHC awarded are tied to the development, so that when a resident moves on, the housing voucher remains to help the household that moves into a new unit at the property.
SDHC also awarded an $8 million loan that consists of federal and local funds that SDHC administers, including U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development HOME Investment Partnership Program funding awarded to the City of San Diego and the City of San Diego Affordable Housing Fund. In addition, SDHC authorized the issuance of up to $68,700,000 in Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds and $37 million in taxable bonds toward the development of Harrington Heights. These bonds were approved by the San Diego City Council, acting as the Housing Authority of the City of San Diego.
Harrington Heights, which also includes three managers units, is one of several developments taking shape in the East Village neighborhood of Downtown San Diego.
“That’s really what we’re doing here today, is to celebrate that in two-years’ time, we will be housing 273 households,” said Chelsea Investment Corporation Director of Development Heidi Mather. “Chelsea’s not alone in beautification and improvement of the East Village neighborhood. We join the City of San Diego, our nonprofit organizations, other developers, and contractors all of whom share the vision of a better East Village.”
Additional partners on Harrington Heights include the City of San Diego, which provided a development loan of $10.14 million as well as the land through a lease agreement; the California Department of Development Services and the San Diego Regional Center, which provided $4.25 million; and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), which provided more than $40 million in loans from several funding programs.
“The city became an early partner in this project. That contribution of the land, that early support and collaborative spirit between developer and the city, creates the best outcomes for the community. And I hope you all are excited about that. Because of the success of this project, and many like it in San Diego in particular, and across the state, to utilize our public land for the creation of affordable housing, HCD has added priority for projects to almost all of our funding programs for projects that are on public land,” said Tim Parham, HCD’s Data and Innovation Unit Chief.
Forty units at the development will be for residents with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
“These homes empower families and adults with developmental disabilities to in with increased self-reliance, with the support of the community,” said Kate Kinnamont, Associate Executive Director of the San Diego Regional Center, which will serve the residents with disabilities at Harrington Heights.
Residents who experienced homelessness will have on-site amenities and support and resources from Alpha Project, including education and employment services; integrated medical, dental and behavioral health services; substance use disorder services; case management; tenant services; and life skills classes.
Unhoused veterans who move into Harrington Heights will receive rental assistance through Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) Project-Based Housing Vouchers from SDHC and supportive services from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.
The development is near City College, the City College Transit Station, served by the San Diego Trolley and multiple bus lines, and SDHC’s main offices.