Housing & Community Development
Weekly Brief
Friday, July 8, 2005
State Budget Sent To Governor - EHAP Threatened
The Legislature passed a budget this week that included more funding than the Governor requested for the Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) in the Department of Housing and Community Development. His January and May Revision budget proposed cutting the program by 22%, down to $3.14 million. The Legislature increased that to $4 million to his request. Housing California is asking supporters to send a letter to the Governor asking him to allow the appropriation to go forward. For more information go to http://housingca.org.
Many Victories for Housing in House Appropriations Bill
The Transportation, Treasury, HUD, Judiciary and District of Columbia (TTHUD) Appropriations Bill, H.R. 3058, was considered in the House of Representatives on June 29 and 30. Building on the success that housing advocates had at increasing FY06 HUD funding at both the subcommittee and full committee levels, a number of housing programs received additional funding during consideration of the bill on the House floor.
Representative Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI), Chair of the TTHUD Subcommittee once again declared his support for housing programs. In his opening statement on H. R. 3058, Chair Knollenberg said, "in the making of this bill, the first priority was the protection of all extremely low income people receiving Section 8 and public housing."
The largest increase to the HUD budget was in an amendment offered by Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Barney Frank (D-MA) to add $100 million to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The amendment, which passed by a vote of 225-194, including 30 Republicans, will keep approximately 15,000 Section 8 vouchers in the program.
The Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) and the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), which had been cut from $46.5 million in FY05 to $38.8 million in the FY06 request, also were increased by $7.7 million with an amendment by Representatives Al Green (D-TX), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Alcee Hastings (D-FL). Mr. Green argued for the increase by pointing out that more than 3.7 million fair housing violations still occur annually. The amendment passed by a vote of 231-191.
Chair Knollenberg and TTHUD Subcommittee Ranking Member John Olver (D-MA) offered an amendment to increase the Community Development Block Grant program budget by $67.5 million. The amendment was accepted by voice vote. $50 million of the funds are to be used for Youthbuild, which was zeroed out in both the President's FY06 request and the TTHUD subcommittee and full committee markups. The remaining $17.5 million was added to the CDBG program. Representative Gary Miller (D-CA) offered a successful amendment to include $24 million for Brownfield Redevelopment, a program that was zeroed out by both the President's FY06 request and the committee.
Through efforts by Mr. Nadler and Representative Chris Shays (R-CT), the Housing for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program received a $5 million increase to $290 million in H.R. 3058, which brings the program back to the funding level of FY03.
With the passage of the TTHUD appropriations bill, Appropriations Committee Chair Jerry Lewis (R-CA) makes good his promise to complete the appropriations process before the Fourth of July recess.
The appropriations process now shifts to the Senate. The TTHUD appropriations subcommittee and full committee are scheduled to mark up the Senate bill on July 12 and 14, respectively. It is not yet clear whether the full Senate will be able to pass its TTHUD legislation before Congress breaks August 1 for the summer district work period. Advocates will continue their efforts in the Senate to ensure that at least the increases in the House bill remain in the final package.
Reprinted from the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Memo to Members, Vol. 10, No. 26, July 6, 2005. http://www.nlihc.org/current.htm
Upcoming Meetings
SDHF Policy
Committee
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
9:00 AM
450 B Street, Ste
450
San Diego, CA
San Diego City
Council
SRO Ordinance Revisions
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
10:00
AM
202 C Street, 12th Floor Chambers
San Diego, CA
Financial Management Conference
July 27-29, 2005
Chicago,
IL
LISC's Organizational Development Initiative will hold a conference on finance strategies for making community development organizations stronger and savvier. The conference will be July 27-29 in Chicago. Sessions will cover topics such as nonprofit business ventures, fraud protection, assessing organizational financial health, earned-income opportunities, and asset and risk management. For more information, visit
LISC's website Celebrating 15 Years of Support and Advocacy for Affordable Housing
Website: http://www.housingsandiego.org Email:
sdhf@housingsandiego.org
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