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Federal Housing Issues Update A) CRA
The path to a Financial Modernization bill in the House has been marked, but whether all of Congress is ready to follow is unclear. It has been noted in the Center for Community Change publication that Bronx Congressman and Commerce Committee member Eliot Engel has spoken in committee meetings on behalf of CRA. The bill differs from the Senate bill and therefore a Conference Committee will have to be formed to work out differences if it in fact passes. The Senate Bill is openly antagonistic to CRA; the House bill does nothing to expand the scope of CRA to include insurance companies and the new mega-institutions that will form with the new law. President Clinton has threatened to veto the legislation if it detracts from CRA.
Differences between the Senate and House bills would have to be worked out prior to final passage. Therefore, it is still critical to speak out on the importance of CRA to Congress and the White House. If Washington has the impression that CRA is not important, then CRA’s demise may be bartered away in a back room.
B) Section 8
While HUD celebrated the addition of new section 8 certificates in last year's federal budget, there was not a lot of attention given when Congress took $350 million of recaptured Section 8 funds back to cover the supplemental appropriations bill which included support for emergency relief in this country and for the NATO effort in Yugoslavia. The New York Housing Conference points out that these rescinded funds were identified in HUD’s FY 2000 budget as amounts needed to fully fund Section 8 contract renewals. A rescission in l999 funds will result in a shortfall in 2000. Congressional leaders have promised that the money will be restored and that Section 8 renewals will be made. However, the ease with which housing support is targeted for rescission shows the low priority housing is given in DC.
Moreover, the increase of 100,000 Section 8 certificates in last year’s budget may not mean much to New York City. The City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development has indicated that the formula HUD is utilizing to distribute the units is leaving New York State short. At a recent meeting between Senator Schumer and the Northwest Bronx Coalition, Fordham Bedford Housing Director John Reilly sought Senator Schumer’s intervention to get HUD to revise their allocation formula.
People interested in protecting Section 8 and federal support for housing should contact their Congressional reps and the White House.
C) HUD Appropriations
Decisions made as part of the l997 budget agreement in Washington could very likely result in major cuts in housing and other domestic programs in this year’s budget. Cuts in housing money of more than $5 billion are projected if the caps set in the l997 agreement are not revised. The Low Income Housing Coalition reports the cuts could be even worse in the Labor-Health and Human Services area, whose programs include Head Start, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and job training.
The budget caps approved in l997 would mean $30 billion less in spending in the federal fiscal year 2000 than currently available. Housing money is handled by a sub committee of appropriations—Veterans Affairs-Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies (VA-HUD-IA). The overall appropriations committees in the House and Senate instructed their sub-committees to allocate 8% and 14% less respectively from this year’s budget. This could translate to even deeper cuts to HUD, since housing receives so little support in Congress and Veteran’s Affairs and the Independent Agencies, which include NASA and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency, have such strong supporters.
The Low Income Housing Coalition (www.nlihc.org) reports that the housing sub-committees of both houses’ Appropriations Committees will begin marking up their appropriations bills on July 19th. The Coalition and other national organizations are urging people to call their Senators and Representatives and urge them to lift the caps and increase support for housing and community programs.
D) The Low Income Housing Tax Credit
HR 175 and S. 1017 which would increase the per capita low income housing tax credit allocation from $1.25 to $1.75; the bills would also index the credit amount to inflation. A majority of both houses already sponsor the bill, but passage still remains in doubt since the loss of tax income needs to be counterbalanced somehow in the budget.
Comments on CRA, Budget Caps, Section 8 and Tax Credits should be directed to the following:
President Clinton (202) 456-1414, the White House, Wasington, D.C. 20500
Senator Schumer, Senator Moynihan U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510 (202) 224-3121
Congressperson _______, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 224-3121
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Lead Legislation By the time this issue is completed, there is a chance that new lead legislation will be in force in New York City to replace Local Law 1. Several City Council hearings have been held since June 21st on Speaker Vallone and Mayor Giuliani’s proposal on lead.
Overlooked in the press coverage of the debate is the impact of the decline in HPD’s Code Enforcement in this decade. As noted in our last newsletter, the Citizens Housing and Planning Council reported that inspection teams are down from 215 in l989 to 78 in l997; completed inspections were down by nearly 67% and violations fell by more than half. Poor code enforcement provides a major disincentive to some owners to spend money on repairs. Deferred maintenance and repairs can create conditions that contribute to the development of lead hazards. City policymakers need to address the code enforcement issue and the need for new resources to do lead-related work. UNHP has proposed in the past the expansion of J-51 to cover work that can be deemed preventive.
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Home News A) Home Buyer Workshops Scheduled
English Session – Tuesday, July 13th
Spanish Session—Tuesday, July 20th
UNHP is sponsoring a set of homebuyer workshops in July. Both sessions are at Concourse House, 2751 Grand Concourse, at 196th Street from 6-9PM
People coming to the workshops will learn about purchasing a home and programs that can assist people in qualifying for programs with lower downpayments and closing costs.
If you are interested in attending the sessions, please contact UNHP at (718)933-3101.
B) Casa Propia
More than 250 people attended the June 26th performance of Casa Propia by the Reportorio Espanol sponsored by UNHP. The show which was developed with funding from the Fannie Mae Foundation was shown at Lehman’s Lovinger Theater. The Spanish language play about a family's struggle to buy a home, received excellent reviews from those who attended.
C) Current Homeowners
UNHP is planning a workshop for existing homeowners on their financial needs. If you are interested in attending such a workshop, please contact UNHP at (718) 933-3101.
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Fannie Mae Loans Close In June of l998, Fordham University hosted a Fannie Mae press conference announcing a loan product targeted for smaller multi-family apartment buildings. In June of l999, the first loans closed. Two of the first three deals were properties controlled by the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation. These properties will be able to replace expiring debt with a new 30 year, fixed rate mortgage. A modest amount of improvement and repair work will be performed with funds held in escrow at the closing.
These loans will utilize the first million of Fannie Mae’s $25 million commitment.
If you are interested in finding out more about the program, please contact Danny Ouk at (718) 933-3101 Ext. 11.
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Water and Sewer Customer Service Night UNHP is working to schedule a second neighborhood based customer service night with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The evening workshop will be attended by DEP employees equipped with computers linked to the main water and sewer billing and records files. Property owners interested in attending this workshop to get bills corrected, verified or explained should contact the UNHP office or check the alerts Section of the UNHP website at www.unhp.org.
New Rate Hike on Water Kicks in on July 1st.
The Water Board approved a 4% increase in water rates to take effect on July 1st. There were a number of revisions in billing policy proposed by the Water Board. Subsequent to the required public hearings, the Water Board revised its proposals. The new policies will limit the complaint filing period to two years from the date of the bill and will take effect prospectively, therefore applying to bills issued after July 1, l999.
The Director of the Water Board, Diana Chapin, states that the Board also voted to change its policy on back billing unbilled or under billed accounts to "conform to the new two year rule by establishing a uniform 2 year standard for all customers to replace the current back billing policy of 2 years for residential customers and 6 years for commercial customers."
The Metering Transition Program was extended again and will run through June 30, 2000.
UNHP is working with DEP to schedule a workshop for organizations on the various DEP billing-related programs this summer.
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Citigroup Foundation Awards Grant to UNHP UNHP received a Partners in Progress Award from the Citigroup Foundation on June 23rd at a reception at the Citicorp Center.
UNHP entered the competition with a community ownership project that it is assisting. A non-profit organization purchased the building from the old mortgage holder and is currently working to finalize financing to pay off back real estate and water and sewer charges. UNHP’s loan fund has provided assistance to the building and the Citigroup funding will allow UNHP to broaden its work with the building.
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Happy Birthday, Providers United Local family daycare providers recently gathered in the Chapel of Concourse House to celebrate their one year anniversary and the formation of a new family daycare network called Providers United. One year ago, UNHP sponsored a meeting for family daycare providers in the Fordham Bedford section of the Bronx. Since then the providers have been meeting on a monthly basis to develop into a formal family daycare network which trains providers, offers technical assistance and makes daycare referrals. A grant from the Enterprise Foundation allowed the group to hire a coordinator and develop a family daycare resource room where the providers will have access to educational material and equipment. Providers United is located at the Refuge House where Fordham Bedford Children’s Services runs a number of other programs for the community. For more information, contact Providers United at (718) 33-2557, Ext. 21.
ESL Teacher Sought For Adult Literacy Program
Training will be for Spanish speaking family daycare providers. ESL certification or MA in TESOL preferred and experience in developing curriculum and teaching. Classes begin September l999.Resumes should be sent to Regina Kirk, UNHP, 2751 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10468; Fax (718)933-3624
Children’s Insurance:
UNHP sponsored a meeting on Child Health Plus, a publicly subsidized children’s health insurance program, on June 17th at the Refuge House. Parents with no health insurance for themselves or their children came out to hear about the FREE or low cost health insurance available for kids in New York State.
Over 770,000 NYS children are uninsured. Among these uninsured children, 37 percent are estimated to be Medicaid eligible and 29 percent are eligible for Child Health Plus. Nearly three quarters of uninsured children in New York City are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid or Child Health Plus.
In response to increasing numbers of uninsured children nationwide, the federal government created the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in l997 with a 10 year, $50 billion commitment. Last year NYS began receiving $256 million in annual federal funding , with nearly $2.6 billion expected over the next ten years, to provide health insurance for children currently not eligible for Medicaid.
While coverage alone does not guarantee access to health care, uninsured children are more likely to have problems obtaining needed care. According to research from the New York Forum for Child Health, eligible children are sometimes not enrolled in publicly subsidized insurance programs because their parents lack the knowledge that the programs exist , or do not know that their children are eligible. Some other enrollment barriers are confusion about eligibility, stigma and privacy concerns, and intimidating enrollment processes. Immigrants, who are disproportionately eligible but uninsured, may be more likely to fear government programs due to fears of being reported to the INS, encountering future difficulty in obtaining citizenship, or facing deportation.
Recent changes in welfare and immigration also pose barriers to families seeking health insurance for their children. Families are receiving conflicting messages: while they are discouraged from applying for cash assistance, NYS is supposed to be bringing those same families onto the Medicaid and Child Health Plus rolls.
If you are interested in workshops on children’s health insurance, contact UNHP at (718) 933-3101.
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