CLPHA Advocacy

Last week, members of the House and Senate were named to an appropriations conference committee on HR 6157, the third package of FY19 appropriations bills. This third “minibus” includes funding for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Financial Services and General Government; Agriculture; Rural Development; Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. The committee conferees will hold their first formal meeting on Thursday, September 13.

Committee staff from the House and Senate majority and minority—the four corners—have been in informal discussions over the summer striving to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the several subcommittee bills included in the minibus. Having the conferees meet signifies real progress has been made towards a final agreement.

Despite six scheduled legislative days remaining before the end of the fiscal year, conference committee action on the third minibus suggests there is a real possibility the FY19 THUD appropriations may be enacted before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. This would enable THUD appropriations to avoid becoming victim to a continuing resolution (CR) for funding. Any CR is expected to last at least until after the November elections for those federal agencies missing the September 30 deadline.

Members of the Conference Committee include:

House of Representatives

Senate

ACTION:

We strongly encourage CLPHA members to communicate with the Washington, DC offices of the conferees before 1:00 pm tomorrow, September 13, especially CLPHA members whose congressional members are on the conference committee, and urge them to:

1. Support the higher Senate funding levels for public housing-related programs,
2. Oppose any poison pill provisions, such as the Heller amendment, and 
3. Support the HCV Mobility Demonstration provision in the House THUD bill. 

The Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition is circulating a sign on letter for current and former federal, state, and local government officials in support of HUD’s Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP), which FEMA continues to refuse to activate.

DHAP was created after hard-won lessons from Hurricane Katrina, and it has been used successfully in major disasters since that time. DHAP is administered by housing authorities, and this national network makes HUD best equipped to quickly respond to the housing needs of survivors.

Under DHAP, displaced families receive longer-term direct rental assistance and case management services provided by local housing professionals with extensive knowledge of the local housing market. This assistance helps families find permanent housing solutions, secure employment, and connect to public benefits as they rebuild their lives.

The Coalition is calling on Congress to enact legislation to immediately activate DHAP for 2017 disaster survivors and to ensure that this critical resource is made available to survivors after future disasters.

ACTION:

CLPHA members are urged to reach out to current and former federal, state, and local officials with experience in disaster recovery in your communities and encourage them to sign the letter to Congress.

A copy of the letter is here, and officials can use the link below to sign on to the letter.

Sign-On Letter

U.S. Representatives Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO), Co-Chairs of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Public Housing Caucus, recently sent a Dear Colleague letter to fellow members of the House of Representatives inviting them to join the Caucus.

According to the letter, “the Caucus will serve as a forum to connect Members of Congress and their staff with public housing professionals, affordable housing policy experts, residents, and other key stakeholders with an interest in improving outcomes for Americans struggling to afford a suitable home and the communities they live in,” and “our nation's federal housing policies are at the forefront of efforts to prevent homelessness, address the affordable housing crisis, and overcome structural poverty.  The goal of the Congressional Public Housing Caucus is to educate Members of Congress and their staff of the latest policy developments affecting these efforts.”

ACTION: 

CLPHA was a prime mover in helping to establish the Caucus and we want to ensure the Caucus succeeds both in attracting members and in fulfilling its purpose.

We need CLPHA members to reach out to their Members of Congress and encourage them to join the Congressional Public Housing Caucus.

To join the Congressional Public Housing Caucus, Members of Congress should contact Mark Gilbride of Representative Steve Stivers' staff (225-2015; mark.gilbride@mail.house.gov) or Jennifer Shapiro of Representative Emanuel Cleavers' staff (225-4535 and jennifer.shapiro@mail.house.gov)

The proposed elimination of the tax exemption for private activity bonds (PABs) in the House tax reform bill, along with elimination of the Historic Tax Credit and the New Markets Tax Credit, will be devastating to the production and preservation of affordable housing (see CLPHA Report 11/13/17). Housing bonds are responsible for approximately half of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (housing credit) production annually. Together, the housing credit and housing bonds finance approximately 50,000 affordable housing units each year.

While Congress is home for recess, it is critical that Members hear from you about the impacts PAB elimination will have on affordable housing.

We urge you to reach out to your Congressional representatives with the following messages:

• Preserve the tax exemption of Private Activity Bonds to support the production and preservation of affordable housing
• Make changes to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to strengthen the program and offset the impact of a lower corporate rate on the value of the tax credit by including S. 548, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, in the tax reform bill
• Maintain the Historic Tax Credit and the New Markets Tax Credit

CLPHA and stakeholders such as the ACTION Campaign (CLPHA sits on the Steering Committee) have continued to educate and press Congress to preserve these important housing production instruments. CLPHA has sent letters to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, the respective tax-writing committees in Congress, whose chairmen and ranking members will probably serve as floor managers for their respective bills and conference committee leaders for any eventual, final legislation.

Additionally, we encourage you to engage with your local media and news outlets to spread the message that the tax reform bill negatively impacts affordable housing. The Seattle Times recently published an op-ed from CLPHA Board Members Stephen Norman (King County Housing Authority) and Andrew Lofton (Seattle Housing Authority) about the elimination of private activity bonds. You can read the full op-ed here.  

Recent measures were taken in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to create a Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration (HCV Mobility Demo) to encourage families receiving housing voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and to expand access to opportunity areas.

In the House, the full House Financial Services Committee unanimously approved H.R. 5793, the “Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018, that would authorize the demonstration. Also, the full House Appropriations Committee approved its FY19 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) funding bill, that would fund the demonstration at $50 million.

In the Senate, S. 2945, a companion bill to H.R. 5793 was introduced by Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee and full Committee are expected to take action on their version of the FY19 THUD funding bill during the week of June 4. At present, it is unclear if the HCV Mobility Demo will be included in the Senate funding bill.

CLPHA is part of an ad hoc coalition urging both houses of Congress to pass the legislation required to authorize and fund the HCV Mobility Demo. To that end, the coalition groups have prepared a fact sheet and sample letters (below) to the House and Senate urging passage of the HCV Mobility Demo. 

ACTION:

In the House:

We encourage CLPHA members to reach out to your Representatives and urge them to support: 

• H.R. 6793, the "Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018," when it reaches the House floor.

• The FY19 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) funding bill, when it reaches the House floor.

In the Senate:

We encourage CLPHA members to reach out to your Senators and urge them to support:

• S.2945, the "Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018," both in the Senate Banking Committee, and when it reaches the Senate floor.

• Including the HCV Mobility Demo in the FY19 THUD funding bill, both in the Appropriations Committee and when it moves to the Senate floor.

SAMPLE LETTERS

Below are sample form letters to assist in your advocacy. 

Senate Sample Letter

Dear Senator [XXXXXX],

I am writing to urge you to cosponsor S.2945, the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018, recently introduced by Senator Todd Young (R-IN) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). I also ask that you indicate your support for including funding for the demonstration in the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill that likely will be considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee next week.

This demonstration would take an important step in helping families break out of poverty and move to areas of greater opportunity. Through this initiative, housing agencies will provide targeted assistance to help families who receive housing vouchers live in safe neighborhoods with strong schools, access to jobs, and low poverty. The Demonstration will include research about which strategies are most cost-effective.

There is a growing body of evidence that low-income families with children who move to low poverty areas do better in the long term. This research also identifies housing voucher mobility as a key strategy to overcoming intergenerational poverty.

As someone who works with [housing authority], I have seen firsthand how important improving access to high opportunity areas is to reducing poverty. To help voucher families access stronger communities, housing agencies need additional incentives and flexibilities to support regional collaborations. [Feel free to add a sentence about potential local/state impact]

The Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration would be an important intervention to help break the cycle of poverty for families with vouchers. Recognizing the importance of this intervention, the House Appropriations Committee included funding in their THUD appropriations bill. I urge the Senate to take similar action as it considers its THUD bill by including at least $30 million to fund housing mobility services, along with $20 million for 2,000 vouchers, to assist families in moving to higher opportunity neighborhoods.

[If your Senator is a Democrat:

I ask that you contact Senator Jack Reed to communicate your support for funding this demonstration. ]

[If your Senator is a Republican:

I ask that you contact Senator Susan Collins to communicate your support for funding this demonstration.]

Thank you for your help in working to break the cycle of poverty and assisting families access strong communities.

House Sample Letter

Dear Representative [XXXXXX],

I am writing to urge you to cosponsor HR 5793, the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018, recently introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and unanimously approved by the House Financial Services Committee on May 22. I also ask that you support funding for the demonstration in any final Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill.

This demonstration would take an important step in helping families break out of poverty and move to areas of greater opportunity. Through this initiative, housing agencies will provide targeted assistance to help families who receive housing vouchers live in safe neighborhoods with strong schools, access to jobs, and low poverty. The Demonstration will include research about which strategies are most cost-effective.

There is a growing body of evidence that low-income families with children who move to low poverty areas do better in the long term. This research also identifies housing voucher mobility as a key strategy to overcoming intergenerational poverty.

As someone who works with [housing authority], I have seen firsthand how important improving access to high opportunity areas is to reducing poverty. To help voucher families access stronger communities, housing agencies need additional incentives and flexibilities to support regional collaborations. [Feel free to add a sentence about potential local/state impact]

Thank you for your help in working to break the cycle of poverty and assisting families access strong communities.

CLPHA and other public and affordable housing stakeholders are resisting the President’s rescission package, introduced in the House of Representatives as HR 3, the “Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act.”

As we reported earlier (see 5/10/2018 CLPHA Update and Alert), the rescission proposal would rescind almost $40 million in unobligated funds from the Public Housing Capital Fund, reducing funding for capital repair needs, emergency repairs including safety and security measures, physical inspections, administrative and judicial receiverships, ROSS grants, and Jobs Plus grants.

ACTION: 

1) As a member of the Steering Committee of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), CLPHA and CHCDF are circulating the following letter and asking our respective memberships to sign onto the letter at the following website:

• https://nlihc.wufoo.com/forms/oppose-bill-rescinding-affordable-housing-funding/

2) Since there is a real likelihood the Republican majority in the House may pass the rescissions bill, we strongly urge CLPHA members who are affected by Capital Fund rescissions to register your opposition to these funding cuts.

• Contact your House members and urge them to vote against HR 3, the rescission bill.

3) Since Senate prospects for the rescission bill is still unsettled, we also encourage CLPHA members to contact your Senators, state your opposition to the rescissions, and urge them to vote against the President’s package when it comes to the Senate.

• Also, if you expect the Capital Fund rescissions to affect you, please contact CLPHA and let us know how you expect to be impacted.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Housing, Transportation and Community Development Subcommittee of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, is leading an effort in the Senate to boost FY19 funding for public housing. His office has asked CLPHA for help in encouraging other Senators to sign onto the letter to the Appropriations Committee requesting full funding of the Public Housing Operating Fund at 100 percent proration, $5 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund, and $200 million for the Choice Neighborhoods program.

The following messages are being sent to other U.S. Senators by Senator Menendez’s office:

PUBLIC HOUSING:

“Sen. Menendez invites your boss to sign the attached letter in support of the Public Housing Operating Fund and the Public Housing Capital Fund. The letter requests full funding of the Public Housing Operating Fund at 100 percent proration and $5 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund. The Operating Fund provides the subsidies necessary to cover the difference between the rents paid by residents and the operating costs of the property. Due to federal funding cuts, public housing agencies have been subject to significantly prorated operating subsidies. In fiscal years 2015 and 2016, operating subsidies were prorated at 86 percent and 84 percent, respectively. Public housing agencies have not received full funding since fiscal year 2010. The Capital Fund is the primary source of funding to preserve the 1.1 million units in our public housing inventory. In 2010, HUD estimated that the public housing inventory has a capital needs backlog of $26 billion, increasing by an average of $3.4 billion each year. Due to repeated underfunding, HUD estimates that we lose approximately 10,000 units of public housing every year due to physical obsolescence and disrepair.

“If your boss would like to sign, please contact Rebecca Schatz at Rebecca_Schatz@menendez.senate.gov. Deadline to sign is COB Monday, April 16.

“FY18 signers: Menendez, Brown, King, Van Hollen, Durbin, Cantwell, Kaine, Blumenthal, Cortez Masto, Hirono, Duckworth, Hassan, Warren, Sanders”

QUICK ACTION NEEDED: 

Please reach out to your U.S. Senators and strongly urge them to sign onto the Dear Colleague letters circulated by Senator Menendez boosting funding for the Public Housing Operating Fund, Public Housing Capital Fund and the Choice Neighborhoods program

Dear Colleague Letter - Choice Neighborhoods

Dear Colleague Letter - Public Housing 

As the summer August recess winds down, members of Congress, who are currently back home in their districts and states, will soon be returning to the nation’s capital to face a busy fall agenda. High on the agenda is funding the federal government for the coming fiscal year 2018, which begins Oct. 1.

It is reported that Congress may package the eight remaining appropriations bills (out of twelve) into one megabus spending bill. For HUD, this would require the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to agree upon the unresolved issues in their respective FY18 funding bills. If Congress is unable to complete action on the megabus (or any other joint spending measures) by Sept. 30, a continuing resolution (CR) will be needed to keep the government running and funded at current levels. Of note to CLPHA members, a CR will not provide increased funding for THUD programs and will not enable lifting of the RAD cap as proposed in the Senate bill. Adding to the uncertainty, President Trump has threatened to shut down the federal government if he does not get funding for his border wall.

While both the House and Senate funding bills repudiated most of the Trump Administration’s budget proposals, the Senate THUD bill, in particular, offers higher funding levels than the House bill, including funding for the Public Housing Operating Fund, Public Housing Capital Fund, Housing Choice Voucher program, the Choice Neighborhood Initiative, Homeless Assistance Grants, the Community Development Block Grant, the HOME Investment Partnership program, and others. The Senate bill would also completely eliminate the arbitrary unit cap, as well as the public housing application deadlines for RAD.

CLPHA members need to urge members of Congress to fund important housing programs. 

Before Congress returns to the nation’s capital and becomes distracted by other matters, it is critical that CLPHA members reach out to their members of Congress and encourage them to support funding for public housing, housing vouchers and other HUD programs.  

ACTION:

We strongly urge CLPHA members to contact their members of Congress before the end of the August recess and ask them to support no less than the Senate committee-passed HUD appropriations funding levels for FY18, and the elimination of the RAD cap.

For questions or additional information, please contact: Gerard Holder, CLPHA Legislative Director (gholder@clpha.org)