The Community Development Network

Housing Alliance Asks Legislature for $2.75 Million to Acquire Preservation Projects & to Assist Counties with Assessing Local Homelessness

In an effort save affordable housing with expiring federal contracts and assist Oregon counties find solutions to local homelessness, the Housing Alliance is requesting $2.75 million in the February 2008 legislative session. The Housing Alliance is asking for $2 million to seed a revolving loan fund to help preserve existing rent-subsidized affordable housing, and $750,000 to support development and implementation of local strategies to end homelessness.

“Housing Acquisition Fund”: The $2 million from the state General Fund would allow for the creation of the “Housing Acquisition Fund” — a revolving loan fund to provide interim financing to save more than 7,000 rent subsidized apartments in more than 250 properties across Oregon are at risk of loss beginning immediately. Properties threatened by the end of existing subsidy agreements were developed over the past 40 years with support from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, from the Rural Development program of the Department of Agriculture (formerly known as ‘Farmers Home”), and with State of Oregon bond financing coupled with federal rent subsidies. The properties are located in all corners of the state.

Existing contracts that keep these apartments affordable are expiring in the next one to seven years. Many of the private owners of these properties are interested in selling and would prefer to see the housing remain affordable. The Housing Acquisition Fund is a crucial tool to save these affordable units.

In its first year, the state’s General Fund investment into the “Housing Acquisition Fund” will leverage an additional $26 to $46 million in private, philanthropic, and local public funds. Over six years, the total leverage would exceed $150 million. It would also protect millions of dollars in federal rent subsidy payments from the Section 8 and Rural Development programs. We estimate the Fund will finance the short term preservation of at least 2,700 apartments.

The fund will help preserve this stock of housing by facilitating sales to new owners who will maintain current rent levels. Preservation of existing housing is much less expensive than replacing it — replacement cost of these units would easily exceed $250,000,000. In addition, saving this housing will:

· Prevent displacement of very low income seniors, people with disabilities, and families with children from homes in communities which have no other housing available at a similar cost

· Maintain federal rent subsidies for these properties — worth millions of federal support per year for Oregon

Interim financing through this “Housing Acquisition Fund” will allow for timely sales that can be structured to maintain all possible federal subsidy. This interim financing is an essential tool to make preservation efforts successful.

Interim financing complements permanent financing tools that Housing and Community Services has available, including permanent financing approved during the 2007 session of $8.1 million and the Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit, which was expanded during the 2007 session for this purpose. Tens to hundreds of millions will continue to be needed over the next five to ten years to ensure the permanent preservation of this housing, depending upon federal decisions and market conditions.

The Fund will be administered by the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing, and managed by a steering committee of local experts, business leaders, and investors. Meyer Memorial Trust has pledged significant support for the Fund if State funds are committed, and has made a grant to support the administrative costs to launch this effort. Other local funders have committed support as well if the Fund is seeded, and a proposal is in process to the MacArthur Foundation. Banks and local jurisdictions have indicated a willingness to invest in the Fund once it is established.

Homeless Solutions Funding to Counties: $750,000 would support strategies and development of local solutions to homelessness. Counties and local jurisdictions need support as they work to re-align their systems to better serve the growing numbers of displaced households and homeless families and individuals.

In 2006, Oregon formed an Inter-agency Ending Homelessness Advisory Council by Executive Order. That group will announce in early 2008 the first steps in a statewide plan to end homelessness. However, state level action and coordination is not enough. We need to engage and support local communities as they do the hard work of assessing local conditions and re-aligning local systems.

Nine counties in Oregon have already made great progress in addressing the growing problem of homelessness in our state by developing or initiating coordinated planning processes. We want to provide support, training, and capacity to these communities as they take their next step and to the 27 other counties who have not yet begun this process.

To learn more about the Housing Alliance proposal, or to get talking points to help make the case with the legislator, contact Amy Fauver via email or at (503) 226-3001, x102.

The Housing Council is recommending to the Legislature a $4 million increase in the venerable Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit. The OAHTC is a financing vehicle, pioneered in Oregon. It has a multiplier-value of approximately $100 million, available for loans to preserve Section-8 subsidized-rental-housing projects, based on the proposed $4 million boost. See full article at www.ohcs.oregon.gov.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008. Located in the heart of Old Town/Chinatown, The Estate Hotel has a rich history in Portland.

Central City Concern’s renovation included the addition of two floors, expanding capacity for CCC’s supportive housing programs.

Direct RSVPs and questions to Danielle Lawrence via email or 503-294-1681, ext 283

Meyer Memorial Trust, one of Oregon’s largest charitable foundations, has awarded $120,000 in grant funding to Southeast Portland’s ROSE Community Development Corp. ROSE, which works to bring affordable housing and economic stability to Outer Southeast, will use the funding for two purposes:

· To expand the Lents Homeownership Initiative, an innovative project developed by ROSE to build community ties and increase homeownership opportunities in Portland’s Lents district

The Trust made the announcement following its December meeting, at which trustees awarded 15 grants and loans totaling $6.85 million. Eighty-five percent of that total represents seed money to be used for the Oregon Housing Acquisition Fund, one component of MMT’s Affordable Housing Initiative. Meyer hopes to use the fund to preserve and create affordable homes for 25,000 Oregon residents.

ROSE’s track record complements MMT’s interest in affordable housing. The agency has developed over 310 units of affordable housing, including 52 opened in 2007. ROSE produces both rental properties, such as the 37-unit Leander Court apartments; and homes for sale to qualified buyers, such as the 15-unit Woodmere Condo Homes on Southeast 81^st Avenue, near Duke Street.

‘We’re grateful for this generous show of support from Meyer Memorial Trust,” said Nick Sauvie, Executive Director for ROSE. “We’ve long felt that homeownership is one of the keys to revitalizing neighborhoods. We’re starting to see our work pay off in neighborhoods such as Lents.”

The Lents Homeownership Initiative is a collaboration of public, private and non-profit organizations teaming up to address the diverse needs of Outer Southeast Portland through outreach, education and community building.

ROSE and its LHI partners host and participate in events such as homebuyer orientation programs, neighborhood cleanups and financial education classes. This spring, ROSE will host the third annual Lents Homebuying Fair, awarding three $5,000 downpayment assistance grants to winners of a drawing held that day.

ROSE Community Development Corp. is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation formed in 1992. Its name is derived from its mission: “Revitalizing Outer South East” Portland.

Multnomah County’s Commission on Children, Families & Community is stepping their outreach and assistance programs for the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit (AEITC) with the 2008 Family Economic Security Project

The Family Economic Security Project helps employers to assist their workforce claim the Advance Earned Income Tax Credit (AEITC). We can also help employers to bring free tax preparation services to their employees at the workplace. We have resource information on free financial education and affordable childcare programs as well.

The Advance EITC increases employees’ pay with no cost to the employer. It is easy to set-up in the workplace and has simple paperwork for employee participation. The Earned Income Tax Credit program is a proven success with a 27-year history of benefiting employees.

The Advance Earned Income Tax Credit enables low- to moderate-wage workers with children to receive part of their federal tax credit in their paychecks throughout the year, instead of waiting until they file their tax returns. This proposal maximizes earned income by increasing hourly wages by the amount of the tax credit.

· Employee (and spouse, if filing a joint return) -- must have a valid social security number.

· Employee expects to have at least one qualifying child living in the household.

· The AEITC project supports employers in assisting their employees to increase income without additional costs to their business.

· Employers can provide employees with the benefit of free workplace tax preparation. The FES project includes direct assistance to employers to set up free tax workshops fortheir employees.

· FES Project staff work with employers to provide information and support for company-sponsored AEITC campaigns.

· Participating companies receive campaign materials to inform employees about the program and offer opportunities for enrollment.

· Employers offering free tax preparation workshops help their employees avoid fees and high interest “refund anticipation loans”.

For more information about the FES Project, contact Janet Hawkins, CCFC Community Action Coordinator,at (503) 988-3707 or via email. To learn more about the Advance EITC, visit www.irs.gov.

Sisters Of The Road was awarded a $225,000, three-year grant through the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund at the Northwest Health Foundation. The grant will be used to help end homelessness in Portland and the nearby region by addressing the social policies and attitudes that impact homelessness. This award is by far the biggest award received in Sisters’ 28 year history.

Sisters Of The Road will use the grant over the next three years for projects within its Systemic Change Program. These projects will address social exclusion, which goes hand-in-hand with homelessness and contributes to poor health, substance abuse and crime, and problems securing stable employment.

Specifically, Sisters will tackle the social exclusion of very low-income people by partnering with other advocacy and social justice organizations working to end homelessness, by educating and involving the public, and by empowering men and women experiencing poverty and homelessness to advocate for policies that support their human rights and address the root causes of homelessness in our community.

Sisters Executive Director Monica Beemer says the grant is important to Sisters growing regional and national leadership in the struggle to end homelessness: “This generous grant provides the resources needed to maximize the impact of Sisters research and unique model. And that can help people work together to create a community where everyone has a safe, warm home, and ensure that the basic human rights of thousands of men, women, and children are not betrayed daily simply because they are poor.”

The grant was one of 14 new grants awarded by The Northwest Health Foundation for the third grant cycle of the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund. Each grant addresses the root causes of health disparities: the policies and social and environmental conditions that contribute to how healthy we are.

David Rebanal is a program officer at the Foundation. Rebanal asserts that supporting projects that address these social determinants of healthis about taking a systemic approach, not simply placing a band-aid over complex problems that require collaboration, creativity and sustained attention to solve.

ABOUT SISTERS OF THE ROAD: Founded in 1979, Sisters Of The Road uses non-violence to support community driven solutions to the calamities of homelessness and poverty. Sisters' café is open to everyone, serving low cost, hot, nutritious meals. Sisters also provides job training, support to parents and children, and innovative solutions to the issues surrounding poverty and homelessness through self and community advocacy.

HOPE VI Bill Passes House

(From the National Low Income Housing Coalition) The House passed the HOPE VI Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2007, H.R. 3524, on January 17, by a vote of 271 to 130, including 53 Republicans and all Democrats. H.R. 3524 was introduced by Representatives Maxine Waters (D-CA), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Barney Frank (D-MA), Mel Watt (D-NC) and Stephen Cohen (D-TN).

During the House consideration of the bill, supporters defeated several potentially damaging amendments while passing amendments improving the underlying bill.

On January 16, NLIHC sent a letter of support to Chairs Frank and Waters on the bill, stating, “The opposition to HOPE VI is visceral and deeply held, to the extent that many thoughtful people have been highly skeptical that it can be reformed and would prefer that it simply be ended. However, the careful work done on H.R. 3524 and its manager’s amendment are such that we are able to endorse it and recommend support to other advocates. If enacted, the bill would reform a historically troubled program into one that can improve individuals’ lives and the communities they live in.”

The White House released a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on H.R. 3524 on January 16. The SAP said that the administration strongly opposes H.R. 3524 but did not include a veto threat. The administration’s opposition is based on its arguments that the HOPE VI program’s spending has been too slow, claiming that $5.8 billion in HOPE VI grants have been awarded but that $1.3 billion remains unspent. The administration also asserted that the bill’s provisions mandating one-for-one replacement of units are unfeasible in many communities.

House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity Chair Waters said, “This bill has been a long time coming.” Ms. Waters pointed to the many improvements to the HOPE VI program that the bill would make, including requiring the one-for-one replacement of units revitalized through HOPE VI and providing that residents of the original housing can live in the revitalized housing without having additional screening or eligibility requirements imposed on them. “We must reject any efforts to punish people for being poor,” Ms. Waters said.

House Committee on Financial Services Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-AL) said that, for all the good the HOPE VI program has accomplished, there were provisions in the bill that could be improved by passage of several amendments, including an amendment by Representative Timothy Mahoney (D-FL) to keep Main Street grants as an authorized use of HOPE VI funds (this amendment later passed on voice vote), an amendment by Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX) to continue to allow HUD to issue demolition-only grants and the amendment by House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) to make the mandatory green-building requirements in the bill merely a graded component of the HOPE VI application. Both the Sessions and Capito amendments were defeated.

Mr. Watt said that the bill was designed to address the very shortcomings in the bill that Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) said Democrats had been complaining about for years. “These are the things we’ve been complaining about because it’s only been about demolishing and not doing any of the services,” Mr. Watt said. The changes in the bill “are designed to attack these very shortcomings – one-for-one replacement, input from residents, supportive services, increased funding… Those who’ve been complaining about the program acknowledge it has not accomplished its goals.”

Ms. Waters offered a manager’s amendment to the bill, with several changes to the bill that was reported from the House Committee on Financial Services on September 26. The manager’s amendment requires the one-for-one replacement requirement to be retroactive to units on the revitalized site on January 1, 2005, capturing units already lost. The manager’s amendment also provides for a waiver of the bill’s one-for-one replacement requirement under certain circumstances. Public housing agencies can seek a waiver for up to 10% of the units in their revitalization plan because they lack the land to rebuild, because a court order limits their ability to comply with one-for-one replacement, or if they appeal to the HUD Secretary for a wavier on a case-by-case basis. The manager’s amendment also removes the costs associated with complying with the bill’s green building requirements from the project’s total development costs and removes the provision that specified which green building criteria must be followed, leaving that discretion to the HUD Secretary.

The manager’s amendment was adopted by a vote of 388 to 20.

Representative Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) then offered his amendment to require the one-for-one replacement only of occupied units. “When government is too prescriptive,” Mr. Neugebauer said, “good ideas get suppressed.” Mr. Neugebauer questioned whether there was a need for each affordable housing unit to be replaced in every community.

Mr. Frank said, “The one-for-one [requirement] is not nearly as prescriptive as it’s been described. It can be public housing or it can be project-based vouchers. There is a waiver. On the other hand, I reject the notion that we should not be prescriptive here. This is a federal program. [Mr. Neugebauer’s] amendment gives people incentives or a reward not to fill their units.” Most housing agencies, Mr. Frank said, will not do that but some will and the amendment would reward incompetence. “We disagree with giving some who do not support this housing an incentive to have vacant units,” Mr. Frank said.

Mr. Frank noted that perhaps reduction in the one-for-one requirement could be worked out for units that physically are not habitable. Mr. Neugebauer said he looked forward to working with the chair on that, to make sure units that are not habitable do not have to be replaced, he said.

Housing advocates opposed Mr. Neugebauer’s amendment because it would have resulted in a significant reduction to the bill’s one-for-one replacement requirement. It is estimated that, in the severely distressed public housing projects eligible for HOPE VI grants, approximately 25 to 30% of the units are unoccupied.

Mr. Neugebauer’s amendment failed by a vote of 181 to 227, with four Republicans voting against it and all but one Democrat opposing the amendment. The four Republicans who opposed weakening the bill’s one-for-one replacement provisions are Representative Michael Castle (DE), Rick Renzi (AZ), Christopher Shays (CT) and Christopher Smith (NJ). Representative Christopher Carney (D-PA) voted in support of Mr. Neugebauer’s amendment.

Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX) offered an amendment to allow the HOPE VI program to continue to issue demolition-only grants, which have been allowed but not practiced by HUD for several years. The bill would prohibit demolition-only grants. Mr. Watt said, “Why we’d be giving money solely to tear down housing given the dire shortage and massive existence of homelessness, I cannot tell you… Demolition-only grants need to be terminated. HOPE VI is not only about tearing down but rebuilding.”

Mr. Sessions’ amendment failed by a vote of 186 to 221, on a party-line vote except for one Democrat, Mr. Carney, voting in support.

Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) offered an amendment, which was adopted by voice vote, to prohibit the eviction of elderly people or people with disabilities from HOPE VI housing because a member of their household, a guest or other person under the tenant’s control engaged in criminal or drug-related activity when “the tenant did not know and should not have known of the activity or they were a victim of the activity.”

Mrs. Capito’s amendment to make the bill’s green housing requirements into a “graded” instead of a “mandatory” component of the bill failed on a vote of 169 to 240. Twenty Republicans opposed the amendment. On January 14, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Chair John Olver (D-MA), Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) and Representative Dennis Moore (D-KS) wrote to their House colleagues in support of the bill’s green building requirements. On January 16, NLIHC joined more than 30 other national organizations in a letter coordinated by Enterprise Community Partners in support of the bill’s green provisions.

Representative Sam Graves (R-MO) offered the final amendment. Mr. Graves mischaracterized the bill by saying it incentivized housing agencies to house convicted felons rather than veterans. Mr. Graves’ amendment encourages HOPE VI properties to house veterans and specifically excludes them from housing ex-offenders who have served their time. Mr. Frank said he did not understand why the bill could not do both and said he would work to include both populations in the bill as it moves forward. Mr. Graves’s amendment passed on a vote of 372 – 28.

A hearing was held on the Senate’s HOPE VI reauthorization bill, S. 829, in June 2007 but no further action has been taken or is scheduled. The legislation was introduced by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and has 20 cosponsors.

Link to NLIHC’s letter of support to H.R. 3524: www.nlihc.org/doc/House-HOPR-VI-support-letter.pdf

Link to the sign-on letter in support of the bill’s green provisions: www.nlihc.org/doc/Green-HOPE-VI.pdf

Link to the Dear Colleague letter regarding the green provisions: www.nlihc.org/doc/Dear-Colleague-Green-Hope-VI.PDF

Link to the Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 3524: www.nlihc.org/doc/Statement-of-Administration.pdf

Step-by-Step Guide to HUD Environmental Reviews

Farmworker Housing Added to 2008 Rental Preservation Program

The FY 2008 omnibus appropriations act makes Section 514/516 properties eligible for RD’s Multi-Family Housing Preservation and Revitalization Restructuring Program. In FY 2006 and 2007, RD has offered these “MPR” funds through a NOFA published in the spring. Click here to read the omnibus act.

Farm Bills Include Provisions on Farmworkers and Rural Definitions

The Senate and House versions of H.R. 2419, the 2007 Farm Bill, have some differences related to rural housing. Both bills would create a new Farmworker Coordinator position at USDA. Section 6402 of the Senate bill would expand Section 514/516 eligibility to include processing workers and Section 11061 would authorize emergency grants to public agencies and nonprofits with farmworker experience to help during disasters. The House bill would require USDA to examine its varying definitions of “rural” and recommend better ways to target funds, while the Senate would change the definition of “rural” for community facilities and business programs; the definitions for housing and water/wastewater programs would not be affected. Click here to read both versions of H.R. 2419.

HUD Launches Green Initiative Pilot Program for Section 8 Rehab Projects

HUD's Office of Affordable Housing Preservation has launched a program to encourage owners and buyers of affordable, multifamily properties to use sustainable green building principles when rehabilitating and operating their properties. The green building principles include sustainability, energy efficiency, recycling, and indoor air quality. Owners in compliance with these principles can receive a variety of benefits, including a reduction in the contribution to a building's rehab needs and a bump in the Incentive Performance Fee for securing outside funding. HUD's Green Initiative Pilot Program is available to Section 8 properties undergoing restructuring in the Mark to Market (M2M) Program. For more information, click here and here.

NeighborWorks America to Administer $180 Million in Foreclosure Mediation Funds

NeighborWorks America announced that it was named in the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act to administer a $180 million national mortgage foreclosure mitigation counseling program.

Under the legislation, NeighborWorks America (formally the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation) will make grants to housing counseling intermediaries approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and to qualifying state housing finance agencies (HFAs) and will provide foreclosure counseling training courses.

The legislation requires that NeighborWorks America grant at least $167,800,000 to qualifying organizations that provide mortgage foreclosure mitigation assistance primarily in states and areas with high rates of defaults and foreclosures primarily in the subprime housing market. The goal is to help eliminate the default and foreclosure of mortgages of owner-occupied single-family homes that are at risk of foreclosure.

Other than areas with high rates of defaults and foreclosures, NeighborWorks America is also able to provide grants to eligible applicants based on a geographic analysis of the nation by NeighborWorks America, which determines where there is a prevalence of subprime mortgages that are risky and likely to fail, including any trends for mortgages that are likely to default and face foreclosure. NeighborWorks America is currently conducting the research necessary to identify these areas.

Action within 60 Days of Enactment

The legislation requires that NeighborWorks America award $50 million of the funds within 60 days of the legislation’s enactment in states and areas with the greatest need. Additional funds may be awarded to HUD-approved intermediaries and qualifying state HFAs that have the need for additional funds in states and areas with high rates of mortgage foreclosures, defaults or related activities and the expertise to use these funds effectively.

NeighborWorks Organizations

The legislation allows NeighborWorks America to grant no more than 15 percent of the total funds (up to $27 million) directly to NeighborWorks chartered members with expertise in foreclosure prevention counseling, subject to certification by NeighborWorks America that the procedures for selection do not consist of any procedures or activities that could be construed as unacceptable conflict of interest or have the appearance of impropriety. There are approximately 200 NeighborWorks organizations with expertise in foreclosure intervention counseling.

Building Foreclosure Counseling Capacity

Of the total amount made available under the legislation, up to $5 million may be used to build mortgage foreclosure and default mitigation counseling capacity of counseling intermediaries through NeighborWorks America training courses with HUD-approved counseling intermediaries and their partners. However, the legislation requires that private financial institutions that participate in NeighborWorks America training shall pay market rates for such training. More than 200 homeownership counselors participated in foreclosure intervention counseling training at a recent NeighborWorks Training Institute in Portland, Oregon.

Information about NeighborWorks America training programs can be found by visiting www.nw.org/training.

NeighborWorks America Administrative Expenses

The legislation provides that up to four percent of the total made available (no more than $7.2 million) may be used for administrative expenses for NeighborWorks America to carry-out activities defined under the legislation, including a study to identify successful strategies and methods for preserving homeownership and the long-term affordability of at-risk mortgages. This report shall include recommended efforts that will or likely can assist in the success of this program as well as an analysis of any policy and procedures that failed to result in successful mortgage foreclosure mitigation. The report shall include an analysis of the details and use of any post mitigation counseling of assisted borrowers designed to ensure the continued long-term affordability of the mortgages which were the subject of the mortgage foreclosure mitigation assistance.

Reporting to Congress

NeighborWorks America is required under the legislation to provide a bi-annual report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations as well as to the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee on its efforts to mitigate mortgage default. The reports’ contents are required to identify successful strategies and methods for preserving homeownership and the long-term affordability of at-risk mortgages and shall include recommended efforts that will or likely can assist in the success of this program, as well as an analysis of any policy and procedures that failed to result in successful mortgage foreclosure mitigation.

For more information, read Frequently Asked Questions.

About NeighborWorks America

NeighborWorks America creates opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. To date, we have assisted nearly 850,000 low- to moderate-income families with their housing needs. Much of our success is achieved through our support of the NeighborWorks network ― more than 230 community development organizations working in 4,400 urban, suburban and rural communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $12.4 billion in reinvestment in these communities. NeighborWorks America is the nation’s leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals.

Online Workshops Look at Improving Housing Outcomes Jan 30 & 31

On Wednesday, Jan. 30 and Thursday, Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. ET, KnowledgePlex will team up with the National Housing Conference (NHC) and its research affiliate the Center for Housing Policy to present a two-day series of online workshops about high-impact housing policies that states and localities can use to improve housing outcomes for low- to moderate-income working families. Wednesday's chat will provide an overview of the ever-expanding range of these state and local housing policies, as well as an opportunity for participants to learn more about such innovative policies through HousingPolicy.org -- a new online guide to state and local housing policy developed by the Center, which will be launched on January 29. Thursday's discussion will focus on how to put individual housing policy tools together to form an effective state and local housing strategy. For more information and to join these conversations, click here.

A new guide from the Housing Assistance Council seeks to help housing groups navigate the environmental reviews required for funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The guide includes step-by-step explanations of the HUD and USDA RD processes with the housing developer's responsibilities clearly noted, along with definitions of important terms and tips for success. The guide also provides contact information for HUD, RD, and state offices. The environmental review guide can be downloaded free from HAC's Web site. Printed copies are available for $5.00 each from Luz Rosas at (202) 842-8600 ext. 137, or via email. Click here to read the Environmental Review Guide.

NPF Hosts Oregon IDA Initiative Training and Lecture in Salem Feb 5

The Neighborhood Partnership Fund invites you to participate in their upcoming training and lecture series to be held in Salem Oregon, “Oregon IDA Initiative Training and Lecture”,

Tuesday, February 5, 2008. The training event will be held at the Reed Opera House, 189 Liberty Street NE in Salem.

Opening Presentations:

Oregon Work Incentive Network - Molly Sullivan

1:30 - 1:50 PM

Oregon 529 Plans - Michael Parker

1:50 - 2:20 PM

Best Practices and Measuring Success of Your IDA Microenterprise Program - Jason Friedman

2:30 - 4:30 PM

Many IDA practitioners claim that IDAs for microenterprise are the most challenging to administer. This is particularly true for organizations that do not provide microenterprise development services to low-income clients. Staff either do not have business ownership experience or are not familiar with the components of a business plan and/or how to evaluate them. These skills are particularly critical when it comes time for the client to use their savings to purchase equipment, supplies or inventory for the business.

Beyond these issues, there is the question of how to measure the success of an IDA Microenterprise Program. This workshop will help identify appropriate measures for program performance and client outcomes for microenterprise IDA programs. We will facilitate a dialogue among participants about how programs define success and how they can use this information to influence policymakers and funders. Participants will walk through the process of developing their own logic model for their program to differentiate between activities, outputs and outcomes. A secondary goal of the workshop is to help organizations that don't have microenterprise programs identify the criteria for selecting an appropriate partner to assure quality service and to meet program goals.

Microenterprise Expo

4:30 - 5:15 PM

Trends in State and Federal Policy on Microenterprise Development for Working Families - Jason Friedman

5:15 - 6:30 PM

Learn promising ideas and strategies for opening new paths to success in the mainstream economy for communities on the margin. Learn of innovations in microenterprise and entrepreneurship policies and programs that can bring greater social equity, alleviate poverty, and lead to a more prosperous economy for everyone.

Jason Friedman will explore the role of microenterprise development as a poverty alleviation and asset building strategy. He will also highlight promising initiatives at the federal and state level including innovations in using the tax code and tax preparation assistance as incentives for entrepreneurs to formalize their businesses; using technology to provide credit to unbankable entrepreneurs; and how the emerging "green" business sector provides opportunities for low-income individuals to create sustainable business.

Reception

6:30 - 7:00 PM

Registration Required by January 29^th.

Click here for registration form or Ann Warnock via email to request a registration form.

US Conf of Mayor Release Report of Hunger, Homelessness

The United States Conference of Mayors - Sodexho "Hunger and Homelessness Survey: A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities" (December 2007) is now available. The survey of 23 major cities estimates for each city the demand for emergency food assistance, emergency shelter and transitional housing; the capacity to meet that demand; the causes of hunger ad homelessness; efforts underway in each city to combat these problems; the economic or social conditions that exacerbate these problems; and the outlook for 2008. To read full article, click here.