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Ways and Means Includes Housing Alliance Preservation Bill in Omnibus Budget On Wednesday, the Ways and Means Committee discussed adding $1 million in General Fund into the omnibus budget reconciliation bill (SB 5556) to fund the Housing Alliance preservation acquisition fund. The $1 million General Fund will be matched by $1 million that the Department of Housing and Community Services has identified from their resources to make the $2 million we need to start the Housing Acquisition Fund. This is an essential tool to save affordable homes across the state. SB 5556 will be heard again in Ways and Means late Thursday afternoon, and is expected to pass out of committee. This is great news for housing advocates in such a difficult budget period. Many legislative champions worked very hard to make this happen, most notably Senator Betsy Johnson, Senator Kurt Schrader, and Representative Mary Nolan. Also on Wednesday, HB 3619A passed out of Senate Revenue with an additional $4 million cap in the Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit. This complements the Housing Acquisition Fund by creating new capacity for state tax credits to help make the long term financing of preservation possible. This bill was introduced at the request of the state Housing Council. Both bills are expected to move quickly as the Legislature wraps up its business. This is a remarkable achievement -- and a testament to how concerned legislators from all parts of the state are about housing needs and issues. The overwhelming support for action on housing has been remarkable. OHCS Awards $6.2 Million to Oregon Nonprofits for IDA Programs Oregon Housing and Community Services, in partnership with the Neighborhood Partnership Fund, just awarded $6.2 million to six nonprofit agencies serving 30 counties in Oregon through the Oregon Individual Development Account (IDA) Initiative. The IDA Initiative supports low income Oregonians to build assets that assist them in cycling out of poverty. Low income individuals work with a local nonprofit organization to identify their asset and set a financial savings goal. Individuals are allowed to save for homeownership, to start a business, to access higher education, to repair their homes, or to purchase technology or equipment that will help them retain employment. Once they have completed financial education classes, asset specific training and met their savings goal, their savings are matched by funds from the Oregon IDA Tax Credit. In 2008, the Oregon IDA Initiative will expand to also serve low-income youth ages 12 to 18. The Oregon IDA Initiative is a unique partnership between Oregon Housing and Community Services, the Neighborhood Partnership Fund, and non-profit partners across the state, and the public. Individual and corporate charitable contributions to the Neighborhood Partnership Fund for the Oregon IDA Initiative are eligible for a 75% State of Oregon tax credit. These tax credits create the match funds for the IDA participants. In 2007, the Neighborhood Partnership Fund received $6 million in contributions from average Oregonians wanting to make a difference and give back to their communities. Funds have been allocated to six organizations to allow nearly 1000 new low income individuals to begin savings towards an asset goal in 2008. The organizations and their service areas are: ¨ CASA of Oregon, Newberg, $3.2 million ¨ Umpqua Community Development Corporation, Roseburg, $2 million ¨ Lane Microbusiness, Eugene, $152,500 ¨ MercyCorps Northwest, Portland, $225,000 ¨ Native American Youth And Family Center, Portland, $150,000 ¨ Portland Housing Center, Portland, $562,500 The Oregon IDA Initiative began in 1999. Since its inception, over 1000 individuals have participated in the program and nearly 500 have already purchased their asset. Rapid expansion began in 2007, and 2008 will see a continuation of that growth. Goals in 2008 include continuing to develop IDA use in all communities of the state and launching a professional external evaluation of the Initiative in partnership with Portland State University. Assets provide the ability to weather hard times; to make a better future for individuals, families and children; and build stronger communities. By offering the incentive of matching individual savings towards a goal alongside financial education and support to achieve specific financial goals, the Oregon IDA Initiative fosters hope and opportunity. In the face of a consumer oriented culture that does not encourage wise savings and financial behavior, the Oregon IDA Initiative provides an alternative path to a brighter future. Portland City Council Candidates Speak at Housing Opportunity Forum Feb 21 Portland housing & homeless organizations are co-sponsoring a Housing Opportunity Candidate Forum for City Council Seat #2 (currently held by Commissioner Erik Sten) on Feb 21 from 12pm – 1:30pm at First Unitarian Church (1011 SW 12th Ave. in Portland). The Housing Opportunity Forum is a tremendous opportunity to listen to candidates running to replace Sten. Candidates slated to participate in the Housing Opportunity Candidate Forum are Nick Fish, Jim Middaugh, Ed Garren, Fred Stewart and Harold Williams III. To view a lsit of questions each candidate was given, click here. The vent is sponsored by Street Roots, Sisters of the Road, JOIN, Coalition for Homeless Families, Affordable Housing NOW!, Community Alliance of Tenants and the Community Development Network. Please join us for this groundbreaking event on Thursday, February 21st. The event is free, no registration required. This is a ‘brown bag lunch’ event, so feel free to bring your own food to eat. The First Unitarian Church is accessible to people with disabilities. Questions? Contact Julie via email or at 503-335-9884
Portland 2007 Affordable Housing/Permanent Supportive Housing NOFA Closes On April 10, 2007 BHCD and PDC published an expanded Affordable Housing/Permanent Supportive Housing Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) that included: · Capital Funding up to $11 million in federal and Tax Increment resources, · Operating funding up to $1.6 million from HOPWA and City of Portland General Fund and · Up to 50 Project Based Section 8 vouchers from the Housing Authority of Portland (HAP). Applications were accepted on an on-going basis with the NOFA remaining open until funds are depleted or December 31, 2007, whichever came first. At this point, we have committed almost all of our available NOFA funds. During this funding process, eight (8) projects have received a reservation of funds for capital, operations and/or PBS8 that will result in the preservation and/or development of 472 affordable housing units including 99 new units and 62 deeply affordable/PSH units. Due to having depleted our available funds, we plan to cease accepting applications for this NOFA February 15, 2008. We will continue to evaluate and provide technical assistance to all projects that are submitted prior to February 15, 2008. Reservations will be awarded based upon the availability of remaining funds and resources. BHCD and PDC now plan to evaluate the NOFA process. We will call you and other partners to assist in this evaluation. The evaluation of the present NOFA, a forecast of federal and TIF funding as well as consultation with OHCS re: the CFC funding cycle modifications will enable us to implement the most appropriate city funding process in Spring 2008. We anticipate circulating our plan by late March 2008. President's Proposed Budget Cuts Would Hurt Oregonians and Shift Costs to State President Bush's proposed 2009 budget would cut over $200 million in federal funding for a slew of social programs in Oregon, shifting costs to the state at time when a weakening economy has shrunk state revenues. The proposed budget would slash about $20 billion in spending nationally on domestic "discretionary" programs outside of homeland security, while making permanent all of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts. "The President's budget continues to steer Oregon and the nation in the wrong direction," said OCPP policy analyst Janet Bauer. "Instead of investing in families and their future, we get tax cuts favoring the wealthy. Oregon's congressional delegation must rise to the challenge and help right this ship." Read the rest of OCPP's news release President's Proposed Budget Cuts Would Hurt Oregonians and Shift Costs to State, or see a PDF version here.
President’s Budget Proposes Eliminating Many Rural Housing Programs The Administration’s budget for FY 2009, released on February 4, would defund Section 502 direct homeownership loans, Section 515 rental housing loans, USDA’s Rural Community Development Initiative, and HUD’s Rural Housing and Economic Development program. This year it also proposes to eliminate Section 523 self-help technical assistance, rental housing preservation, and Section 514/516 farmworker housing loans and grants, and to cancel $20 million in unused USDA vouchers. For HAC’s free budget summary click here or purchase for $1.00 from Luz Rosas, HAC, by phone (202-842-8600), or email. Analyses of the HUD budget are also available from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
HUD Releases FY08 Income Limits and Median Family Incomes On February 13, HUD published FY08 income limits and estimates of median family income (MFI) for current year Fair Market Rent (FMR) areas. At the local level, income limits are used to determine whether, based on its annual income, a household qualifies to participate in many federal assisted housing programs. Evaluating the MFI estimates for individual FMR areas indicates that family income grew by roughly 3.8% when compared with FY07. For roughly 40 areas, income estimates are 10-20% higher than last year, while estimates are actually lower than FY07 for 80 metropolitan areas and rural counties. However, in continuing its tradition of holding income limits harmless rather than allowing them to fall when an area’s overall income drops, income limits for these and fully one-third of all FMR areas are maintained at higher previous levels. Just as it did last year, this year HUD incorporated the most recent data from the American Community Survey (ACS) into this year’s updates. These data are from 2006. Income estimates for areas with large populations are heavily dependent on estimated income growth between Census 2000 and 2006 ACS data, while estimates for smaller areas rely to a greater degree on state-level income growth over this period and, to a lesser degree, growth in wages measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data are trended forward using a historical rate of 3.5% to April 1, 2008. The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) will continue to assess the FY08 income estimates and report any significant findings in future editions of Memo to Members. For a more thorough discussion of the methodology used to calculate income limits and median family incomes, as well as documentation on the geographic definitions of current year FMR areas and a downloadable Excel file containing the data click here.
AOCDO-CDN Merger Update: On Course for July 1 Completion Merger planning is moving full steam ahead! With a July 1, 2008 completion deadline, the boards of AOCDO and CDN have hired Dana Brown & Associates to facilitate merger and strategic planning tasks. Financial support for the merger, so crucial for the successful development of a new, stronger voice for community development, is beginning to come in. Thank you to those who have already committed your support: Enterprise; Ford Family Foundation, Geller Silvis and Associates; Key Bank; Meyer Memorial Trust, National Equity Fund and; Oregon Housing and Community Services. We look forward to hearing back from those of you who we have recently contacted. RD Offers Funds for Several Housing and Business Programs Rural Capacity Building Initiative Funds: Intermediary organizations can apply by May 5. See Federal Register, 2/4/08, pp. 6457-6466 or click here. Contact an RD state office. Assistance for Farmworkers in Disaster Areas: Nonprofits and public agencies can apply by April 4. See Federal Register, 2/4/08, pp. 6467-69. Contact a local RD office or Henry Searcy, 202-720-1753, or by email. Section 538 rental housing guarantee: Applications received by April 25, 2008 will be processed first, and RD will continue to accept applications while funds are available. See Federal Register, 2/4/08, pp. 6469-77. Contact C.B. Alonso, by email, or at 202-720-1624. Rural Business Opportunity Grants Public bodies, nonprofits, tribes, and some cooperatives can apply by March 31 for. See Federal Register, 2/5/08, pp. 6692-96 or click here. Contact a Rural Development State Office or Cindy Mason, RD, 202-690-1433. Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant application deadlines are March 31 and June 30. See Federal Register, 2/5/08, pp. 6696-99 or click here. Contact a Rural Development State Office or Melvin Padgett, RD, 202-720-1495. Rural Cooperative Development Grants are offered to nonprofits and institutions of higher education that apply by April 8. See Federal Register, 2/8/08, pp. 7508-14 or click here. Contact an RD state office.
NAEH: Housing Vouchers Led to a 74 percent Reduction in Homelessness Research from the National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that a recent random controlled study found that housing vouchers led to a 74 percent reduction in homelessness. The brief also looks at: shortages of affordable housing leading to increases in homelessness for entire communities; housing vouchers overcoming those affordable housing shortages that lead to homelessness; families avoiding homelessness by using housing vouchers; and families who are already homeless using vouchers to end their homelessness. For a copy of the brief, click here. Rural Voices examines Rehabbing Rural Housing Housing Assistance Council’s Winter 2008 issue of Rural Voices: "Rehabilitating Affordable Rural Housing," examines the challenges and opportunities of rehabbing. The country's housing stock is aging, older people are more likely to live in aging housing and less likely to have the money or ability to make repairs. Rural Voices offers perspectives on these challenges, including potential pitfalls of rehab projects, opportunities for multifamily rehabbing, and innovations in environmentally green rehabs. To obtain a copy, click here. MetroPaint Offers Discounted Paint, Improved Quality to CDC’s In 1992 when Metro began recycling the paint leftover from residents’ home improvement projects, we believed non-profit Community Development Corporations would be among its biggest customers. Over the years though, CDC’s have proven to be a very small slice of our customer base. We would be the first to admit that our early paint had some poor characteristics—inconsistent colors, insufficient supply of popular colors, no filtering, no warranty and a difficult to navigate Oregon City sales location. Over the years we’ve learned a lot about recycling paint and hope you will try us again. Green Seal™ Today, MetroPaint is the first recycled paint to receive the Green Seal™, a third party certification attesting to its environmental merit and its performance- which tests as good or better than new latex paint. Metro also warrants that Green Seal certified MetroPaint will remain intact and free from functional defects for five years from the date of purchase. To receive the Green Seal certification and the Master Painters Institute (MPI) endorsement MetroPaint has to follow a verifiable production process and must be tested on an on-going basis. Both Green Seal and the Master Painters Institute performed an on-site audit of the operation. The production process includes the physical inspection of incoming latex paint, and discarding paint that is moldy, hardened, curdled or contains debris. Paint from rusty cans, or cans without labels, and paint with banned substances is safely disposed. Useable paint is sorted for color—similar colors are blended together. By producing most colors as 1,000-gallon batches, Metro is able to achieve very consistent colors from batch to batch. A color meter checks the batches for consistency of color. Further in-house testing includes checking every batch of paint for degree of gloss, fineness of particulates, hiding power and viscosity. The Master Painters Institute tests the paint several times a year to make sure the paint maintains consistent high quality. Metro has also obtained more paint to process, so popular colors like white, cream and barn red are now available Monday through Saturday. More Reasons to try MetroPaint · MetroPaint costs about half as much as new paint Environmental Merit MetroPaint can help your projects reduce their environmental footprint. The United States Green Building Council, through its LEED standards, recognizes the GS-43 standard that MetroPaint passed. It also recognizes both recycled and locally produced products Substituting one-gallon of recycled paint for new paint: · Saves an estimated 100 kilowatt-hours of energy MetroPaint is sold on North Portland’s Swan Island, 4825 N. Basin Avenue. For additional details on MetroPaint including a color brochure or information on disposing of household hazardous waste (the MetroPaint store is not a collection center), please call 503 234-3000 Monday through Saturday. Or click here. Portland Housing Center Class: Tax Issues for New Home Owners Feb 26, Mar 18 So now you’re a homeowner... The Portland Housing Center presents Tax Issues for New Home Owners. > Maximize potential tax deductions > Understand benefits of itemization > Strategies for using your tax return > Setting up a “house account” Presented by Kevin Minkoff, Certified Public Accountant When: Tuesday, February 26th OR Where: 3233 N.E. Sandy Blvd. Registration: Pre-registration is required Make sure you are getting the most out of homeownership. Online Event: Inclusionary Zoning: A Tool for Promoting Regional Equity Feb 27 Inclusionary Zoning: A Tool for Promoting Regional Equity Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 2:00 PM EDT, 90 minutes What can be done to make available housing affordable to those of more modest means? Inclusionary zoning is one powerful tool. There are a variety of methods a jurisdiction can use to promote inclusionary zoning (IZ). Join us for look at the seasoned IZ programs in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the proposed programs in La Plata County, Colorado. Kathy McCormick and Jennifer Lopez, respectively, will walk us through the reasons for and goals of the programs, the basics of what builders have to deliver, the cost of those concessions, the benefits of a “regional equity” approach to IZ, and how the inventors of the program have dealt with the politics, cost issues and incentives. Expected Outcomes * Learn about the key processes and critical elements of inclusionary zoning (IZ) programs and how they can promote regional equity. * Gain insight as to how for-profit developers, nonprofit developers and government entities can be good partners in establishing inclusionary zoning that creates opportunities for a cross-section of the region’s citizens. Who Should Attend * Local and regional government housing officials and staff. * Developers interested in being involved in equitable development. * Advocates of affordable housing and regional equity. Visit our website for more details and registration information: click here. Sponsored by the Ford Foundation Upcoming Live Online Events The series on tools to promote Regional Equity: The Green Communities series (all dates TBD): More in the Supportive Housing and Employment series If you have any questions or would like to removed from this mailing list, please email. TACS Training: How to Get Your Project Done On Time and Budget March 5 Eighty-six percent of projects are late. Many cost more than twice their original budget before they are finally done. Learn how you can use proven project management techniques to deliver your projects on time, on budget, and with successful outcomes. Learn: · Six characteristics of successful projects · Most common and expensive project mistakes · Tools and techniques for success in the 4 key steps of every project · How to synchronize project management responsibilities with ongoing operational demands Jeff Oltmann is a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience managing successful nonprofit and for profit programs. Jeff's hands-on program management experience includes program budgets over $100M and worldwide cross-functional teams of over 100 members. He is on the faculty of the department of Management of Science and Technology at the Oregon Graduate Institute. Jeff teaches project management and portfolio management, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and is principal consultant with Synergy Professional Services. Date Time Cost $85 NAO Members receive a 10 percent discount Location Click here for driving and parking directions. Nonprofits, Make Your Voices Heard: Advocacy Training March 14 Nonprofits are on the front line of today’s most pressing issues — poverty, housing, healthcare, and the environment, to name a few. Nonprofits can greatly inform the public debate . . . if they advocate. Nonprofits considering getting more involved in advocacy can learn how by attending an informative Advocacy Training for Nonprofits, Friday, March 14, 8:30am-Noon at the First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson, Portland. Space is limited, so click here to register by March 10. For more information contact: Lee Mercer at 503-873-1201 or by email. The training will include the basics of lobbying, Oregon lobbying laws, building internal (and especially board) support for lobbying, working with elected officials and using the media in advocacy. The presenters will be Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest Fellow (CLPI) Jason Sabo (Senior VP for Public Policy for the United Ways of Texas and COO of Frontera 501) and Chuck Sheketoff, Executive Director, Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP). The training is sponsored by the Oregon Center For Public Policy, Children First for Oregon, The United Way of Columbia Willamette and the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest.
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