Central City Concern (CCC) was awarded the Enterprise Foundation's coveted 2005 Jim and Patty Rouse Award and $5,000 at the Enterprise Foundation's Network Conference in Washington, D.C on November 10, 2005.

The Jim and Patty Rouse Award honors Enterprise's co-founders for their leadership in bringing affordable housing and life opportunities to low-income families by recognizing community-based organizations for excellence in neighborhood revitalization.

"I commend Central City Concern for the work they are doing to assist those less fortunate who need help with making a positive change in their lives," said Patty Rouse, who serves as vice president and secretary for Enterprise.  "Their commitment will allow people the opportunity to move up and out of poverty into the mainstream of life."

Founded in 1979, Central City Concern (CCC) is a nonprofit agency that has been working to mitigate the effects of poverty, homelessness and addiction in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area for over 26 years. The agency has developed a continuum of affordable housing options and supportive services designed to meet the unique needs of individuals transitioning from homelessness into self-sufficiency.

CCC currently owns or manages 21 buildings with 1,393 units of housing for single adults, families and people with special needs such as those in recovery from addictions, mental and/or primary health issues or involved with the corrections system. The people CCC serves typically have incomes that range from zero to 30 percent of the area median income.

The Enterprise Foundation Network Conference is one of the largest yearly gatherings of community development professionals, with more than 1,200 elected officials and funders coming together for three days of learning and discussion of the latest strategies for affordable housing and community revitalization.

The Enterprise Foundations helps America's low-income families with their struggle out of poverty by providing decent homes, access to steady employment, quality child care and safer streets. Working with a network of 2,500 community organizations nationwide and through its 17 offices, the Enterprise Foundation has leveraged close to $6 billion in investments and donations to help build almost 175,000 affordable homes.

Buy Building Materials at the Restore and Support Habitat for Humanity

Many of us are familiar with Habitat for Humanity; in fact the Portland Habitat for Humanity is one of CDN’s members.  What may be less well known is their Habitat Restore. The Habitat Restore is a retail store operated by the 4 Portland/Vancouver Metro Area Habitat Affiliates.  The Restore accepts donations of both new and used building materials and sell those goods at a reduced cost.  The net profits go directly back to the 4 Affiliates to help build more homes.

Below is a bit of an update on the Restore, as well as an intro to those of you who are unfamiliar with this aspect of Habitat.

The Restore’s New Manager

Habitat for Humanity hired a new manager back in September.  His name is Joe Connell.  Joe comes to the Restore with a background of many years in construction, as well as a few years in retail management.  He has taken over after a year of much transition for the Restore; a year in which the store moved to a new, much larger, location.  They are not done with that transition however, the next step, according to Joe, is to grow and settle into the new location.  A large part of this will be about getting the stores pricing structure and signage in place, as well as tweaking the placement of items in the store.  Another part will be to get their volunteer program reorganized.  To this end they have hired a part time Volunteer Coordinator; her name is Nancy Olson.  One other piece is to put a renewed effort into their marketing, hoping that they can involve more folks in joining to help the 4 Habitat affiliates build more homes.

So for those of you who have not yet been to the new store, it’s worth a trip down to see.  Make sure you stop in and introduce yourself to Joe and his staff, and mention that you are part of CDN.  You can also contact him at 503-283-6247, or jconnell@pdxrestore.org.

New Items & Special Deals

Here are just a few of the latest items the Restore has to offer:

Just coming in this next week is a set of church pews [buy the set and they’ll through in a pulpit that they got last week].  There are about 30 of them, 15’ – 22’ long.  They’d be great for a Community Center, Theater, or some other organization that needs some help setting up permanent seating.  If you can’t use them pass along any ideas you have about who might.

Also in this past month are a brand new set of about 15 Jeldwen-Pozzi windows, ranging in size from 3’x5’ double hungs, to a 5’x12’ picture window.  This is an amazing set that they are trying to sell as a package at 50% of retail before breaking them up for sale individually.  This would be enough windows for a whole house; plan a new project around these and you will have a beautiful setup at a very nice price.

Coming in next week are a set of ICF foam blocks for a concrete foundation.  This lot should be enough for an addition or garage, or perhaps even a small cottage.

One last new item is a set of 50 matching vinyl windows, about 3’x5’.  Again, enough to really do a whole project with, so check them out soon.

There is a rotating inventory down there, you never know what you’ll find, so the trick is to check them out often, and get on their mailing list for more up to date info.

ReStore Business Hours

Tuesday through Friday 9am – 6pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm

Holiday Hours

The Restore will be closed for the various holidays on these dates:

November 24^th, through the 28^th

December 24^th, through the 26^th

December 31^st, through January 2^nd

The Habitat Restore is a retail store operated by the 4 Portland/Vancouver Metro Area Habitat Affiliates.  We accept donations of both new and used building materials and sell those goods at a reduced cost.  The net profits go directly back to the 4 Affiliates to help build more homes.  We are run largely by volunteers to keep our costs down, allowing us to pass on as much of our sales dollars as we can.  To find out more about the Restore, go to www.pdxrestore.org

Fed Update: HUD Cut in Conference Committee, House Delays Budget Vote, Senate Not Supportive of Restricting Voter Reg, Momentum Slows for Tax Cuts

(From National Low Income Housing Coalition) Last week, House-Senate Conference Committee proposed substantial funding cuts for several HUD Programs. Conferees of the House and Senate met on November 9 and 10 to iron out differences between their Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development FY06 appropriations bills. Conferees have completed their work and will file the conference committee report by November 15.

From information that Nationa; Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) has received from appropriations committee staff, it is clear that several HUD programs have taken substantial funding cuts and may be cut still further. The few exceptions are: McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, which received a $100 million increase over FY05 funding levels; Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program, which received $289 million, an $8 million increase from FY05; and both the Section 811 and Section 202 programs, which were level-funded. The Public Housing Operating Fund received the Senate funding request of $3.6 billion.

The Conferees chose to accept the House version of the Housing Choice Voucher funding formula, under which a Public Housing Authority’s (PHA’s) 2006 voucher funding would be tied to its funding level for 2005, which in turn was based on the agency’s voucher costs during a three month “snapshot” in 2004. Advocates maintain that this formula is inefficient and wasteful, potentially underfunding numerous voucher administrators, while overfunding others. The appropriation for housing choice vouchers was funded at below both the House and the Senate versions of the bill at approximately $15.5 billion. Conferees did not shift the renewal costs of Section 811 vouchers to the Section 8 tenant-based assistance fund as Senate appropriators recommended (see Memo, 10/28).

Several programs were funded at a level halfway between the House and Senate funding requests. The Public Housing Capital Fund received $2.46 billion and HOPE VI received $100 million, a $43 million cut from FY05 funding. HOME formula grants received an allocation of $1.775 billion, a reduction of $14 million. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program will be funded with $4.22 billion, down from $4.671 billion in FY05.

The Affordable Housing and Economic Development Technical Assistance Board, a new program funded at $45 million in the Senate appropriations bill, is not included in the conference report.

Senator Charles Schumer’s (D-NY) amendment to provide for the renewal of project-based Section 8 contracts in apartment complexes after foreclosure will be included in the final report after committee staff work out technical details. Advocates had worked hard to include this provision, which will provide for the preservation of at-risk units.

The final bill will also allow for a $2.05 billion rescission from FY05 program funding. Committee staff report that a final 2% across the board cut is expected to all programs when all conference committees have completed their appropriations bills.

House Republican Leaders’ Attempts to Cut Mandatory Programs Fail

On November 10, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives failed their attempt to pass the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005. This budget reconciliation legislation would have cut more than $50 billion from programs such as food stamps, low income housing preservation and Medicaid, among others, while making major policy changes such as increasing work requirements for households receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Majority Whip and Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL), have already placed the bill on the House schedule for a second attempt at passage the week of November 14.

After the House Budget Committee marked up the reconciliation bill on November 3 (see Memo, 11/4), leadership scheduled the bill to come to the full House for a vote on November 10. Representative Blunt stated his confidence in the bill’s passage, though it became apparent early in the week that the vote would be extremely close. Advocates from across the country called and wrote to their legislators, urging them to oppose making harmful cuts to critical safety net programs. All House Democrats remained united in their opposition to the bill, leaving Republican leaders little room to negotiate among their own party.

On November 8, 22 moderate Republican Representatives wrote to their leadership stating they would vote against the bill if provisions remained allowing for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and offshore oil exploration along the coasts. By late on November 9, leadership agreed to remove these provisions from the reconciliation bill. This concession, however, appeased only a handful of the moderate Republicans. Others remained concerned about cuts to programs serving their poorest constituents. At the same time, removing ANWR and offshore drilling provisions caused several conservative Republicans to announce their opposition to the bill.

Almost immediately after the bill came to the floor of the House for a vote on November 10, House leadership recessed and attempted to round up the votes needed. After almost five hours of closed door negotiations with both conservative and moderate Republicans, the leadership announced that they did not have the necessary votes to pass the bill.

If the bill were to pass the House floor, Republican leaders still face difficulty shepherding the bill towards final passage. Two powerful members of the reconciliation conference committee, Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have said inclusion of a provision allowing drilling in Alaska’s ANWR is their top priority for the reconciliation bill while moderate Republicans vow to vote against a final bill should it include such language.

Senate Not Likely to Take Up GSE Bill; More Opposition to House Anti-Voting Provisions

With the 1^st session of the 109^th Congress coming to an end, it is expected that the Senate will adjourn without finishing action on S. 190, the Senate’s bill to overhaul the regulatory structure for the housing Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs).

The bill was reported out of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on a party line vote in July (see Memo, 7/29). While an Affordable Housing Fund was not included in the bill, the fund had a great deal of support and advocates continue to work to have the fund included when the bill reaches the Senate floor. However, Democrats and Republicans have been unable to come to any agreement on the bill’s most contentious issue, how the new regulator will manage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s portfolios and what those portfolios will look like. This issue will need to be resolved in order for the bill to be considered in the next session, which will begin in January.

In the meantime, outrage continued over the inclusion of anti-democratic language in the GSE bill passed by the House. This week, Representative Barney Frank entered into the record a letter sent to him from Joseph Flannigan, National President of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. “I have a letter here from one of the organizations that was so targeted [by the restrictions in the bill],” Mr. Frank said on the floor of the House. “It is that radical group known as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a set of groups in local communities that, to quote them, ‘pray at each meeting that families and those who have no home quickly may find a place in which they can live a decent and happy life.’ Here is what this subversive organization of deeply religious people dedicated to trying to help the poor have to say:

‘Our members live in communities across the country. They serve individuals and families with no homes, families on the verge of homelessness…The poor need a voice just as much as Americans who have the financial ability to own their own homes. They, too, should be allowed the privilege to register to vote, regardless of where they live; and nonprofits should not be penalized for providing them an opportunity to do so.’”

The letter urged support of an Affordable Housing Fund without restrictions on voter registration and affiliation when the organization is using its own funds.

And in other action on the anti-voting provisions, on November 4, Representatives Mark Kennedy (R-MN) and Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced H. R. 4231. The bill would reverse one of the anti–democratic provisions included in H. R. 1461, the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act that passed the House on October 26 (see Memo, 10/28). This bill replicates an amendment which Mr. Kennedy attempted to bring up in debate on the GSE bill in October, but which Republican leaders refused to allow.

The bill would ensure that any affordable housing assistance program of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would allow participation by nonprofit organizations that engage in voter registration activities required under state law. Thus, nonprofits that would be denied the ability to participate in the Affordable House Fund under the anti-democratic language inserted in the GSE legislation would be made eligible in certain states.

The bill was referred to the House Financial Services Committee. There are no plans to consider the measure at this time.

NLIHC and a large coalition of other national housing, civil rights, faith-based and nonprofit advocacy organizations will shortly send a letter to Senate leadership condemning the anti-democracy measures in House GSE bill, urging opposition to the provisions.

Senate Finance Committee Postpones Markup of Tax Reconciliation Package

Republican Leadership in the Senate suffered a setback on November 10 in their attempts to move the Senate’s second budget reconciliation bill, consisting of almost $70 billion in tax cuts.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA) released the Tax Relief Act of 2005 on November 8, and scheduled its markup for two days later. The bill would extend the President’s tax cuts on capital gains and dividends for an additional year, through 2009. The bill would also extend through 2006 the deduction of state and local general sales taxes and increase the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) exemptions.

The Tax Relief Act also includes an extensive section on tax relief for Hurricane-impacted areas, essentially rolling Representatives William Jefferson (D-LA) and Jim McCrery’s (R-LA) Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005 (see Memo, 11/4) into the Tax Relief Act. This section of the bill would, among other things: allot up to $8 billion in bond authority to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama; provide small businesses a tax credit of up to $2,400 for each employee retained; allow employees to make withdrawals from pensions without penalty; and expand the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Committee Democrats are unified in their opposition to the bill, noting that extending tax cuts for capital gains and dividends, a tax break heavily skewed towards the very wealthy, while attempting to make cuts to mandatory programs serving the poor is reprehensible. Committee member Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) was in agreement with the Democrats as the bill headed into markup.

With 11 Republicans and nine Democrats on the Committee, the vote was unclear up until the moment the markup was to begin at 10:00 am on November 10. The Republican Senators remained behind closed doors trying to reach an agreeable compromise. At 11:45, Committee staff emerged to announce the markup was postponed until such time as the Chair sees fit.

After the postponement, Committee staff indicated that when extension of capital gains and dividends was removed from the bill to appease Senator Snowe, other Republicans balked and stated their opposition to the bill. Still other Republicans felt the extensions should be longer than the one year allowed for in the reconciliation bill. Staff indicated that Senate leadership may chose to bypass the committee process and bring the bill directly to the Senate floor for a vote.

Tax Cut Reconciliation Bill Filed in the House

Despite the Senate Finance Committee’s inability to markup its reconciliation bill to extend the President’s tax cuts, the House Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a markup to attempt the same on November 15. House Ways and Means Chair Bill Thomas (R-CA) filed H.R. 4297 on November 10, and immediately scheduled its markup. Republican leadership in the House hopes to see the bill pass both the committee and the House floor during the week of November 14, though they acknowledge the difficulty of doing so while still rounding up votes to pass the spending reconciliation bill. House Republican leadership has told its members that a Saturday, November 19 session may be scheduled to complete all business before legislators leave for Thanksgiving recess.

H.R. 4297 would extend tax cuts for the capital gains and dividends for two years, through 2010. The bill would also, among other things, extend for one year a state and local sales tax deduction and a school tuition deduction. Unlike the Senate version of the bill, Mr. Thomas did not include in his bill a fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which will affect many more middle-income people in the coming year if left unchecked. Mr. Thomas said that, with a cap of $70 billion in tax cuts, he could not include both the AMT fix and extend tax cuts on capital gains and dividends. He said he chose to exclude a fix to the AMT because if more middle class people feel the impacts of the AMT, it might “help the momentum on tax reform.”

Want information the Federal Budget and Oregon? Contact Janet Bauer at jbauer@ocpp.org

In letters sent November 8 to Oregon’s five-member Congressional delegation, twenty-four service providers, advocacy groups, and religious organizations in Oregon have expressed concern regarding proposed Congressional cuts to safety net services that help working families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities.

The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a budget reconciliation package that cuts $54 billion from domestic programs over the next five years again this week. The House had hoped to vote on the budget cuts on Thursday, November 10, but scrapped the proposed vote after preliminary vote counts indicated that the budget cuts would not have enough votes to pass (see article above). The proposed cuts will disproportionately burden poor Americans, including low-wage working families.

The proposed House budget bill would deny food stamps to 225,000 individuals across the country who currently qualify under rules that are aimed to help individuals and families who work in very low-wage jobs. The rules targeted for elimination have reduced Oregon’s hunger rate. Oregon’s children may doubly suffer, since they may lose access to school breakfast and lunch programs, as well, under the budget plan.

"Last year, food stamps enabled thousands of working Oregonians to have nutritious meals. The cuts proposed by the House threaten the significant progress we have made against widespread hunger in our state," said Kim Thomas of Oregon Food Bank. "The food pantries in our network work hard to address short-term emergency food needs. They would be hard-pressed to help the large number of additional working families who will need food assistance if this policy is approved."

Efforts to promote work among low-income Americans would be undermined by the House bill. The proposal would provide inadequate child care funding to support families in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Family (TANF) program who are complying with new work rules.

“A budget that pulls the child care rug out from under people as they try to work themselves out of poverty is seriously flawed,” said Jessica Stevens of the Human Services Coalition of Oregon.

The House bill would make major changes in Medicaid - the nation’s health care safety net - that would affect affordability, eligibility, and benefits for working families, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities.

“The bill would allow unaffordable premiums and co-payments for most people with incomes just above the poverty line and would eliminate the guarantee of preventive care for children in these families,” said Janet Bauer of the Oregon Center for Public Policy.

The House bill would also impose new costs for prescription drugs on children and pregnant women below the poverty line. The advocates called the new costs “unaffordable.” Co-payments for prescription drugs will be particularly hard on people with disabilities whose need for multiple maintenance drugs is typically high.

The groups noted that children take multiple “hits” under the House budget plan. Child support enforcement funds would be slashed, resulting in the loss of approximately $237 million in child support payments to Oregon’s children over the next ten years.

Abused or neglected children now living with relatives would also suffer under the budget plan. Proposed changes would force very vulnerable children to lose the support of federally funded foster care assistance. "Relative foster care is one of the most supportive, stable and culturally appropriate options for abused and neglected children," said Tina Kotek, Children First for Oregon. "These changes show that the House budget writers are out of step with the American people."

Despite recent news that poverty and food insecurity are up nationally and health insurance coverage is down, Congressional proposals do not ask for sacrifice from upper income Americans, according to the Oregon groups. The House and Senate are expected to take up consideration of budget bills later this month that provide $70 billion in tax breaks that primarily benefit wealthy households and increase the national debt.

The Oregon Center for Public Policy uses research and analysis to advance policies and practices that improve the economic and social opportunities of all Oregonians.

Join the Neighborhood Partnership Fund this Friday, November 18, for a lecture by Bill Faith, Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. Faith has led his organization and a broader coalition of housing and homeless advocates in their successful efforts to fund housing needs in Ohio. In 2003, they secured a $50 million a year dedicated revenue stream for housing. Previously, he led an effort to amend Ohio’s constitution to make housing a public purpose, opening the door to almost a billion dollars of bond financing over 10 years.

In 2004, Bill was a James A. Johnson Fellow of the Fannie Mae Foundation. In his sabbatical period he researched best practices for state housing advocacy coalitions. Bill also serves as Chair of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

What: Bill Faith speaks on Funding Housing Needs Through Bi-Partisan State Legislative Action

When: Friday, November 18, 2005 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Where: Portland Building Auditorium (1120 SW 5^th Ave. in Portland, OR 97204)

Cost: Free. No need to RSVP.

This lecture is one in an ongoing series of coordinated presentations hosted by the Neighborhood Partnership Fund and the Community Development Network on strategic approaches to housing resource policy.

Enterprise Online: ‘Green Communities™: Renewable Energy for Housing’ Nov 29

Join the Enterprise Foundation for a free live online event, ‘Green Communities™: Renewable Energy for Housing,’ on Tuesday, November 29th for 90 minutes beginning at 11:03am.

Residences accounts for over 25% of non-transportation energy consumption in the U.S.  Whether burning fuel within our homes or using electricity, virtually all of this energy comes from petroleum, coal, nuclear or natural gas.  Mined or pumped from the earth, these non-renewable fuels are distributed through vast, expensive networks.  Two things are guaranteed to happen with the use of these fuels that we in the green movement want to avoid:  1) Energy prices rise as fuels become less abundant and when their distribution is disrupted;  2) The environment is polluted and degraded by extracting, distributing, burning and disposing of these fuels.  Using renewable energy sources from the sun, wind and earth is a way to combat escalating prices of conventional fuels and the pollution they create.

This event will focus on renewable energy sources that are available on-site.  Using three additional questions to screen the variety of renewable technologies, we find that five of them come to the forefront for use with housing:  photovoltaic panels, solar thermal (hot water), passive solar, wind, and geothermal.  While only photovoltaic panels for producing electricity are mentioned in the Green Communities Criteria, the other sources may be worthy of your investigation for your affordable housing projects.  Manufacturing costs of many of these technologies continue to decline and subsidies often are available.  Some may fit your development and operating pro formas while others may not.  In either case, you’ll want to participate in this event to learn about what’s possible for upcoming projects.

For more information about the event and how to join, go to www.enterprisefoundation.org/resources/trainingconf/training/elearning/classes.asp

If you have any questions about the setup process or joining, please contact Kathy Holmes at 410.772.2411 or kholmes@enterprisefoundation.org.

It's almost time for our annual Cheap Art Party!  Please join in the fun-Come one, come all for good times, great art and a chance to do some holidayshopping. The Community Alliance of Tenants (CAT) does not want you to have to choose between art and housing this holiday season!

What: A fundraiser for CAT where you can purchase locally made art for almost all under $25.

When: Saturday, December 3rd. Come from 6-7 pm to get the best stuff! Sliding scale for admission $5-$10. No charge for admission from 7-9:30 pm.

Where: 2512 SE Gladstone, the Milk and Honey Studio. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

What else: There will be music, food and a cash bar serving wine and beer.

Join us to support the empowerment of Oregon's renters. All proceeds benefit CAT.

The Community Alliance of Tenants (CAT) is Oregon's only grassroots, statewide, tenant-controlled, tenant-membership organization. Our mission is to educate and empower tenants to promote affordable, stable and safe rental homes. Low-income tenants - predominately seniors, people of color, families with children, people living with disabilities and low-wage workers – are CAT's primary membership-base.

Increase opportunity by advocating for housing! Join the Affordable Housing NOW! Speakers Bureau!

Right now, families, seniors and people with disabilities are too often faced with the choice between paying for rent and paying for groceries.  We can do better!  Affordable Housing NOW! believes that having a place to call home gives people the opportunity to build better lives.

The Speakers Bureau is the action advocacy arm of AHN!, helping to make our case for increasing housing opportunity to the community groups, local leaders and elected officials in the Metro area.  

At the Speakers Bureau Training, we will give you the tools to effectively talk about housing and the need to increase funding for housing that works.  No prior housing expertise or public speaking training necessary. 

Get active with the movement that has successfully won $13 million for housing in Portland in the last two years!

The Speakers Bureau Training will be held on December14 at the office of the Community Alliance of Tenants, 2710 NE 14^th Ave.  The training begins at 6:00 pm and lasts until 8:00 pm.  Refreshments will be provided.

Childcare available upon request.  

Please share this announcement with anyone you think might be interested.  

Please RSVP to Michael Anderson (mike@cdnportland.org, 503/335-9884) or Sarah Buckley (sarah@oregoncat.org, 503/460-9702). CAT Offices are accessible.