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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12092008 - C.3 r1 f • HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA TO: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FROM: Joseph Villarreal, Executive Director DATE: December 9, 2008 SUBJECT: ARTICLES CONCERNING AFFORDABLE HOUSING ISSUES SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION I. RECOMMENDED ACTION: ACCEPT attached articles regarding affordable housing issues for the Board's information. 11. FINANCIAL IMPACT: This is for informational purposes only and has no fiscal impact. III. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION/BACKGROUND For the Board's information only. IV. CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE ACTION: None. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE-��<."�, Joseph Villarreal,Executive Director RECOMMENDATION OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): 4 ACTION OF BOARD ON UOQ APPR ED AS RECOMMEND D ly _XR VOTE OF COMMISSIONERS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A UNANIMOUS (ABSENT ) TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN AYES: NOES: ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON THE ABSENT: ABSTAIN: MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COMM ONERS ON THE DATE SHOWN. ATTESTED ��-Q� ! gee JOSEPH VILLARREAL, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BY EPUTY H:\JudyHayes\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\BOARD\BO-Information Item.doc Overview of Articles The first three articles are from the Contra Costa Times about our wait list opening. The article titled Obama Team is Warned that HUD Needs Work discusses some of the challenges facing HUD both internally and externally. One thing to note is that the estimated national backlog of public housing maintenance has recently been increased from the $20 billion amount quoted in the article to $32 billion. A Number of Players Vying to Become Next HUD Secretary discusses several rumored candidates including NAHRO's Executive Director Saul Ramirez. Groups Agree on Broad Objectives for Housing discusses the results of a series of meetings between and within over 30 organizations concerned with public housing. The goal of these meetings is to influence both the new Congress and the new Administration to take positive action to support public housing after decades of neglect. Big Jump Seen in Ranks of Poor discusses an estimated jump in the number of people living below the poverty line in the next two to three years. The Archeology of Homelessness gives a short overview of some findings from recent research on the homeless using archeological techniques in Indianapolis. 7 1 County to open Section 8 waiting list - ContraCostaTimes.com Page 1 of 3 ONTRA-COSTA11,ML) ContraCostaTiniesxom County open ������ A little more than 20,000 families applied in 2001 p and 12,000 were put on the waiting list, Housing waiting list Authority Executive Director Joseph Villareal said. This year—with the economic uncertainty and housing market meltdown—could see even more By Hilary costa families apply,Villareal said. East County Times and Matthias Gatni Contra Costa Times "There's much more need there than there are vouchers available,"he said. 'c?st 3d: ;fir+1 i2 008 1i04a3,i:.. r"•r1 The Contra Costa Housing Authority announced last Applicants that meet certain criteria—including week that it will open the waiting list for its Section 8 those who have been displaced from their homes by housing assistance program for five days in natural disaster or foreclosure—will be given November. priority on the waiting list based on a point system. Smargiasso estimated it would take six months for It is the first time the Housing Authority has first 300-plus families to receive their vouchers accepted new applicants for the federal voucher because of the time it will take to process program since 2001. applications and complete criminal background checks. Applicants can submit paperwork online and via U. S. mail from 8 a.m. Nov. 3 to 4:59 p.m. Nov. 7. The The Housing Authority put the 6,000-person cap Housing Authority will accept applications that on the waiting list because officials don't want to arrive in the mail until Nov. 14, said Bruce wait another seven years before opening it up again. Smargiasso, director of the Section 8 program. Villareal said it would take about 21/2 years, at the current rate of turnover, for the last person on the Of the Housing Authority's 6,781 total vouchers, waiting list to get his or her voucher. Most Section 8 341 are currently available—but the agency tenants leave the program when their income levels expects to receive tens of thousands of applications surpass eligibility standards,Villareal said. next month. However, some are kicked out and others die. All eligible applications received by the deadline The gap between openings stretched as long as it will be placed in a random lottery and culled to did while the Housing Authority performed an audit 6,000 applicants who will be placed on the waiting and updated its procedures before opening the list, list. Villareal said. After the initial prescreening,the 6,000 selected At last count in December 2007,Antioch had the families will then go through a more intense highest number of the Housing Authority's Section 8 screening that includes validating their financial voucher recipients among the county's cities with information and conducting a five-year criminal 1,499 vouchers (Pittsburg and Richmond operate background check. Earlier this year, the Housing their own housing authorities). Authority intensified that background check from one year to five. Basic market forces make East County,with its lower Advertisement ContluaKostarimes' (600) 598-463?_,, 0=10_311%O 4 �.:'sk''a ��a'..'za"- .. :�.rO1 i f O __--`— i `CRA Y Subscribe today! lW www.contracostatimes.com/Subscriberservices F'rint Powere i By http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ei_10698698?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.co... 11/24/2008 County to open Section 8 waiting list ContraCostaTimes.com Page 2 of 3 UNTRA.C()")"'-"1-"A" ..T",I,-,MES, Curt#+�aCc�st aTt r�es,ct�tr housing prices and a housing supply that has Reach Hilary Costa at 925-779-7166 or skyrocketed in the past decade, a natural draw for hcosta@bayareanewsgroup.com . Reach the program,Villareal said. Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5053 or "It's just like the private market,"Villareal said. mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com . "People move to places for every reason. ... Also, people go to where housing is available." Section 8 waiting list The Contra Costa Housing Authority is Antioch police Chief Jim Hyde said he welcomes this opening its Section 8 waiting list for the first move because of the aid it will bring to struggling time since 2001 from Nov. 3 to 7. Here's how families, seniors and disabled residents in need of to apply: Online at www.hacccwaitlist.com housing assistance. from 8 a.m. Nov. 3 to 4:59 p.m. Nov. 7 In Hyde said many of the problems Antioch has had in person at housing authority offices in Contra recent years with neighborhood crime associated Costa County and at the county's public with Section 8 tenants are being addressed by the libraries. Those forms must be mailed and Housing Authority through stricter screening postmarked by Nov. 7 (and received by Nov. policies and faster response to abuses of the 14)The housing authority will select 6,000 program. names through a computerized lottery "From my reading of this community, it wasn't the system to join the program's waiting list. issue of Section 8; it was the management of Section 8,"Hyde said. For more information about.Section 8 and other housing programs, call 888-746-8731 This round of applicants for Section 8 vouchers will or visit www.contracostahousing.org . likely include working families with moderate incomes who have gone through foreclosure or Where Section 8 renters live otherwise been hit by the economic downturn, The Contra Costa Housing Authority broke Brentwood Housing and Redevelopment Manager Gina Rozenski said. down its distribution of vouchers by city and unincorporated community in December "We hope that the tenant behavior is going to be 2007. Richmond and Pittsburg operate better because these are previous homeowners who separate housing authorities. Antioch: 1,499 are renting,"Rozenski said. Concord: 1,137 San Pablo: 815 Bay Point: 391 Applications for the Section 8 voucher waiting list Brentwood: 319 Martinez: 307 Walnut Creek: will be available starting Nov. 3 at the county's 295 Hercules: 245 Oakley: 218 Pinole: 215 EI public libraries, at the housing authority's two Sobrante: 198 Pleasant Hill: 194 Rodeo: 125 offices, and online at www.hacccwaitlist.com . For San Ramon: 94 EI Cerrito: 69 Lafayette: 47 more informationabout Section 8 and other housing Richmond: 26 Crockett: 25 North Richmond: programs, visit www.contracostahousing.or.'g . 23 Discovery Bay: 17 Danville: 13 Pacheco: 13 Byron: 8 Moraga: 4 Alamo: 3 Bethel Island: 3 Advertisement Loft Conti l"irm/� es (800) 596-4637_- _ C.UN��CU�ittA f IMF NT� r Subscribe today! . c° www.contracostatimes.com/Subscriberservices Print E�o�vc Powered Byl Vi a .so�"`iCS http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_10698698?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.co... 11/24/2008 a County to open Section 8 Gvaitin g listCONTRAC0,5-T-1 A - ContraCostaTi mes.corn I'A Page 3 of 3 Cia to Cnr .TIMES acos 1 Pittsburg: iYde:2 Kensin E 'T'irrYt ,c�rn. 1 part Costar 1gton: 1 Knightsen: Advertisement Aft t COM#O ft (000) 598,,4637 s4bscH be today _ - c ONTRAC�S-iATIMEs w cO nacos CONTRA WW, nt tt ' atime • t � s•comisubscriberservicess p C pin p t, u a cl By http:llwww.con tracos tatir coml searchlci_10698698?jADID_Search_ www.contracostatiin es.c©... 11/24/2008 08 Contra Costa Housing Authority flooded with Section 8 applications - ContraCostaTimes.com Page 1 of 1 Cje�NTM,c —)S1 U IMES Contr Co t Timo .corm Contra Costa Housing Authority flooded with Section 8 applications By Hilary Costa East Countbj Times ostia 1. 'i^A.13i2008() :2% :56 i'iNl P'S I The Housing Authority of Contra Costa was inundated with applications for Section 8 housing assistance Monday as the program's waiting list opened for the first time in seven years. Executive Director Joseph Villareal said the agency received 4,200 online applications in the first hour they were available.Applications will be accepted online for five days—until 4:59 p.m. Friday. The Housing Authority will accept applications that arrive in the mail until Nov. 14, said Bruce Smargiasso, director of the Section 8 program. In the Section 8 program,families pay a portion of their income toward rent and the Housing Authority, with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, pays the remainder The agency expects to receive tens of thousands of applications.They will be placed in a random lottery and culled to 6,000 applicants who will be placed on the wait list.There are currently 341 Section 8 vouchers available out of the agency's total 6,781 vouchers. To apply for the Section 8 program, log onto www. hacccwaitlist.com or pick up an application at a Housing Authority office or at any public library in Contra Costa County. For more information call 925- 957-7000. Advertisement • ContimaKostaTimes (800) 598-_4637 W W110=08=111 4TIM Com .: - C ONS�C6S1A t V1 CONTRA w Subscribe toda ! www.contracostatimes.com/Subscriberservices Print Povv(.ar€d By �,.,.....n ..a., http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ei 10889707?nclick check=l 11/24/2008 i ! Huge demand for Section 8 vouchers - ContraCostaTimes.com Page I of I C(w):N T. . 0 _A I E S on#r co taTlme .4l*m Huge demand for Section 8 and Pittsburg have separate Section 8 voucher programs through their own housing authorities. Vouchers With turnover, Villarreal said, the agency expects the new waiting list to last two or three years. By John Simerman Contra Costa Tines When the Housing Authority of Contra Costa opened its waiting list for Section 8 housing assistance last week, officials expected about 20,000 applicants to vie for a chance. They were half right. "We had right around 40,000 families,"Joseph Villarreal,the agency's executive director, said Monday. "Obviously the economic times are hard, particularly in the housing market.The other thing is,we did more outreach than we did in the past." The final tally will come next week, after the agency receives applications mailed before last Friday's deadline. Most of the applications came'online. The weeklong process marked the first time since 2001 that the housing authority had opened the waiting list. The agency will hold a lottery among all the applicants for a spot on the list of 6,000.Those on the list will be ranked according to a variety of criteria, including displacement from their homes by foreclosure or natural disaster.As Section.8 vouchers become available,the agency will conduct a more rigorous screening for eligibility. "We basically,at this point,take their word for it," Villarreal said. There are now 341 available Section 8 vouchers among the agency's allotment of 6,781. Richmond Advertisement Co nti o t �'m (8 00) 598-4837___. n C ON`t}2p,t~�SIA[tt�h�5 Subscribe ' Q► c I CONTRA ,l 3 G. y� +7 C tli^ }1 4K 1 yy a� pA " � 4" ' 9C ���q' 4 M ,MSM .✓ www.contra costatimes.comisubscriberservices ^f`\4 3 kY ixY GIM cL rt Print Powemd By littn://www.contracostatimes.com/searcli/ci_I 0950498?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.co... 11/24/2008 Obama Inherits a Neglected Housing Department Pagel of 3 washin to.npostcom Obama Team Is Warned That IUD " Needs Work E 'onoin F got you feettri By Carol D.Leonnig the he,at? Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday,November 20,2008;A02 u £ The Obama administration will soon inherit a $35 billion federal housing agency that was a weak backbencher during the housing crisis and moved too late to do much to keep r millions of families from going into foreclosure. Z, Beyond the pressing crisis, the Department of Housing and Urban Development also has dramatically retreated in the past s eight years from its mission of fostering affordable housing. Pushing homeownership has been the agency's top priority under the Bush administration, and HUD's budget for public housing for low-income families has been cut year after year. In a pre-election letter sent to HUD employees through their union, Barack Obama wrote: "As we tackle the effects of the current fiscal crisis on Americans, HUD must be part of the solution. The Department's mission to promote affordable quality housing and community development available to all without discrimination -- is critical to the well-being of millions of working families." Experts on housing finance and poverty cheer the sentiments but warn the president-elect's advisers that the long-neglected agency will require hefty amounts of taxpayer money, aggressive leadership and a culture shift of sorts. HUD's work on the.foreclosure crisis illustrates the challenges. The industry trend toward subprime loans -- writing mortgages for borrowers with bad credit ratings, thereby increasing the risk of default -- is expected to cause an estimated 5.2 million homeowners to lose their properties over the next two years if lenders and the government do not act. To address the problem, HUD began the.Hope for Homeowners program in October to help some homeowners renegotiate their mortgages. The program is projected by year's end to help 13,000 homeowners lower their monthly payments and avoid_foreclosure. But at that pace, HUD will not come close to providing assistance to 400,000 families, a number the Congressional Budget Office calculated that the agency could help keep in their homes over three years. "It's all been a lot of wishful thinking," John Taylor, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, said of HUD's effort to stop foreclosures. "We're in the 34th consecutive month in which there has been a rise in foreclosures, compared to the previous year. We're breaking records every month in this country for foreclosures. But this agency and its program isn't doing what we want to accomplish, which is to turn the corner on the demise of the housing industry." Howard Glaser, an HUD appointee during the Clinton administration, warns that the department's foreclosure problems may soon grow. The Federal Housing Administration, once the primary provider of safe, government- insured mortgages, ceded its territory in the past few years to private subprime lenders, who lured many borrowers in over their heads. httn://www.washinatonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/19/AR2008111903 873_pf.html 11/20/2008 4 � Obama Inherits a Neglected Housing Department Page 2 of 3 Now, the FHA is being leaned on to save the day. It has been given responsibility for modifying and guaranteeing a larger portion of loans on the open market than in any of the previous eight years. But the agency is also expected to soon report record losses on its book of government-guaranteed loans. "The early warning signals are there," Glaser said. "We may be in a situation where, 'Who is going to rescue the rescuer?' An FHA bailout is a clear and present danger." When Obama's team arrives at HUD, it also will find about 1,900 housing authorities nationwide clamoring for money. In many of the years since 2001, they have been living on 81 to 89 percent of the amount of funding that HUD says they need to operate. "You are seeing the result of failed policies over the years that focused federal resources time after time on homeownership," said Sharon Wilson Geno, a housing expert and lawyer at the law firm Ballard Spahr Andrews &.Ingersoll. "They were starving the public housing program into near-nonexistence. It's like paying someone 81 or-82 cents for every $1 of their paycheck and telling them to live as they once lived." The incoming administration also will find a$20 billion backlog of maintenance projects at public housing developments. If the repair list of old roofs, broken boilers and more is not addressed soon, some buildings risk permanent damage. President Bush's HUD has been dogged by accusations of political cronyism. Alphonso R. Jackson resigned as secretary this year amid reports that he was under federal investigation for steering contracts to friends and business associates. The contracts were with housing authorities in New Orleans and the Virgin Islands. At the same time, The,Washington Post reported that Jackson's top aides allegedly had sought to cut funding from a Philadelphia housing authority'whose director had refused Jackson's demand that it give property to one of his business friends. In his letter to:HUD employees, Obania agreed to appoint "a Secretary, Deputy and Assistant Secretaries who are committed to HUD's mission and capable of executing it." After the agency's recent problems, Taylor said, he would argue that, while the FHA works with the Federal Deposit_Insurance Corp. on the foreclosure problem, the rest of HUD should return to its basic mission. "My number one piece of advice for the next administration?" Taylor said. "The agency charged with housing should develop a federal housing policy. Believe it or not, there isn't one right now." Post a Comment View-all comments that have peon p ostvd about tnis itic ha- You must be logged in to leave a comment.L_onn I R gJstet httn://www.washiniztont)ost.com/w-o-dyn/content/article/2008/11/19/AR2008111903 873_p£html 11/20/2008 . . View From. Political commentary on a variety of issues with a focus on housing and community development. Sunday,November 23, 2008 A. Number of flayes Vying to Become Net FRID ecretai-y A number of names are being considered to be selected. as the new Secretary of the Department Ol`f-lous111g and 1.11�bcan Development (HUD). Here is a brief summary of some narnes being considered according to news :reports and rumors circulating in Washington. .Jesse Jackson Jr.: Rely. Jackson (D-IL) is seeking to replace President-elect Barack:Obama in the Senate. Jackson has told friends he is interested in becoming HUD Secretary if he is not selected by Illinois Governor Rod B1ag«ievich to replace Obama. Jack-son, son of Civil Rights Activist the Reverend.Jesse Jackson.—represents Chicago's :Second Congressional District. Prior to his congressional service, Representative Jackson served as the National Field Director of the National Rainbow Coalition. In this role, he instituted a national non-partisan program that successfully:registered millions of new voters. l::l:e also created a voter education program.to teach citizens the importance of participating in.the political process, :including how to use technology to win elections and more effectively participate in politics. Shirley Franklin: She has been the mayor of Atlanta, Georgia since 2001.Never having previously been an elected official, Shirley Franklin became the city's .first woman mayor, and. the .first African-American woman to serve as mayor of a major southern city. On 8 November 2005, she won re-election with more-than 90 per cent of the vote:. She has drawn rave reviews for her work.in balancing the city's budget in.her early tenure as mayor although.her decisions did alienate many including some of her supporters. In 1.99.1, :Ms Franklin.joined the Atlanta Committee f:or the Olympic Games (ACOG) as the top ranking female executive, serving as senior vice-president for external relations. In this position she was instrumental in the development of such legacies as the Centennial. Olympic Park and served as A.COG's primary liaison with various labor unions, civi.:l rights groups, neighborhood/community organizations, Auld environmentalists. Antonio Villaraigosa: Villarai.gosa was elected mayor of los Angeles in a runoff in 2005. He became the first IIispan:ic elected to be rnayor of that city. He has been elected to a number of positions serving as a state lawmaker, a speaker of the California. State Assembly, and.a Los Angeles City Councilman. He was a co-chair of Hillary Clinton's campaign and has extensive ties to labor unions. He is a:Isos Angeles native. Adolfo Carri6n, Jr.: He is currently the Bronx Borough President. He has an urban planning degree and worked for a period of time in the planning department's Bronx office. If not appointed to a position in the administration, he is expected to run.for the City Comptroller's office. Affordable housing acid job creation have been.the center piece of his work in the Bronx. Nelson A. Diaz: Diaz was General Counsel at HUD in the Clinton administration where he focused on reforming public and mixed-use housing programs. He was as judge for the .Philadelphia Court of C"omm.on Pleas frons 1981. to 198 —the first I Iispanic judge in. Pennsylvania history. 1 le was-appointed administrative judge by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, where he saved the state millions of dollars annually and.used. a.nationally recognize(] Pro Tem Judges Program to reform the court's case flow efficiency. He was a White House Fellow, serving as Special Assistant to Vice President Walter Mondale, and was also the Executive Director of the Spanish Merchants Association of Philadelphia. He was served as City Solicitor of Philadelphia. Both there and.at HUD he was instrumental in increasing the number of women. and minority lawyers in both organizations. Saul N. Ramirez, Jr.: Rarnirez is currently the executive director of the Nattional Association of .l lousing arid Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) in Washington, DC. He was the Deputy Secretary at HUD during Andrew Cuomo's tenure at the department. He is a fonder mayor of I-aredo, Texas and spent oVer.20 years as an.owner of an insurance business. Manuel A Diaz: Diaz is in his second term as mayor of Miami. He is currently president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He pursued a massive overhaul of the city's finances at a time when the city was bankrupt, held junk bonds and was under a state oversight board. The city is now sound financially and has an Ad- bond rating on Wall Street. 7'he city has also increased its production of affordable housing by leveraging public/private investments toward 3500 affordable units since 2001 at a combined public and private investment surpassing $600 million with a billion dollar investment pledged by 2010-1le is an active proponent of green building across the city and this year, presided over a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the.C:ity's first I.,EED- certified affordable green home. l'rederick. 13. "13art" 1.larvey: Recently elected to the board of the Federal National Mortgage Association, Ilarvey retired in March 2008 from his role as chairman of the Board of':l'rustees of Enterprise Community Partners, a.provider.of development capital and.technical expertise to create affordable housing and rebuild.communities. He joined.Enterprise in 1984, and a year later became vice chairman. He also was l nterprise.'s chief executive officer from 1993 to 2007. :Before joining Enterprise, Mr. Fl:arvey served in various domestic and international.positions with.Dean Witter Reynolds, leaving as managing director of Corporate Finance. A View From D. C. Political commentary on a variety of issues with a focus on housing and community development. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2008 Groups Agree on Broad Objectives for Housing Lost in the furor of the current economic climate is rental housing. Elected officials have marshaled billions of dollars to assist homeowners, banks, other financial service institutions and are now considering assistance to the auto industry. While all this money is being printed and tossed around, low and moderate income households are the forgotten victims of this housing crisis. Using its own research and a review of state and local studies and news stories, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) reached the following conclusion about the current foreclosure crisis: • Multi-unit buildings are a significant share of the foreclosures in some areas potentially displacing many households at once; • A majority of the displaced by foreclosure are renters who find themselves in more tenuous living arrangements in their new environs; • A majority of the households seeking foreclosure counseling earn less than 80 percent of area median income; • High-poverty and socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods are where a high concentration of foreclosures are located; and, •No one appears to be immune to the crisis. Communities of all types are being affected the degree to which is determined by their history, laws, housing stock and population. With this back drop more than 30 organizations met during the summer and agreed to a policy framework on the future of public housing. Public housing is typically considered the housing of last resort. Yet according to advocates for public housing, those programs have been consistently under funded. Making matters worse, public housing authorities (PHAs) have lists in the tens of thousands of families waiting to be selected for an available public housing unit or to receive a voucher. These lists do not include the thousands of others who can not get on the waiting lists because PHAs closed them knowing they will never be able to meet the demand. The groups (see list below) which met over the summer represent a broad spectrum of the advocates for affordable housing. Brokered by the Council of Large Public Housing Agencies (CLPHA),the groups reached agreement on five objectives to restore public housing to the point where it can provide affordable housing to those who need it. The objectives are: • Attract new private and public capital investment to ensure safe, high-quality housing for residents by eliminating the substantial capital backlog and providing for future needs; • Change the program structure to facilitate adequate and reliable revenues, including offering PHAs the option to transition individual properties to other program models; - Maintain a commitment to decent, safe housing at rents affordable to the current mix of residents for the long term in communities that advance our nation's fair housing and civil rights goals; • Redefine the relationship between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and PHAs through sensible regulation that achieves both accountability and the flexibility to address local conditions. - Enable PHAs to expand partnerships with others who share our commitment to serve low- income families, seniors, and-persons with disabilities and reframe our mission in ways that attract partners who can provide access to new resources and responsible environmental stewardship, and economic and educational opportunities that enhance choice and the quality of life. The objectives represent a major step forward in attempting to reach a consensus by groups which at times are on such opposite sides of issues it makes the Hatfield-McCoy feud child's play. However, there are at least four issues which must be resolved and will test the strength of the coalition. First, HUD needs to be reorganized. The coalition must agree on how the agency will be reshaped which will determine how programs are structured, funded and implemented. There is a lot of talk about the need to change HUD but how that change occurs will put this coalition to the test. Second, the discussion is too narrowly focused on public housing. Public housing is a subset of the broader issue—the lack of affordable housing,public and private, for low- and moderate- income households. The National Housing Conference (NHC) and NLIHC have conducted a number of studies which attest to the extent of this problem. Third, the participants of the group were too narrow. Absent from the discussion were the mayors and community development professionals, and lending institutions to name a few. All of these players need to be at the table"to discuss the future of affordable housing and HUD since their opinion will carry a considerable amount of weight. Fourth, there are substantial disagreement on issues which separate the groups. Resident advocates will campaign strongly for the reestablishment of the public housing one-for-one replacement rule which public housing authorities (PHA) vehemently oppose. This rule requires PHAs to replace every lost unit of public housing with another hard unit. There are some advocates who support the creation of regional housing authorities to address the housing needs of families.*PHAs also vehemently oppose this. Without some level of compromise on these and other issues, the spirit of the agreement could unravel quickly. Organizations signing the Framework for the Future of Public Housing Abt Associates American Association of Homes & Services for the Aging California Housing Partnership Corporation Cambridge Housing Authority Center on Budget and Policy Priorities The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers CityView Council of Large Public Housing Agencies Consensus Building Institute District of Columbia Housing Authority Enterprise Community Partners Fannie Mae Housing Authority Insurance Group Keene Housing Authority Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants MIA Consulting National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials NCB Capital Impact National Organization of African Americans in Housing New York City Housing Authority National Housing Conference National Housing Law Project National Low Income Housing Coalition National Housing Trust Newark Housing Authority Oklahoma City Housing Authority Public Housing Authorities Directors Association Reno & Cavanaugh San Diego Housing Commission US Green Building Council Urban Institute BIG JUMP FORESEEN IN RANKS OF THE POOR New York Times -- 11/25/2008 —by Erik Eckholm -- Rising unemployment could push an additional 7.5 million to 10.3 million United States residents below the federal poverty line over the next two or three years, a research group has estimated, based on the experience of the last three recessions and the latest projections of job losses. If the analysis is correct, this would be the largest jump in the poverty rate since the prolonged recession of the early 1980s, when the number of poor people climbed to 35 million from 26 million over four years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research group in Washington. Milder recessions in the early 1990s and in 2001 caused significant but lesser increases. In 2007, according to the Census Bureau, 37.3 million residents, or 12.5 percent of the population, lived below the poverty line, which is currently $21,200 for a family of four. But economists say the total is sure to rise over the coming years, and if the private budget center's estimates hold true, the number of poor people could approach 47 million. The budget center's estimates assume that unemployment will rise to 9 percent by the end of 2009, a figure projected last week by Goldman Sachs. t Page 1 of 2 Web address: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/ 081124130956.htm Your source for the latest research news Archeology Of Homelessness ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2008)—No matter what you see in the movies, archaeology isn't really about finding ancient temples or golden idols. It's about the day-to-day "stuff'—the material culture—of people's lives. It doesn't even have to be ancient, as a study of homeless peoples' stuff in Indianapolis is showing. Instead of being an exotic field, archaeology may even help the homeless to live better lives. Larry J. Zimmerman, Ph.D., an Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis professor of anthropology and museum studies at the School of Liberal Arts and Jessica Welch, an IUPUI student and a formerly homeless woman, have completed a unique study of the material culture of the homeless. The researchers discovered that the problem of homelessness is broader and much more complex than previously thought. They presented their findings this summer at the World Archeological Congress in Dublin, Ireland. Results of the study are to be published early next year in the peer-reviewed journal Historical Archeology. Archeological perspectives on the production, use and disposition of material culture–clothing, utensils and other "stuff' that helps people to survive can provide insight into lives. Homeless people, often invisible to those around them, have, use and dispose of material culture as they move across the landscape, But because people are homeless, many Americans think they lack material culture. "Archeology can help in the way a story is told, can raise issues of social justice and can inform the public and policy makers," said Zimmerman. "This study of the material culture of the homeless is preliminary in every way, but we believe that it shows the utility of applying archeological methods to help understand a contemporary social problem. Archeology can be a tool for making decisions, not just for understanding the past." Past anthropological studies of the homeless have been mostly ethnographic–focusing on everything from HIV/AIDS to drug use or job training–and primarily have been done in the controlled settings of shelters. Yet, according to Zimmerman, most homeless individuals, especially men, live most of their lives outside of shelters, and we know almost nothing about it. This is the first study to use the tools and techniques of archeology to understand the broader environment and activities of the homeless. "We tend to see the homeless as a small extension of our lives but they are not; this is almost a different culture," said Zimmerman. It's different because priorities change when finding food and having a place to sleep are your top concerns. Many people in the mainstream culture are closer to slipping into homelessness than they realize," said study co-author Jessica Welch, an IUPUI student who was herself homeless, living under trees and squatting in abandoned houses in Long Beach, Calif., in the early 1990s. Welch recently completed a bachelor's degree in psychology and anthropology this and plans to go into public service working with the homeless. "You develop coping mechanisms–a fight or flight response - when you are homeless that are probably not appropriate in mainstream culture. You get increasingly defensive and desperate. This is just one of the many things that make it difficult for homeless people to re-enter'normal society. We have to understand that a goal of simply creating more affordable housing units is not enough; we need a complete social safety net, including better treatment and counseling options, and plenty of compassion and understanding on the part of the community," she said. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081124130956.htm 11/25/2008 Page 2 of 2 For this study, Zimmerman and Welch focused on sites near downtown Indianapolis where homeless sought outdoor shelter. They avoided direct interaction with the homeless so as not to interfere with the lives of this vulnerable population. They did not open homeless "caches," often sealed black trash bags partly hidden in out of the way places, in which homeless individuals store items they wish to keep or have access to in the future. They located camps—many of them in use for long periods of time—where the homeless found or created shelter. They photographed these sites,and conducted inventories of what the homeless threw away or left behind when they were away from the camp. They looked for patterns or clusters of certain types of materials such as clothing, shoes,food, cardboard laid out as furniture, or tarps providing shelter. "We always kept in mind that these sites were peoples' homes and we respected them. They already have difficult lives and we did not want to make them more difficult," said Welch. Some of their findings and even what they did not find surprised them. "We found a large number of food cans. Most had been opened, often not very successfully, with knives or by banging them against rocks or even by heating them until the contents exploded. We rarely found cans that had been opened by a can opener. That made us realize that they didn't have can openers, which must have been very frustrating to them," said Zimmerman. "We also found a lot of hotel-size bottles of shampoo and conditioner, deodorant and toothpaste. Only the toothpaste was used. This tells us that giving things like shampoo and conditioner to individuals without access to water doesn't make sense. It would be better to send these kinds of things to shelters and not distribute then to people living on the streets. When we try to deliver aid to the homeless we tend to give them what we think they need. A much better way to deliver aid is to target what they actually need, and our work on the material culture of the homeless may help us find out what that really is," said Zimmerman. According to Zimmerman and Welch, their study provides evidence that some homeless survive well, occasionally living in organized camps. "This work is an odd reaffirmation of how adaptable our species is. As an anthropologist I know this, but it's good to have it reaffirmed," said Zimmerman. Adapted from materials provided by Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis. Email or share this story: P BOOKMARK P t . Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report?Use one of the following formats: :4 APA MLA Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis (2008,November 24). Archeology Of Homelessness. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 25, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /rele,ases/2008/11/081124130956.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081124130956.htm 11/25/2008