Affordable Housing Conference

Monday, February 5th, 2007

Last Wednesday I left Biloxi and drove to the Gray Center north of Jackson.  It was considerably colder up there.  In fact the temperature dropped to 30, but I won’t rub it in……   Oh by the way did I tell you about the camellias?  Azaleas are also about to bloom.  I believe we will have Easter flowers on Ash Wednesday!  But I digress…

As I was saying I went to the Gray Center to attend a conference on affordable housing.  The second phase of monetary awards is about to begin and the group that gathered wanted to be sure that the money goes where it is most needed by those who have the least ability to recover.  Our targets include those who make about 80% of the average median income or less.  Under the present plan 80% of the funding will go to those who make 80%-120% of the AMI.  We poured over statistics on rental units, public housing, modular home builders, and much more.  I won’t try to recreate the details but the gist of the message is that nonprofit entities, including churches, must come together immediately to advocate for those who are on the margins and still living in FEMA trailers.  (That number is about 30,000 as of last week)  Our advocacy will be to the governor’s office and the legislature.  We will address these and more:
• the 80/20 split of available money making more available to low income,
• the failure of the state to require insurers to provide wind and flood insurance as a prerequisite to doing business in the state,
• the need to include small rental properties
• the need to keep current public housing open and available (cities have given up and are closing the units and the soup kitchens)
• the reliability of the statistical data- this is to be done by asking volunteers to go door to door and survey in the areas hardest hit as to how much of the Phase 1 money was used to reestablish a permanent dwelling and how much went to daily living expenses,
• the extension of the affordable unit requirement when receiving tax credits or Katrina money from the current proposal of 2 years to 10 or more.  This will delay low income folks losing their apartment to market rates.

I could go on about this but suffice to say that it was a great conference.  We faced many of the same issues that we in MA addressed on Lobby Day.  They do not have a Lobby Day here, but Carol and I are considering ways to address that missing cog.  I will meet with the group again this week or the next.  More to come on these developments.