June 18th is an historic day with two significant announcements that demonstrate the holistic approaches and foresighted leadership of the Obama administration and Washington's Congressional delegation:
New Leadership in Ending Homelessness - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis were elected today as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. The mission of the Council is to coordinate the federal response to homelessness and to create a national partnership with every level of government and the private sector to address homelessness in the nation.
"It is simply unacceptable for individuals, children, families, and our nation's veterans to be faced with homelessness in this country," said
On Tuesday, May 12th, I was one of a number of community members who participated in a public hearing on the
Housing Levy before the Seattle City Council. The Council is in the process of finalizing the details -- particularly the dollar amount -- that will go into a citizen ballot in November 2009. Seattle voters have approved comparable levies continuously since 1981. The levy adds permanent affordable housing to the city's housing stock. It is the best long-term solution to homelessness and meeting the affordable housing needs of our city. The current proposal being considered by City Council is for an 8-year, $145 million levy which would target half for housing our lowest income residents. Yesterday's hearing drew more than 40 testimonies in favor of the levy -- below is my own.
Building Changes applauds Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell for their vocal support of S. 896, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which the Senate unanimously passed yesterday. The approved legislation included two amendments that will greatly benefit low-income and homeless Washingtonians.
The first put forth by Senator Kerry (D-MA) will require 90 days' notice prior to eviction for renters living in properties that have been foreclosed upon. As I noted in my blog of March 23rd, renters are inadvertently punished by foreclosures as they are frequently forced into eviction upon notification of the mortgagers default even though they dutifully have paid their rent on time and otherwise lived up to the terms of their lease. A similar bill passed the Washington State
There were 971 new foreclosures in King County last month (more foreclosures than home sales), 694 in Pierce County and 478 in Snohomish County. It's hard to guess how many of these were foreclosed rental properties; but the
Mortgage Bankers Association found that in 2007, 20% of all foreclosure filings across the country were in non-owner occupied properties.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that one third of all properties facing foreclosure across New England are in multi-unit buildings, and 45% of homes at the end of the foreclosure process in four New England states are rentals.
Dependent on their landlord to inform them of a foreclosure, renters are most at risk of being evicted with little notice. With lower incomes and fewer resources, their options after an
Some may wonder, what impact does affordable housing have on the economy? If so, read on... A
new study by economist Bruce Blakey done with the help of the
Connecticut Economic Resource Center indicates that Connecticut would create thousands of new jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of new revenues if it created workforce housing in the form of condominiums, starter homes and other options for workers, families and young professionals. Connecticut's housing market is remarkably similar to Washington's.* The
Washington Low Income Housing Alliance has asserted that there are 250,000 families in Washington who are in need of affordable housing. To create that many residences will require a total statewide investment on the order of $50 billion. Of course only a fraction of that
