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“… SEMINAL NEWS AGGREGATOR, MOST WIDELY CITED SOURCE BY HOUSING POLICY STAKEHOLDERS (NONPROFITS, THINK TANKS, ADVOCATES, GOVERNMENT STAFF).”

- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and CSB consulting. Online Housing Resources: Current Landscape & Usage. October, 2011.

How did you start off the week yesterday morning? If it wasn’t with Memo to Members then you should join the 4,000+ housing advocates who get NLIHC’s acclaimed weekly newsletter e-mailed directly to them every Monday morning. It’s easy – by becoming a member of NLIHC, you can stay up-to-date with all the latest housing-related news from Capitol Hill, HUD and the Administration; the latest research on housing and related issues; and major updates from our state coalition partners and other housing advocacy organizations from across the country. Read by everyone from community and resident organizers to reporters to members of the Administration and Congressional staff, Memo is a must-read for any housing advocate. Support this critical publication by joining NLIHC today!

Top stories from this week’s issue of Memo to Members include:

• Eight National Organizations Send Letter to HUD, OMB, DPC Urging Regulatory Actions
• House and Senate Focus on Budget and Appropriations
• Houses Passes VAWA Legislation
• House Meeting on HOME Documents Requested From HUD
• Bill on Homeless Veterans Introduced
• HUD Releases Section 811 NOFA
• Proposed Project-based Voucher Rule Implements 2008 HERA Changes

Already getting Memo? What’s your favorite part of our weekly newsletter? Is it the in-depth coverage of housing policy developments, the review of important new research reports, or the updates on events and resources we think advocates would like to know about? Let us know, and thanks for your support!

We need the facts – We need the ACS.

Many Americans probably wonder how decisions are made about what federal, state, and local funds will be spent on. At all levels of government, one of the most useful tools for understanding the needs of a community and for determining how funds are spent is the American Community Survey (ACS). At NLIHC and throughout the affordable housing field, ACS data are used to determine the need for affordable housing, making this resource extremely important to the work we do. Here’s how it works:

Approximately three million households across America participate in the ACS every year, providing timely data on the social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics of the U.S. population.

NLIHC and other affordable housing organizations use the ACS data to produce resources and educational tools such as Out of Reach, the Congressional District Profiles, and other research reports like editions of Housing Spotlight.

Policy makers, academics, researchers, and advocates learn about real economic and housing trends in communities across America from the ACS data, helping our country make informed decisions on how to spend more than $400 billion in federal and state funds every year.

The House votes to eliminate the ACS Survey.

Wait, something isn’t right here – but you read that right… Much to our surprise, last week the House passed a bill with an amendment sponsored by Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL) that would eliminate all funding for the ACS. It also approved an amendment sponsored by Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) that would make the ACS voluntary. Research shows that a voluntary ACS would make the survey more expensive, less accurate, and less beneficial for research purposes.

So what’s the next line in this story?

Housing advocates and concerned citizens alike use their voices to ensure that this critical national survey is continued in a way that maintains its statistical reliability.

You can join NLIHC and do just that, and here’s how:
•    As an organization:  Sign on to a letter urging Senators to continue funding the ACS in its FY13 appropriations bill. The letter was produced by the Census Project, a coalition of organizations including NLIHC that is dedicated to a fair and accurate census. Sign on by emailing Brendan Nichols (bnichols@ccmc.org) your organization’s name and the city and state in parentheses. Click here to read the letter; the deadline is close of business TODAY so sign-on now!
•    As an individual:  Call your Senator and urge them to protect this critical housing data tool.  You can also contact your Senators directly by calling the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351 to be connected to your Senators’ offices. Or enter your zip code into the “Contact Congress” box on the bottom of the right side bar at www.nlihc.org.

NLIHC and other advocates tell a story of a country desperately in need of more affordable housing. But what makes this story so important and compelling are the hard facts behind it. The ACS provides critical data on the incomes and housing conditions for households across America. These data are what strengthens the argument made by NLIHC that there is a lack of, and need for, more affordable housing. And that’s why these data, and this story, are so important.

News Round-Up: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s recent off-mic remark that he might eliminate HUD if elected president sparked much speculation in the news about what would happen if that agency were to disappear. Advocates agree that for the 2.5 million people helped by HUD-administered housing aid, HUD has a very meaningful impact.

Meanwhile, a profile of new NLIHC board member Emma “Pinky” Clifford shows the great need for decent, affordable housing in rural America and on tribal lands.

Of about 3,000 homes in Shannon County on the reservation in 2010, nearly 400 did not have full plumbing, and 330 did not have full kitchens, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More than half of the homes — 1,875 — used some form of bottled gas for heat, and only 681 homes were connected to electric or utility gas heat. Most of the homes were worth about $18,600, according to the Census Bureau, and 54 percent of Shannon County residents lived below the poverty level.

Even when the need is so great, and the obstacles to meeting it can be so challenging, Pinky says she remains undaunted. “‘I love housing,’ she said. ‘It’s hard work, but when you see people in homes, and they’re in a safe and affordable home … it’s worth it.’”

What Can FHFA Learn from the Banks’ Big Mistakes?

The National Fair Housing Alliance’s report, The Banks Are Back, Our Neighborhoods Are Not: Discrimination in the Maintenance and Marketing of REO Properties has people talking over at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. It’s not just the report’s finding that bank or “real estate-owned” (REO) properties in white neighborhoods are much better maintained and marketed by private than such properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods.  It’s what the report’s findings might mean for the REO-to-rental pilot program launched by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in late February.

There are some differences. The report focused on REO properties held by private banks, while the properties included in the pilot are all held by Fannie Mae. Nonetheless, we at NLIHC see some lessons that can be transferred and that warrant additional attention, most notably the statement in the report that “banks have an obligation to implement sound quality control practices to guarantee REOs are maintained and marketed without regard to the racial or ethnic composition of the neighborhoods in which REOs are located.” NFHA also notes that “direct contracts with local vendors typically have better onsite maintenance of REOs.”

NLIHC submitted comments to FHFA when the agency was seeking input on what an REO disposition program should look like, that include these general principles. Specifically, NLIHC emphasized that community-based and mission-driven organizations with strong track records should be given the opportunity to participate in the program, to ensure proper maintenance of rental properties. NLIHC also noted that past efforts to dispose of REO properties held by FHA have not been as successful as they could have been because there was no associated funding provided to help with operating and rehabilitation costs. We recommended that REO sales be paired with National Housing Trust Fund dollars to make some of the properties affordable to extremely low income households.  Finally, we recommended that landlords and property managers must contractually agree to meet certain housing quality standards for all properties, whether or not a particular unit is subsidized.

The first FHFA pilot includes few restrictions, none of which relate to affordability. However, it is extremely small scale, with fewer than 3,000 properties included, the majority of which are already occupied. FHFA has indicated that this pilot is just the first step in a REO disposition program. It is important that advocates weigh in now to ensure affordability, maintenance, and marketing issues are all sufficiently addressed as the REO-to-rental program takes shape.

What do you think? Do you see ways that affordability and adequate maintenance can be woven into future iterations of the REO to rental program? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

News Round-Up: Renters in the Middle

Many communities across the U.S. are reporting rents beyond the reach of many renters, especially those with the lowest incomes. In Pittsburgh, Essential Public Radio reports that two out of three low income Pennsylvania residents have trouble finding rental housing they can afford. Rents in New Jersey, as we read in this article, are the third highest in the nation. In Texas, we read that minimum wage earners must work 88 hours per week just to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment and utilities. In Kanabec County, Minnesota, even the average worker must work up to 70 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

Unsurprisingly, we’ve seen many reports recently from California, the second most expensive state in the country for renters. In Sacramento, Marin County and Santa Barbara, even as the slow housing and economic recovery has kept home prices relatively low, high rents and the elimination of state redevelopment agencies mean renters have few good choices.

In the Hartford Courant, we read about some of the people whose wages can’t cut it when it comes to making the rent: recent college graduates. Low-wage, entry-level jobs combine with sky-high rents and growing student loan payments to make the rental market impossible for young workers.

Recent college graduates often have the option of living with their parents, but for others, resources like public housing are essential. The housing that low income workers, elderly people and people with disabilities rely on is falling into disrepair in many communities across the country as federal funding for maintenance remains scarce. In Chattanooga, public housing residents planned to attend a Chattanooga Housing Authority meeting in large numbers in an attempt to protect their homes from demolition and their households from displacement. The housing authority promised that no senior housing would be destroyed, but residents are likely to remain worried when they consider just how tough it is to afford the rent elsewhere.

News Round-Up: Upset

This March has become a month of upsets. As college basketball fans know- and the friends and family of basketball fans are surely tired of hearing- the NCAA men’s basketball tournament saw two major upsets over the weekend: two 15th-seed teams beating their 2nd-seed opponents.

It seems many in New York were shocked by an upset of a different kind: New York City does not have the highest Housing Wage in the United States.

The New York Observer, Daily Mail New York, the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider all published stories on the fact that San Francisco, with a two-bedroom Housing Wage of $36.63, beats out New York City, with a housing wage of “only” $27.38. TV stations in Maryland and Oregon picked up the story as well.

The New York City metro area is the 14th most expensive metro area in the U.S., based on the two-bedroom Housing Wage.

Talk of the Town: Making the Rent

Over the last couple of days, this image has made its way across the Internet via Facebook, Tumblr, Digg, and other sites. It’s a simple map showing how many hours per week a minimum wage-worker in every state, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, would need to work in order to afford the rent and utilities on a modest two-bedroom apartment in their state.

This map comes from Out of Reach 2012: America’s Forgotten Housing Crisis. We release Out of Reach every year to document the disparity between what workers can afford to pay for the rent, and what is available to working renters in the private market.

It comes as no surprise to most people that a worker making minimum wage would have a difficult time being able to afford the rent. After all, minimum wage is, by definition, the lowest wage people in just about every profession can make. What makes this graphic shocking, however, is just how far out of reach the rent is in so many place. In Hawaii,  a minimum wage worker must work 175 hours a week, 52 weeks a year to afford the rent. In Utah, it’s 77 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Even in the most affordable place on the map, Puerto Rico, a worker cannot afford rent and utilities on a modest apartment working less than 55 hours per week, 52 weeks a year.

It is tempting to brush away these figures by saying that minimum wage isn’t meant to be a living wage, or that not everyone should try to rent a two-bedroom apartment. But as we note in our report, recent analysis shows that 78% of minimum wage workers work at least 20 hours per week, and 80% are at least 20 years old. So when we’re talking about minimum wage workers, we’re not talking about high school kids in after-school jobs. And with the economy in the shape it’s in, we know that many of these minimum wage workers are people who would work better, higher-paying jobs if they could, but those jobs are just not available to them.

It’s also important to know that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average wage earner in the U.S. works 34.5 hours per week as of January 2012. Again, this isn’t always by choice; many of those workers who have not been laid off have seen their hours cut back.

When it comes to apartment size, we use the two-bedroom apartment as our standard because it’s the most common apartment size and the most reliable rent to measure (we’re a research organization; we like our data to be accurate!). We also use the two-bedroom apartment because it reflects reality for many working families across the country. There are parents with children in our communities who are struggling to get by. They are living in those two-bedroom apartment, making those low wages, and doing their best under bad circumstances to provide a better life for their children.

In the end, it comes down to what HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan wrote in the preface of our report: “For decades, having a decent, safe place to call home has been a cornerstone of opportunity in America- a place where we can raise our families, connect to our communities, and pursue better opportunities for ourselves and our children.” What our minimum wage map shows is that having a decent, safe place to call home is no longer a given for working people in America. We believe that isn’t the way it should be, and that there are concrete steps that can be taken to make affordable housing possible for all Americans again.