Monarch Housing’s Blog!

Presented by: The Corporation for Supportive Housing

This training provides prospective housing developers information on the development process from project conception through construction and rent-up. Information will also be provided on alternatives to new construction such as leased housing, practical tools to guide decision making about different supportive housing models, partnering and service strategies. Training is set at an introductory level for those who do not have experience developing housing but is also a good refresher for others.

WHEN:
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
9:30am to 3:30pm
(Lunch will be provided)

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This year’s Federal Budget for domestic spending that was supposed to be voted on today has been postponed. With a threatened Presidential veto and defections in the House, it is uncertain how this one will be resolved. So to help explain the background we provide a link to an interview on NPR’s Diane Rehm show that provided background on the budget fight. To listen click here.

This is an overview of the show.

Congress is scheduled to vote today on a five hundred billion dollar package that combines domestic spending with war funding. We’ll talk about this year’s protracted budget battles and the chances of repeating last year’s budget collapse.

Guests
Thomas Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of “The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How To Get It Back On Track”

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Tags: Ending Homelessness, Federal Budget, NPR, supporitve-housing

The House of Representatives approved HUD’s FY2008 Budget on November 14, 2007. The final budget had been reconciled with the Senate. The Senate is expected to approve the bill this week. However, the House vote was not enough to override a Presidential veto. The vote was 270 in favor and 147 opposed. The votes against are two more than required to sustain a veto. The three negative votes from New Jersey were Congressmen Scott Garrett, Rodney Frelinghuysen and Jim Saxton.

To see all votes for and against click here.

Those opposing are similar but the not same as those who signed onto the Republican Study Committee that committed themselves to oppose all funding bills that exceed the President’s request. Congressman Scott Garrett is the only one on both lists. To view the list click here.

According to the NY Times “Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said Democrats intended to gather 11 stalled spending bills into one package and halve the $22 billion difference between what Congress has approved and what President Bush has said he will accept.” The White House rejected that offer. To read the NY Times article click here.

According to National Association for County Community and Economic Development (NACCED) “Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate have not decided on an end game strategy regarding domestic spending bills, all of which face a presidential veto. They are hoping to negotiate a compromise with the administration. The president has insisted that the bills not exceed the $933 billion total he requested in his FY 2008 budget. The congressional budget resolution passed last spring provides an additional $23 billion in domestic spending above the president’s request. The likely impasse will keep Congress in session until Christmas Eve.”

The following is an overview by NACCED of the HUD Budget. To view a chart prepared by the National Low Income Housing Coalition of the budget click here.

Late last week a House-Senate Conference Committee reconciled the differences between the House and Senate versions of H.R. 3074, the $105.6 billion FY 2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies appropriations bill clearing the way for its expected passage at the end of this week. The full House is scheduled to take up the bill today, with Senate consideration to come shortly thereafter. The bill, however, faces a veto threat because it exceeds the president’s budget request. The bill appropriates $38.66 billion for HUD’s housing and community development programs, $2.45 billion above the amount provided for FY 2007 and $3.1 billion above what the president requested.

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Tags: Ending Homelessness, HUD-Budget, NACCED, NLIHC, supporitve-housing, Supportive Housing

In today’s Star-Ledger there was an op-ed by John Farmer, Jr. entitled “Sly tricks don’t equal real reform“. Mr. Farmer is a former New Jersey attorney general and was senior counsel to the 9/11 commission. He is now in private practice, and is an adjunct professor of national security law at Rutgers Law School.

His article makes the case for the failure of the so called reform process in NJ. He begins the article by referencing the classic Steve Martin routine in which he claims “you can be a millionaire and not pay taxes.” The punch line is that when Martin’s character is confronted by the IRS about not paying taxes his answer is I forgot.

Mr. Farmer sums up his frustration and what should be ours as well in his closing paragraph. “When that day comes, and a future generation asks why we failed to make the courageous decisions that would have avoided calamity, we may be left to remember Steve Martin’s millionaire. When finally confronted by the IRS about why he hadn’t paid any taxes, he replied, grinning sheepishly, “I forgot!”

The multiple problems that we face cannot be solved by saying we forgot or that we were selfish. We encourage our readers to read Mr. Farmer’s column.

This is an excerpt of his comments on affordable housing.

There are, however, signs of change.

There is no question, for instance, that New Jersey has faced a housing crisis for low- and moderate-income families for decades; this reality led to the infamous Mount Laurel series of Supreme Court decisions mandating the provision of low-income housing.

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Tags: affordable-housing, COAH, Ending Homelessness, James-Farmer, Jr., supporitve-housing, Supportive Housing

Columbia Supportive Living is a permanent, affordable and supportive housing development sponsored by The Arc Warren County, Inc. The construction for the project will be completed in the next few weeks. When completed, the home will provide six (6) permanent, affordable and supportive one bedroom housing units in a shared single family home for six individuals with developmental disabilities.  

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The following update on the budget situation is Washington is from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Capitol Hill
Memo to Members: Vol 12, No. 42, October 26, 2007

Although October 1 marked the start of FY08, Congress has not yet sent any appropriations bills to the president, who has threatened to veto domestic spending bills that exceed his budget request. The president has threatened to veto the Transportation, HUD and Related Agencies (THUD) spending bill, H.R. 3074 (see Memo, 7/27), among others. The combined bills that President Bush says he will veto exceed his total budget request of $933 billion by $23 billion.

Congressional leaders are expected to start sending FY08 appropriations bills to the president by Veterans Day on November 12. The first two spending bills - the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill, and the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies bill - are expected to be sent as one package. Packaging the two bills together is expected to make it harder for the president to veto. The president has said he would veto the Labor, HHS, and Education bill because it exceeds his spending request by $11 billion. The Veterans Affairs bill also exceeds the president’s request by about $4 billion, but he has not threatened to veto that bill.

The THUD bill is one of two spending bills expected to be acted upon soon after Veterans Day.

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This is from our friends at Shelterforce: the Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Building.

“Poised for Change,” the cover story in the Fall 2007 issue of Shelterforce magazine, explores strategies for promoting a progressive housing agenda in a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House.
 
With the majority of Americans now in favor of eliminating poverty, the time is right to advance progressive policies for achieving social and economic equity into the mainstream of American politics. Housing activists are strategizing with their political allies on how to move the inequality debate to center stage in the 2008 presidential debate.
 
In this issue of Shelterforce, Peter Dreier, Barbara Sard, and Greg Squires offer proposals—from reforming the Earned Income Tax Credit to building a more robust fair-housing movement—for translating a growing national sentiment into a movement for genuine change.
 
PLUS: Two years on in New Orleans—Read “Struggling in the Crescent City” to learn how a burgeoning network of local grass-roots organizations has taken the lead in rebuilding homes and neighborhoods.
 
You will find a summary and links to these and more feature articles below. Contact achasan [Email address: achasan #AT# nhi.org - replace #AT# with @ ]">Alice Chasan with questions. To view the full issue or subscribe to Shelterforce, click here.
 
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This update is from around the country are from KnowledgePlex.

The Michigan Prisoner Re-entry Initiative program in Washtenaw County got off to a slow start but appears to be picking up steam, reported the Ann Arbor News. The Michigan Department of Corrections administers the initiative, which now has 18 sites across the state. Nonprofits receive funds to offer services such as housing and job-search assistance to ex-convicts. Eight of the 90 parolees released to Washtenaw County through the program since January 2007 are considered recidivists, an 18 percent rate that compares favorably with the typical county recidivism rate of around 76 percent. However, officials caution that it usually takes two years after release to truly measure recidivism. Some fear that the program may soon be overwhelmed. The pilot program is set to extend to all parolees in October. At the same time, state budget cuts have engendered proposals to release more nonviolent offenders. 
 
Program for Ex-convicts Makes Strides in County
09/08/2007 | Ann Arbor News (Michigan)