The Finest Advocacy Guide For Affordable Housing I've Ever Seen

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Colleague and friend Mark Allison has some long-term experience ensuring that Housing is considered a basic human right.  Along with his job at the Center for Social Innovation, Mark is also a Board member for the National Low Income Housing Coalition and has been working with the group for a very long time. The Coalition recently published the 2012 Advocates Guide to Housing and Community Development Policy, and I have to say, they hit a Grand Slam with this and it couldn't have been more timely, or more needed.

The document is about 255 pages long and if you have any interest at all in helping to end homelessness in our country but don't have a clue where to start, what the priorities are, what is available, or all of the above, this guide should be required reading. 

I've copied just the 2012 Policy Agenda for the Coalition below to give you a taste of what they're up to, and I encourage you to download the pdf, print it out, and read it cover to cover.  Then get busy, because there is a lot of work to be done. 

There work is so important, and this guide is so valuable, that I immediately sent them a contribution.  If you can, please send the Coalition a donation of $10 or more dollars.  They need it, they earn it every day, and the work they are doing is critical to ending homelessness in our country. 



National Low Income Housing Coalition
2012 Policy Agenda
NLIHC supports all policy initiatives that advance our mission and our goals.
Mission:
NLIHC is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the
United States have affordable and decent homes.
Our three goals are:
• To preserve existing federally assisted homes and housing resources.
• To expand the supply of low income housing.
• To establish housing stability as the primary purpose of federal low income housing policy.

In 2012, NLIHC will focus its resources proactively on the policy objectives listed below, while monitoring the policy environment and responding to emerging issues as needed.
National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF)
• Obtain funding for the NHTF of at least $5 billion a year, with a goal of $30 billion a year for 10 years.
• Advance Ellison bill on Mortgage Interest Deduction reform and funding for the NHTF.
• Monitor and influence federal housing finance reform legislation to protect the statutory authority for the NHTF and to emsure that dedicated funding for NHTF is in final bill.
• Develop and advance legislation to direct 20% of profits of Federal Home Loan Banks into NHTF after they have reached required levels of reserves.
• Develop and advance legislation to 1) move statutory authority for NHTF to more compatible and less vulnerable section of the federal code, and 2) ensure rents for NHTF units are affordable for all extremely low income (ELI) households.
• Advance S. 489 and H.R. 1477 to fund NHTF through proceeds of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
• Advocate for publication of NHTF rule in timely manner.

Balanced Housing Policy
• Advance Ellison bill on Mortgage Interest Deduction reform to create mortgage interest credit and funding for NHTF.
• Monitor and influence federal housing finance reform legislation to ensure balanced attention to both rental housing and mortgaged housing.

Housing Choice Vouchers
• Advance Section 8 Savings Act without Moving to Work (MTW), time limits, or minimum rent increases.
• Develop and advance legislation to incentivize state and regional voucher administration.
• Advocate for increase in incremental vouchers and ensure full funding for all current vouchers in FY13 HUD budget.
• Monitor Small Area Fair Market Rent demonstration.

Preservation of Public and Assisted Housing
• Advocate for full funding of project-based Section 8 contracts and the operating accounts. Advocate for sufficient funding to meet annual capital costs of public housing and increased funding to address the public housing capital needs backlog.
• Advocate for enactment of Rental Assistance Demonstration program.
• Oppose expansion of MTW in absence of resident protections.
• Advance legislation to require unique identifier for each and every federally assisted housing property, and to establish a national preservation inventory.
• Advocate for tools and resources for residents and advocates to work on preservation of public and assisted housing.
• Support administrative reforms to protect existing units.

Federal Budget
• Advocate for the highest possible FY13 appropriations for HUD and USDA Rural Housing, while ensuring sufficient funding to preserve all existing low income housing resources and prevent loss of units affordable to or rental assistance
for ELI households.
• Advocate for sufficient funding for U.S. Census.
• Explore moving all rent assistance programs to mandatory side of budget.
• Oppose deficit reduction plans that do not include increased revenues.
• Oppose cuts to discretionary and mandatory programs that will cause harm to low income people.
• Oppose across-the-board cuts.
• Advance Ellison bill on Mortgage Interest Deduction reform and funding for the NHTF.

Foreclosure Intervention
• Advance legislation to make permanent the Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act (PTFA).
• Monitor and influence implementation of PTFA by federal agencies and GSEs.
Disaster Housing
• Advance S. 1630, the Disaster Recovery Act of 2011 (Stafford Act reform).
Planning for Just Communities
• Monitor and influence improvements to the Consolidated Plan process.
• Monitor and influence the regulations to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing.
• Develop and advance legislation to incentivize state and regional voucher administration.

Housing Plus Services
• Monitor and influence implementation of HEARTH Act.
• Monitor and influence implementation of Section 811 and Section 202 legislation.
• Advance H.R. 3254, Affordable Communities Employment Act of 2011 (Section 3).

30% for the 30% Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC)
• Develop and advance legislation to require that a minimum 30% of units subsidized by LIHTC be affordable to and occupied by ELI households.
• Protect LIHTC in context of any tax reform and deficit reduction legislation.

HOME
• Develop and advance legislation to require that a minimum of 30% of units subsidized by HOME funds be affordable to and occupied by ELI households.
• Advocate for HOME funding of at least $2 billion.

Federal Home Loan Banks
• Develop and advance legislation to require that a minimum of 30% of units subsidized by Affordable Housing Program funds be affordable to and occupied by ELI households.

The time is NOW to let your voice be heard.  Read the Advocate's Guide, support the Coalition, and get busy.  Thousands of people are depending on it.