Rebuilding Indiana Monthly

2009 CHAS Data Now Available

HUD has posted the 2009 Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy Data (CHAS) data on www.huduser.org. CHAS data is used by state and local governments in their consolidated planning processes and can also be used by advocates to determine housing needs in their states or counties. The previous version of this dataset was based on the 2000 Census; the new version is based on the 2005-2007 Three-Year American Community Survey (ACS) Estimates.

For more information on the 2009 CHAS data, along with the resources on how to use the data and the tables themselves, go to: http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/cp.html

Report: Children Living in Subsidized Housing Less Likely to be Hungry

A recent report by Children's HealthWatch (CHW) and Medical-Legal Partnership in Boston (MLPB) found that children whose families live in Boston's subsidized housing are more likely to be food-secure and less likely to be underweight than children whose families are on the waiting list for a subsidized home. The report, which supplemented the data from Boston with national statistics, concluded that increasing a family's income with a housing subsidy allows the family to spend that money on food, therefore decreasing the likelihood of children within the household facing food insecurity. The report defines "food insecurity" as a condition in which families reduce the quality or quantity of food because of constrained resources.

The complete study is available at: http://www.childrenshealthwatch.org/upload/resource/RxforhungerNEW12_09.pdf

Quarter of Unemployed Threatened with Eviction, CBS-NYT Survey Finds

A recent poll from the New York Times and CBS illustrates the link between the current recession and the foreclosure and eviction crises.

Unemployed respondents were asked the question, "As a result of being unemployed, have you been threatened with foreclosure or eviction for not paying your mortgage or rent, or haven't you?" If the response was yes, the respondent was asked whether he or she had lost their home.

Fully 26% of the unemployed respondents said they had been threatened with foreclosure and eviction for not paying their mortgage or rent and half of these respondents-13%-said they had lost their homes for these reasons. Interestingly, 44% of unemployed respondents identified themselves as renters, a considerably higher percentage than the 32% of U.S. households that rent. Thirty-six percent said they owned a home with a mortgage, and 11% reported owning their homes outright.

Given that an estimated 15.4 million Americans were unemployed in November, these numbers suggest that as many as 4 million people have been threatened with foreclosure and eviction and 2 million may have lost their homes.

The poll was conducted using telephone interviews, of both landlines and cell phones, conducted from December 5 to December 10, 2009. According to New York Times website, the poll of unemployed respondents has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Complete poll results can be found here: http://documents.nytimes.com/the-new-york-times-cbs-news-poll-of-unemployed-adults#p=1

HUD Issues Notice Implementing Protections for Section 8 Tenants in Foreclosed Properties

HUD published notice PIH 2009 - 52 (HA) on December 15, providing public housing agencies (PHAs) with guidance on how to implementthe Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) and the tenant protection provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Under the PTFA, most tenants living in a property in foreclosure have the right to remain in the property after the foreclosure is completed for the longer of the remaining term of their lease or 90 days. A tenant receiving Section 8 housing choice voucher assistance also has the right to remain, and the new owner is required to take over the housing assistance payment contract.

ARRA, which was enacted prior to the PTFA, also provides protections for Section 8 tenants in properties assisted with funds under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). ARRA also allows Section 8 tenants to remain in their homes, and require that the new owner accept the HAP contract. However, unlike the PTFA, ARRA provides additional flexibility for the PHA if the successor in interest on a property acquired using NSP funds rejects the HAP payments or otherwise fails to abide by the conditions of the HAP contract. In such cases, the PHA can use the HAP funds to pay utility costs or help the families relocate. This flexibility is not available to PHAs outside of the context of the NSP program

The PIH notice provides detailed instructions for housing agencies on how to comply with both PTFA and ARRA.

The notice can be found at http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/publications/notices/09/pih2009-52.pdf

Link to renter protections materials from NLIHC at: http://www.nlihc.org/template/page.cfm?id=227, and from the National Housing Law Project at: www.nhlp.org

Decision on Funding for National Housing Trust Fund Deferred to 2010

The end-of-the year push to get the long-promised $1 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) through Congress got caught up in the complicated negotiations between the Senate and the House on defense appropriations, the national debt limit, extension of unemployment insurance, and other items with legislative deadlines.

Instead of rolling all of these and other jobs-related provisions, plus the NHTF, into one big bill as was expected last week when it became clear that the Senate would pass such a bill, the House broke these items into four separate bills.

The NHTF funding ended up in the House's "Jobs for Main Street Act, 2010," a bill that proposes to spend $75 billion of TARP funds on a variety of job measures, including public works and infrastructure, teachers and police, clean water, and $2 billion for affordable housing. Of that, $1 billion will capitalize the NHTF and $65 million will fund project-based vouchers to be distributed by states in conjunction with NHTF dollars. The funding for the project-based vouchers is to be distributed according to the same formula as the NHTF dollars are distributed.

The bill also provides $1 billion for the public housing capital fund. The bill directs the HUD Secretary to make these funds available to public housing agencies by competition for priority investments, which include investments that leverage private sector funding or financing for renovations and energy conservation retrofit investments. The funds must be obligated within 60 days of the bill's enactment; HUD is to give priority to PHAs that could award contracts within 120 days from the date the PHA receives the funds. PHAs are to prioritize rehabilitation of vacant rental units and capital projects that are already underway or are part of the PHA's five-year capital plan.

The bill was passed by the House on December 16 by a vote of 217-212. The Senate will not take up this bill or its own version of a "jobs" bill until it reconvenes in January, but is expected to so rather quickly. IACED will continue to work with our national partners to monitor this legislation.