Join us at the 2011 Statewide Conference on Housing and Community Economic Development and Midwest Summit.  This year's conference will be held in downtown Indianapolis at the Indiana Convention Center on September 20-21.   

Day one of the conference will feature keynote speaker Richard Longworth, author of Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism.  Longworth will help lead a dialogue with statewide partners as well as our colleagues from neighboring states about regional assets and challenges for community development.  The conference will include multiple tracks on knowledge and skills necessary to lead community development during this critical time in our economy.

Some of the tracks planned include:

• Macro to Micro: National Trends and States' Issues with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit
• Economic development from a Community Development Perspective: The Export Value of Local Places
• Residential Mobility with the Housing Choice Voucher Program
• Land Banking as a Community Revitalization Strategy
• Microenterprise Opportunities
• IHCDA's Strategic Investment Process: What You Need to Know
• Improving Performance in Shelters to Meet HEARTH Standards 

Around Indiana 

General Assembly Interim Study Committee September Schedule

 

From IACED's partners at the Indiana Association of United Ways comes information about the Indiana General Assembly's interim study committees.  See this previous IACED blog post for context.  Click here to read our full list of upcoming committees and topics.  Read below for a listing of meetings for the remainder of this week and next week:

• Health Finance (employment for people with disabilities, TBI and diabetes provider licensing, consent before HIV testing) 9/14, 10am
• Medicaid Oversight (program integrity/Medicaid fraud and cost containment initiatives) 9/14, 2pm
• Transportation and Infrastructure 9/20, 10am

Connect 2 Help Reports 10,000 Calls from Central Indiana Seniors In Need in 2010/2011

Connect 2 Help, Central Indiana's 2-1-1 Center, reported 10,000 calls from financially vulnerable seniors seeking assistance in 2010/2011.   Assistance with essential needs, such as utilities, housing and food, ranked at the top of requests made by these seniors.  Of those callers, 90 percent lived in Marion County and a quarter of them lived in only three zip codes: 46218, 46201 and 46203.  Further, 75 percent of callers were women and 30 percent reported someone in their household with an illness or a disability.

  

 

The report points out that the needs of area seniors reflect a national trend of growing vulnerability among Americans over 60 years old.  A July report published by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy found economic insecurity among senior households increased by one-third between 2004 and 2008, from 27 percent to 36 percent.   Click here to read the Institute's full report or here to read our blog post on this.

  

IBJ Reports on Impact of Cuts to Workforce Development Programs

 

The Indiana Business Journal reported in August that due to federal budget cuts to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Indiana lost $11.3 million for local WIA programs.  That is a loss of 18 percent on top of reduced program funding as a result of the expiring stimulus dollars.  WIA is the primary source of funding for job training programs aimed at at-risk youth and unemployed adults.

 

In the article, the Northeast Indiana Regional Workforce Investment Board, which serves Fort Wayne and surrounding cities, said its funds will be reduced by 39 percent this year, or $7.1 million.  The WIA cuts account for $400,000 of that figure.  The piece notes that the federal government plans to earmark $125 million in competitive grants that states can apply for to offset the cuts.  Randy Gillespie, the Chief Financial Officer of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said Indiana would pursue those grants.

To read our full blog post on this issue, click here.

Across the Nation 

U.S. House Appropriations Committee Approves FY12 Funding Bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development

On September 8, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved its FY12 Transportation, Housing And Urban Development Appropriations, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) bill.  The bill allocates $55.15 billion for T-HUD.  Of that, HUD and the Interagency Council on Homelessness would receive $38.1 billion.

The highlights:

• $1.9 billion for McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Grants
• $75 million for new HUD - VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers
• Zero funding for the proposed Housing and Services for Homeless Persons Demonstration
• $2.68 million for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
• $1.53 billion for the Public Housing Capital fund
• $3.86 billion for the Public Housing Operating fund
• Zero funding for HOPE VI, that means zero funding for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative that is funded with HOPE VI dollars
• $18.5 billion for the Section 8 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Program
• $9.4 million for Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance
• $3.5 billion for the Community Development- 100 percent of that funding is directed to Community Development Block Grants
• $1.2 billion for HOME Investment Partnership Program
• Zero funding for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program
• $50 million for the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Program

A final bill for FY 2012 will not be passed in time for the September 30 deadline.  Instead, Congress will have to pass another Continuing Resolution to fund federal programs into the late fall.  

Click here to read our full post on these HUD figures or to find links to the House Appropriations Committee's charts and announcement.

HOME Funds and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Work Better Together

Peter Lawrence, Senior Policy Director with Enterprise Community Partners, has written a policy brief in the August 2011 edition of the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits on how the HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME) leverages other federal investments through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and other programs.  This article is timely in the face of Congressional scrutiny and efforts to cut federal spending.   

According to Lawrence, the HOME program represents an example of an effective public-private partnership, in which the federal subsidy leverages much larger private resources. Nationwide, the HOME statute requires state and local governments to match every four HOME dollars with a dollar of non-federal resources. But in practice, HOME leverages $3.94 dollars of other public and private in- vestment for every dollar of HOME funds.  Because it is often combined with other housing programs, the HOME program's profile among members of Congress is not as clear as are other housing programs' and thus its constituency, aside from the state and local governments that receive it, is not clear.

To read our full blog post on this, click here.  Or click here for Lawrence's full article.

HUD Seeks New Strategies for Disposition of Foreclosed Properties

Thanks to our friends at Enterprise Community Partners and the National Low Income Housing Coalition, IACED has learned that on August 10, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and HUD issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit ideas for the disposition of foreclosed homes owned by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (Government Sponsored Enterprises-GSEs) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). FHA and the GSEs have an extensive stock of Real Estate-Owned (REO) properties that they cannot sell. These unsold, vacant homes are bringing down home values in neighborhoods, further delaying the recovery of the housing market.

The request seeks comments on sales, joint ventures or other strategies to augment and enhance REO asset disposition programs for these agencies. The objective of the RFI is to reduce the organizations' current and future REO portfolios, maximize value to taxpayers and increase private investment in the housing market. The RFI also encourages respondents to submit ideas that would support rental and affordable housing needs. For more information, read the HUD press release or here for our blog post regarding the announcement.  The full REO disposition request for information. 

REO Portal

HUD also launched a new web-based tool that maps the location of all Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA foreclosed properties. Called the "REO Portal," this new tool is designed to help facilitate the acquisition of REO properties for communities, homebuyers, nonprofits and responsible investors seeking to purchase homes and ultimately stabilize neighborhoods. The new mapping tool will be of particular assistance to local grantees utilizing the

Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP)

because it will improve their ability to make targeted acquisitions. For more information, visit the REO Portal

or read the HUD press release. 

The Stepping Stone Shelter For Women, Inc.   

The Stepping Stone Shelter For Women, Inc. was founded in 1982 as an outgrowth of a Citizen's Advisory Committee.   La Porte County in Northwest Indiana applied for and received a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to rehabilitate an apartment complex into a center that would house the domestic violence program, as well as the emergency shelter for children who were in need of emergency housing.  The County operated the children's program and the Swanson Center operated the domestic violence program.

The Stepping Stone began providing services in 1983 with only one paid staff person and a group of trained volunteers.  It was not until 1987 that the program received enough funding to hire staff to provide 24 hour coverage, seven days a week.  Over the past nineteen years, The Stepping Stone has seen its role in the community change to address the issues of the new millennium.  Not only does the program provide emergency shelter to women and children in crisis, but also the program serves as a strong catalyst in identifying and coordinating support services available for women in the community.   

The Stepping Stone's Executive Director, Gerry Jones, is the Homeward Bound Chair for La Porte County's Homeward Bound walk coming up on September 24!  To find out more about this important event and the agencies it supports, click here.