[HousingMinnesota Bulletin] Volume 3, Issue 6 3-26-4

Fri Mar 26 11:00:59 CST 2004

HousingMinnesota

Homes for All by 2012!

 The Bulletin
March 26, 2004
Volume 3, Issue 6

Distributed bi-weekly, this bulletin contains news, announcements,
legislative updates, publications, and upcoming events. We hope you'll
find it helpful in keeping you abreast of important developments. Please
don't hesitate to contact us with items you'd like included in future
issues.  The Bulletin is also available online at
http://www.mhponline.org/Bulletin/Bulletin.htm
<http://www.mhponline.org/Bulletin/Bulletin.htm> .        

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
News/Announcements

House Majority proposes to increase the $50 housing penalty to a $200
penalty!  Take action!  The Minnesota House Majority has proposed to
increase the penalty imposed last year on MFIP participants that receive
federal housing assistance.  Their proposal is meant to help balance the
state's current budget deficit of $160 million. A family of three
receiving MFIP gets only $532/month in assistance; an amount unchanged
since the 1980s.  This provision is projected to save the state $8.2
million in FY 05; however, the cost to the families that will have to
choose which part of their scant family budget they can do without is
immeasurable.  It is estimated that as many as 11,000 households will be
impacted by this increased penalty.  The House Majority is putting their
budget together now.  Please contact your House member to protest this
penalty on some of Minnesota's lowest income families:  Ask them to
oppose any increase in the housing penalty for MFIP participants.  You
may find out who represents you in the House by visiting
http://maps.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/website/districts/
<http://maps.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/website/districts/>  or calling
(651) 296-2146 or 1 (800) 657-3550.  For more information on this issue
view our fact sheet from last year when we were successful in reducing
the penalty from a proposed $100 down to the current $50 penalty:
http://www.housingminnesota.org/downloads/$100_Fact_Sheet.doc
<http://www.housingminnesota.org/downloads/$100_Fact_Sheet.doc> 

$20 million bonding initiative for permanent supportive housing passes
House committee as a "high priority" Gov. Pawlenty's $20 million
initiative was passed from the House Jobs and Economic Development
committee as one of eleven of their highest priorities for funding in
the House bonding bill.  The Capital Investment committee will now
review recommendations from all the House Finance committees and will be
putting their bill together in the coming weeks.  The governor proposed
a $760 million bonding bill which included this housing initiative.  The
House is expected to come in with a lower overall bonding number and the
Senate a larger number.  All negotiations and agreement between the
governor and each body of the legislature must be completed in time for
adjournment on May 17th, 2004.  

Final Report and Business Plan Released:  "Ending Long-Term Homelessness
in Minnesota"  The final report has been released and is available on
the MHFA web site at:
http://www.mhfa.state.mn.us/about/about_reports.htm#lthtag
<http://www.mhfa.state.mn.us/about/about_reports.htm#lthtag> .  Many
housing organizations and service providers submitted comments and
important suggestions for how to improve the plan to end long-term
homelessness.   There was an overwhelming consensus that the plan was a
good first step in tackling these issues and there is a readiness to get
to work to end long-tem homelessness in Minnesota.   Many of the
comments are included in the appendix to the report (available soon at
the above web address).

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Reading/Resources 

Two New Resources on Housing Vouchers from the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has
released new reports looking at the Administration's proposal for the
housing voucher program.  These reports analyze the potential impact of
the Administration proposals and critique both the justifications for
and the consequences of them.  

1.	"The Local Impact of Proposed Cuts in Federal Housing
Assistance" This study finds that local housing agencies would have to
scale back assistance by 12% in 2005 and by 30% by 2009 if the
President's cuts are approved and distributed proportionally. This study
contains a state and public housing agency (PHA) level analysis of the
impact of the Administration proposals in 2005 and 2009.  It shows how
voucher funding would be reduced under the proposals, and also shows the
reduction in the number of families assisted if cuts were carried out by
eliminating vouchers, and the increase in annual rent if cuts were
carried out by raising rents.   The press release can be found here:
www.cbpp.org/3-17-04hous-pr.htm <http://www.cbpp.org/3-17-04hous-pr.htm>
.  State and PHA level data can be found at
www.cbpp.org/3-17-04hous-states.htm
<http://www.cbpp.org/3-17-04hous-states.htm> . 

2.	"Passing the Buck" looks at how the Administration's proposals
to change the voucher program would force responsibility for funding
cuts upon local and state agencies.  Agencies would have to decide
between cutting large numbers of vouchers, raising rent burdens, or
shifting vouchers away from poorer families. The report states that
while it is possible to provide PHAs with more flexibility in certain
areas, these changes do not have to come at the expense of the voucher
program's effectiveness.  The changes in the voucher program proposed by
the Administration, however, mean that any increased flexibility for
PHAs may simply mean they have more flexibility in deciding how to
implement the funding cuts.  The report is available at
www.cbpp.org/3-16-04hous.pdf <http://www.cbpp.org/3-16-04hous.pdf> .  

These and other reports on housing vouchers can be found on CBPP's
voucher webpage at www.cbpp.org/housingvoucher.htm
<http://www.cbpp.org/housingvoucher.htm> .  

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Upcoming Events  

March 29 & 30
American Lung Association Health House Builder Training 8:00-5:00pm,
American Lung Association of Minnesota, 490 Concordia Avenue, St. Paul,
MN  55103.  The Health House guidelines were used to build Jackson
Street Village, a supportive community for low-income Minnesotans, to
rebuild a Native American settlement in Iowa plagued by black mold and
Habitat for Humanity project "The House That Dreams Built." For more
details or to register, visit www.healthhouse.org
<http://www.healthhouse.org/>  or call Kim Dorniden at (651) 268-7598.

April 13
Reasonable Accommodations Workshop: Understanding the Fair Housing Act,
504 Requirements, and Reasonable Accommodations  9:00am-3:30pm ,
Initiative Foundation, 405 1st Street SE , Little Falls, MN.  The goal
of this training is to ensure that McKinney Vento funded grantees have
the information they need to explain the rules regarding handicap
accessibility and reasonable accommodations to their asset and property
managers, staff, subgrantees, contractors/subcontractors, and to provide
guidance and successfully monitor them.
<http://www.mhponline.org/News%20and%20Events/Reasonable%20Accom%20Broch
ure.pdf> Click here to download a brochure and registration materials.
<http://www.mhponline.org/News%20and%20Events/Reasonable%20Accom%20Broch
ure.pdf>  

April 19
Reasonable Accommodations Workshop: Understanding the Fair Housing Act,
504 Requirements, and Reasonable Accommodations  9:00am-3:30pm , Twin
Cities Habitat for Humanity, 3002 4th Street SE , Minneapolis , MN .
The goal of this training is to ensure that McKinney Vento funded
grantees have the information they need to explain the rules regarding
handicap accessibility and reasonable accommodations to their asset and
property managers, staff, subgrantees, contractors/subcontractors, and
to provide guidance and successfully monitor them.
<http://www.mhponline.org/News%20and%20Events/Reasonable%20Accom%20Broch
ure.pdf> Click here to download a brochure and registration materials.
<http://www.mhponline.org/News%20and%20Events/Reasonable%20Accom%20Broch
ure.pdf>  

April 26 & 27
Income Training:  Determining Income Eligibility for the HOME Program
8:00am-5:00pm, Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, 3131 Campus Drive,
Plymouth, MN.  This training will teach attendees how to calculate a
family's eligibility for HOME-assisted housing units using annual income
as defined at 24 CFR 5.609.  Training will include determining whose
income to count; definitions of income, assets, and allowances; the
methods used to calculate them; and the necessary source documentation.
<http://www.mhponline.org/News%20and%20Events/Income%20Trng%20Brochure.p
df> Click here to download a brochure and registration materials.
<http://www.mhponline.org/News%20and%20Events/Income%20Trng%20Brochure.p
df>  

May 3-7
NeighborWorks Training Institute Hilton Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN.
NeighborWorks offers a series of workshops with topics such as
Affordable Housing, Asset Management, Community Building and Organizing,
Community Economic Development, Construction and Production Management,
Home Ownership and Community Lending, Management and Leadership,
Neighborhood Revitalization and more.  Early Registration Deadline:
March 22nd.  Registrations accepted through April 19th with a $25 late
fee.  Scholarships are available.  For more information and to register,
visit www.nw.org/training <http://www.nw.org/training>  and click the
Minneapolis Institute Link, email nti at nw.org <mailto:nti at nw.org> , or
call (800) 438-5547.

May 11-13
Financial Management Training:  Ensuring Compliance with Federal
Financial Requirements Radisson Hotel Roseville, 2540 N. Cleveland Ave.,
Roseville, MN  55113.  This training will provide attendees with an
overview of financial compliance rules for federal housing and community
development programs.  Participants will gain an understanding of the
financial management reporting and audit requirements for funding
received from federal departments like the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development.  Click here to download a brochure and training
materials.
<http://www.mhponline.org/News%20and%20Events/financial%20mgmt%20trng%20
brochure.pdf>  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Looking for something from the last Bulletin??   Archived issues are
available online at: http://www.mhponline.org/Bulletin/Bulletin.htm  For
more information on affordable housing, the content of this document, or
if you have news or events you would like included in future issues,
please contact Rachel Callanan , Policy Director, (651) 649-1710 x107,
email rcallanan at mhponline.org or see HousingMinnesota's website at
www.housingminnesota.org <http://www.mhponline.org/> .

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mapnp.Geeks.ORG/pipermail/mhp-bulletin/attachments/20040326/2aabfd4c/attachment.html