ACTION ALERT!!
National Housing Trust Fund Amendment
Liz Savage of the Arc <savage@thearc.org>
writes:
Urge your Representative to support the National Housing
Trust Fund Amendment, which would increase affordable
housing for people with disabilities
IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED:
Background
Sometime in the next 2-3 weeks, the House of
Representatives is expected to consider an omnibus housing
bill, H.R. 3995, the Housing Affordability for America Act
of 2002. Representative Bernard Sanders (I-VT), longtime
champion of increased housing production for low-income
people, will introduce the National Housing Trust Fund Act
as an amendment to this bill.
The Sanders amendment will establish a National Housing
Trust Fund -- a permanent, dedicated federal funding source
that would build, rehabilitate and preserve 1.5 million
units of rental housing for the lowest income persons,
including people with disabilities, over the next 10 years.
The Trust Fund would use a funding formula that ensures
that the money goes to help those extremely low-income
households that have been hit the hardest by the affordable
housing shortage. Sixty per cent of the money will be
distributed to localities and 40% to states under a formula
that will consider a number of factors including:
* Percentage of families in the state or locality in
substandard housing;
* Percentage of families in the state or locality that pay
greater than 50% of their income for rent;
* Percentage of families in the state or locality that have
income below the poverty line.
Housing trust funds are not new. Currently, there are 150
trust funds nationwide; including 36 established by states.
The rest are located in cities and counties around the
country.
More than 3,050 national, state, and local organizations,
elected Officials and religious leaders have endorsed the
creation of a National Housing Trust Fund.
Why people with disabilities need the Trust Fund:
The lack of affordable housing for people with
disabilities, including those with mental retardation and
related developmental disabilities has reached crisis
proportions across the country. According to "Priced Out in
2000," a report published by the Consortium for Citizens
with Disabilities Housing Task Force and the Technical
Assistance Collaborative (TAC):
* In 2000, there was not one single housing market where
people receiving SSI could afford to rent an efficiency
or one-bedroom apartment.
* In 2000, people with disabilities receiving SSI needed to
pay -- on a national average - nearly 98% of their SSI
check in order to be able to rent a modest one-bedroom
unit at the published HUD Fair Market Rent.
* Cost of living adjustments to SSI benefit levels have not
kept pace with the cost of rental housing. Between 1998-
2000, rental-housing costs rose almost twice as much as
the income of people with disabilities.
To make the goal of the Olmstead decision a reality for
people with disabilities we must create more affordable
housing options in communities across America
Increased housing production will not only increase the
availability of affordable housing, it will dramatically
increase the number of rental units that are accessible to
people with disabilities as required by the Fair Housing
Amendments Act of 1988.
ACTION NEEDED:
* Call your representative: Call your Representative and
ask him/her to support affordable housing for people with
disabilities by voting for the Sanders Amendment. Call
(866) 864 6483 (toll free) to connect to your
representative's office.
* E-mail your Representative to urge him/her to support the
Sanders amendment to H.R. 3995. Stress the importance of
increasing affordable housing options for people with
disabilities in your community. To e-mail your
Representative, go to
http://capwiz.com/thearc/home
Thank you!
NOTE NEW CONTACT INFORMATION:
Liz Savage
Director, Health and Housing Policy
The Arc of the United States
1331 H Street, NW
Suite 301
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 783-2229
Fax: (202) 783-8250
# # #
=====================
JUSTICE FOR ALL -- A Service of the
American Association of People with Disabilities
www.aapd-dc.org www.jfanow.org
There's strength in numbers! Be a part of a national
coalition of people with disabilities and join AAPD today.
www.aapd-dc.org
Last Updated on
04/14/04
webmaster@namiscc.org
