| WASHINGTON
- September 6 - Job seekers, home buyers,
low- and moderate-income families, and the economy as a whole will
benefit from creation of a National Housing Trust Fund, a new study
by Center for Community Change (CCC) finds. The study indicates a new $5 billion fund would generate 1.8 million jobs and nearly $50
billion in wages.
"Home Sweet Home: Why America Needs a National Housing Trust
Fund" will be simultaneously released by CCC in Washington, D.C. in
House Capitol Room 9 at 11 a.m. and by 44 groups in 29 states
throughout the country today.
The study is part of a campaign by more than 1,300 grassroots
groups and others who advocate creating a federal version of a more
than 20-year-old state and local affordable housing funding vehicle
that has a 99.8 percent success rate and leverages on average $9
for every $1 of direct investment. 36 states and more than 100
cities and counties have used housing trust funds to build more
than 200,000 units of affordable housing.
"I worked very hard to get a housing trust fund passed in St.
Louis on the same day I was elected mayor because we need
affordable housing for working families, seniors and the disabled
in St. Louis," says St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. "However, even
though we now have the largest per capita housing trust fund in the
country, St. Louis' housing need cannot be met by us alone.
Congress must meet us half-way and create a national affordable
housing trust fund also."
"America lacks affordable housing," says Maude Hurd, president
of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN),
responsible for about a quarter of today's actions and news
conferences supporting a National Housing Trust Fund. "Now an
opportunity to create it has come along just when the economy could
use the shot in the arm all that investment and all those jobs can
provide."
Housing trust funds have three characteristics: dedicated
sources of ongoing funding, a commitment to production and
preservation of affordable housing, and the fact that they
represent money not otherwise used to address housing needs.
Typically, housing trust funds are funded with real estate transfer
taxes, developers' fees, contributions, and other sources.
Advocates of the idea note that governmental bodies often earmark funds for certain projects, such as using gas taxes for road and
highway projects, and that housing needs similar priority.
Groups involved in today's study releases and actions include,
alphabetically by state with group and contact information:
-- Anchorage: Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness,
907-279-9581;
-- Little Rock: ACORN, 501-376-7151;
-- Phoenix: Arizona Tenants Association, 602-257-8987;
-- Los Angeles: ACORN, 213-747-4211;
-- Oakland: ACORN, 510-436-5690;
-- Sacramento: Sacramento ACORN, 916-455-1795;
-- San Diego: ACORN, 619-235-9593;
-- San Jose: ACORN, 408-729-8860;
-- San Francisco: Housing America, 415-771-9850;
-- Connecticut: Connecticut Housing Coalition, 860-563-2943 and
Bridgeport ACORN, 203-366-0020;
-- Kansas City/national: National Association of Community
Action Agencies, 202-265-7546 or 816-474-4400 will announce at
their national conference;
-- Delaware: Delaware Housing Coalition, 302-678-2286;
-- Orlando: Florida Coalition for the Homeless, 888-917-3223;
-- Georgia: Georgia Coalition to End Homelessness, 770-578-8175,
Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, 404-230-5007 ext. 118,
and South Georgia Task Force for the Homeless, 229-245-8064;
-- Honolulu: Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance,
808-845-4565;
-- Boise: El-Ada Community Action Agency,
208-345-2820;
-- Chicago: Lakeview Action Coalition, 773-549-1947 and
Organization of the NorthEast, 773-769-3232;
-- Gary: Interfaith Federation, 219-886-3647;
-- Kentucky: People's Self-Help Housing, 606-796-0811 and, in
Lexington, Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, 800-335-1797
plus Metropolitan Housing Center, 502-584-6858;
-- New Orleans: ACORN, 504-943-0044;
-- Boston: CHAPA, 617-742-0820;
-- Cape Cod: Lower Cape Cod CDC, 508-240-7873;
-- Portland: Initiative to End Homelessness, 207-324-1137
ext. 14 or 207-749-0577;
-- Minneapolis: ACORN, 651-642-9639 and HOME Line, 612-728-5770
ext. 106;
-- Missouri: in St. Louis, Adequate Housing for Missourians,
314-534-7089; in Kansas City: Housing Information Center,
816-931-0443; Lincoln: Martin Luther Homes, contact info not
available;
-- New Jersey: Jersey City ACORN, 201-222-0100 and
Inter-Religious Fellowship for the Homeless of Bergen County Inc.,
201-833-8009;
-- Albuquerque: Albuquerque ACORN, 505-244-1086;
-- Buffalo: East Side PRIDE, 716-896-5069;
-- Bronx: Northwest Bronx Coalition and United Communities of
University Heights, 718-295-0900;
-- Ohio: in Columbus, COOHIO, 614-280-1984, in Cincinnati,
Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, 513-421-7803, and in
Cleveland, Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, 216-241-1104;
-- Pennsylvania: in Philadelphia: ACORN, 215-765-0042; in
Pittsburgh, Western PA- PA Low Income Housing Coalition,
412-441-2904;
-- Seattle: Seattle Tenants Union, 206-722-6848 x108; and
-- Madison: National Student Campaign Against Hunger and
Homelessness, 608-345-6026.
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