Latest news with #housingassistance
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Potential federal cuts could lead Interfaith Housing Alliance to shrink services
Jodie Ostoich, the president and CEO of the Interfaith Housing Alliance, said it's hard to say how much of the organization's funding is in jeopardy due to possible federal funding cuts for fiscal year 2026. About 30% of the alliance's funding comes directly from the federal government, but the nonprofit also gets state 'pass-through' grants with federal money. 'We have deep concern about the proposed federal budget cuts to housing programs, which will have devastating effects on families across the nation,' Ostoich wrote in an email in May to community members asking for donations. 'The recent budget proposal includes significant reductions to essential housing assistance programs, which are critical for the well-being of millions of Americans.' The federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1. President Donald Trump's proposed budget was submitted to the U.S. Senate's Appropriations Committee on May 2. The administration released an appendix to the proposed budget on May 30. The Senate Appropriations Committee is still reviewing Trump's proposal, with several subcommittee hearings scheduled for next week. 'The recommended funding levels result from a rigorous, line-by-line review of FY 2025 spending, which was found to be laden with spending contrary to the needs of ordinary working Americans and tilted toward funding niche non-governmental organizations and institutions of higher education committed to radical gender and climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life,' Russell Vought, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a letter to Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Susan Collins introducing the budget proposal. The Interfaith Housing Alliance (IHA), founded in 1990, develops affordable housing and offers educational programs and social services in parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania to low- and moderate-income communities. Some educational programs include the organization's 'Credit Café,' through which people can better understand their credit and credit reports, and a financial freedom bootcamp. The IHA also offers a purchase-repair homeownership program, with free technical assistance to participants in Frederick, Carroll and Washington counties throughout the homeownership process. The organization also manages affordable rental communities throughout central and western Maryland, as well as southcentral Pennsylvania. Ostoich said in an interview that in 2024, over 200 people participated in IHA workshops. At the end of last year, 15 people were in the homeownership program. Additionally, she said, about 270 households are living in the properties IHA manages. CUTS AND IMPACTS In her May email asking for donations, Ostoich outlined possible reductions to housing assistance programs proposed in the federal budget that would impact the IHA or were used by the organization to develop housing. Those cuts include: * A reduction of $26.7 billion from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's State Rental Assistance Block Grant. Rental assistance programs will be restructured into a block grant system with capped financial support for able-bodied adults. * Eliminating $3.3 billion in flexible funding through the Community Development Block Grant that supports housing rehabilitation, infrastructure and neighborhood revitalization * Cutting $1.25 billion from the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which supports building and preserving affordable housing * A reduction of $721 million in rural development housing programs, pulling back federal engagement with housing in underserved rural areas In an interview Wednesday, Ostoich said that if the cuts are approved, the IHA would have to shrink, and it would have to reassess what other programs it could offer. 'It certainly would open the door to many more collaborations, I think, that potentially hadn't happened before,' she said. '... Obviously, I don't have a crystal ball of what could happen.' Ostoich wrote in her email that the IHA has used Community Development Block Grant money to fund repairs and deliver supportive services throughout Frederick County and has used HOME Investment Partnerships Program funding to partially finance four tax credit projects with a total of 129 housing units. Additionally, the IHA has used the State Rental Assistance Block Grant at an apartment community it manages on North Market Street. Ostoich said that every two years, the IHA has received a rural development grant, and the organization usually states how many housing units it will complete in that two-year grant period. 'What that relies on is those mortgages that [the USDA's] Rural Development makes available to low- and moderate-income households. They are special mortgages that make the mortgage affordable, so there's no other product quite like them,' she said. These mortgages are made more affordable through things like extended payment terms. There's more leniency, and these mortgages help people who want to buy homes begin to build generational wealth for their families. Ostoich said there isn't money for these Rural Development mortgages in the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal. She said getting this mortgage funding has been an issue since February 2024. The IHA is working on a new homeownership program that isn't limited to rural areas and would open up more homeownership opportunities to people in urban areas. That way, the program wouldn't have to depend on funding from Rural Development and could get money from other sources. Since last year, the IHA has felt more urgency to develop this new program, Ostoich said. The reduction of the IHA's programs and workshops would impact other local nonprofits, such as the United Way of Frederick County, that collaborate with the organization. United Way serves individuals who are ALICE, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. People who are ALICE make above the federal poverty line but still struggle to afford basic necessities, including housing. Ken Oldham, United Way's CEO, said that his organization frequently partners with the IHA to help financially struggling families begin the journey to homeownership. He said United Way pairs people with the IHA's purchase-repair homeownership program. It also uses the Credit Café workshops in its own 'Pathway to Homeownership' program to effectively educate people and help them repair their credit. Pairing with other programs like the IHA's homeownership program 'really opens the door for ALICE households to make a generational-changing financial move on behalf of themselves and their families,' Oldham said. If the IHA has to shrink its program offerings, that could exacerbate the challenges ALICE households face trying to buy homes, such as poor credit and expensive mortgages. 'It would put United Way in a position where we would have to figure out that credit piece [of Pathway to Homeownership] on our own. ... The IHA does such a great job with it. That would be painful. That would be very difficult,' Oldham said. 'The lack of that rural purchase program would take a very significant tool out of the toolbox for ALICE households to purchase a home.' Ostoich said she's still looking for projects for the IHA to do at the direction of the nonprofit's Board of Directors. 'I am still pounding that pavement and trying to move forward in ways that will deliver on the mission we're committed to,' she said. '... There's a lot of concern about being able to serve people and knowing that nonprofits often fill the gaps for government programming, really wondering what is going to happen to people if nonprofits cannot continue to serve the number of people they do.'
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
HAP caps should be revised regularly to reflect rental market, Ombudsman says
Overly complex processes and the duplication of work by local authorities causing delays to housing assistance payment (HAP) applications, alongside the refusal of legitimate applications, were among the issues discovered by an Ombudsman investigation. Ombudsman Ger Deering said his office received numerous complaints from the public, and identified shortcomings through voluntary housing and homeless groups regarding the scheme before its investigation. Launched in 2014, the HAP payment to landlords was intended to cover the full cost of a household's rent. Due to significant increases in rent rates, however, two-thirds of HAP households were paying the difference between the HAP cap and the actual cost of rent in 2023. Some 53,742 households were in receipt of HAP at the end of 2024, meaning the same number of rentals have been removed from the private rental sector, the Ombudsman said, contributing to a sustained increase in the rate of rents. READ MORE The availability of rental properties coming under the HAP limits is declining as rents increase, prompting a recommendation from the Ombudsman that caps should be revised on a regular basis to reflect the rental market. [ More than 100 families in Dublin at risk of homelessness as tenant-in-situ applications paused Opens in new window ] Among the findings of its investigation into HAP's administration was a 'duplication of work' being done by local authorities resulting in potential delays. Although households approved for social housing support are immediately eligible for HAP, they must make separate applications, resulting in repetition. The report also highlighted the 'overly complex' requirement for local authorities to seek approval from the HAP shared services centre (SSC) before amendments to HAP records or applications for approval can be made. It noted that the SSC processed 5,821 amendments in one sample month during the investigation. The investigation also found further 'unnecessary delays' when it comes to validating applications and verifying landlords' proof of ownership. Delays increase the risk of inability to secure properties, it said. Separately, the Ombudsman found that some local authorities are refusing HAP applications despite all evidence suggesting a tenancy is legitimate, while others have approved HAP where it should not have been. Local authorities have 'broad discretion' when determining whether a tenancy is genuine, with decisions not always accounting for each case being different or nuanced. In particular, it said local authorities place 'undue weight on family relationships even where all other evidence suggests the tenancy is legitimate'. Separately, despite being legislatively considered socially housed, HAP tenants do not have access to the same benefits as their counterparts in standard social housing such as tailored arrears repayment plans. These inequities pose a risk of HAP tenants falling into a 'poverty trap,' it said. 'This unfairness is compounded by the fact that they do not have the security of tenure that their counterparts in other forms of social housing have,' the Ombudsman said.
ABC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Research shows social housing struggling to keep up with increasing demand
Waitlists for social housing grew in the four years to 2022, with the number of people being helped into homes falling, prompting a call for a reboot of the overburdened sector. The combination, outlined in a report from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, is worsening wait times for people facing acute housing stress, according to its authors. 'It's a painful and frustrating and horrible experience to go through, being on the waiting list,' lead author Chris Martin, of the University of New South Wales, said. As well as interviewing existing tenants and people waiting for housing, the researchers reviewed national data compiled for a 2024 study in the same research series. Based on state-by-state data, it showed more than 34,000 households across the country joined a waitlist in the roughly four years to 2022. But lettings — or new social housing allocations — suffered a 6,400 drop over the same period. Dr Martin said the data pointed to a long queue for supply so scarce it could disincentivise people from moving out of the system. 'What we currently have is a process of people applying for this scarce form of assistance — a social housing tenancy — and then other forms of band-assistance that are offered, like help with rental bonds in the private market,' he said. 'It would be a good time to start thinking in a formal and structured way, a strategic way, about reviewing the way access to housing assistance is done.' One of the many people to have turned to social housing is Julie, who asked to use a pseudonym for professional reasons. Julie lives with complex health needs and was spending about two-thirds of a disability support pension on an unsuitable private market rental when she made a bid for priority social housing access in March last year. 'There was a leak. It was damp, there were signs of mould. There were some steps in the building,' she said of the private market home. She's still waiting for social housing to become available. Initially, she said, her government housing provider lost part of her application and asked her to resubmit it so she could be added to the priority list. When that happened, she said the application was incorrectly backdated, likely resulting in a longer wait. In the meantime, she's had to find a new private rental after learning her landlord would sell. 'The system's literally designed to make you give up,' she said. 'There've just been so many hoops that I've been made to jump through.' Sarah Toohey, of Community Housing Industry Association Victoria, said an underinvestment in social housing meant available homes were generally prioritised for people with complex needs. She said this cohort often stayed in social housing for longer, resulting in less turnover and a slowdown in homes becoming available. 'At the moment, people put their name down, they don't hear very much and they wait upwards of 18 months to get a roof over their heads,' she said. 'In that time, we know that things that have led to their housing crisis can get worse.' The study authors said the effects of decades of underinvestment in the social housing sector were gradually being reversed as state and federal governments looked to ease the housing crisis. Dr Martin said the renewed focus on the sector posed an opportunity to deliver housing support differently. 'It may not always be about the golden ticket of a social housing tenancy, even though that's what a lot of people will rightly want and need,' he said. His examples included additional assistance to very low-income households in the private market and a bigger focus on individual housing needs. Queensland recently reported an average wait time of about 21 months for high-needs households moving into government-owned social housing. In Victoria, priority households face a wait of about 18 months. The wait for a two-bedroom property in inner-city Sydney is 10 years or more.'We do need a more person-centred approach,' Ms Toohey said. 'We can integrate choice-based letting where people can search for their own social housing properties, or have a system whereby we check in on people on the list and see if there's any other housing assistance you can provide.' Housing groups routinely call for governments to bring more social housing stock online. One recent report found Victoria alone would need an additional 377,000 homes to meet demand over the next two-and-a-half decades. Nationwide, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has previously predicted more than 1.1 million social dwellings will be needed by 2037.
The Independent
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Cash payments ruled out for last survivors of race massacre
Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols has proposed a US$100 million private trust to provide scholarships and housing assistance to descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The plan aims to atone for the racial attack that destroyed the Greenwood district and left thousands of black people homeless, but will not include direct cash payments to descendants of the victims or the last two living survivors. The mayor characterises the plan as a 'road to repair' rather than reparations, and it would not require city council approval, though transferring city property would need authorisation. The trust aims to secure $105 million in assets by June 2026, with $60 million earmarked for improving buildings and revitalising Tulsa's north side. The proposal faces political challenges due to President Donald Trump 's stance on diversity programmes.
The Independent
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Tulsa's new Black mayor plans $100M reparations for descendants of 1921 Race Massacre
Tulsa's Mayor Monroe Nichols has proposed a $100 million private trust to provide scholarships and housing assistance to descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Nichols, the first Black mayor of Tulsa, announced the plan at the Greenwood Cultural Center, located in the once-thriving district that was destroyed by a white mob. The mayor's proposal is part of a city-backed effort to atone for one of the worst racial attacks in U.S. history. The plan would not include direct cash payments to descendants or the last two centenarian survivors of the attack that killed as many as 300 Black people. Nichols said he does not use the term reparations, which he calls politically charged, characterizing his sweeping plan instead as a 'road to repair.' 'This is, I think, a very significant first step,' Nichols said. 'And it's something we can all unite around. I think we can unite around housing specifically for affected populations. I think we can unite around investing in the Greenwood district and making sure that we're able to revitalize it to be an economic power again.' Nichols said the proposal would not require city council approval, although the council would need to authorize the transfer of any city property to the trust. The private charitable trust would be created with a goal to secure $105 million in assets, with most of the funding either secured or committed by June 1, 2026. Although details of the trust programs would be developed over the next year by an executive director and a board of managers, the plan calls for the bulk of the funding, $60 million, to go toward improving buildings and revitalizing the city's north side. 'The Greenwood District at its height was a center of commerce,' Nichols said. 'So what was lost was not just something from North Tulsa or the Black community. It actually robbed Tulsa of an economic future that would have rivaled anywhere else in the world." Nichols' proposal comes on the heels of an executive order he signed earlier this year recognizing June 1 as Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day, an official holiday for the city. Nichols also realizes the current national political climate, particularly President Trump 's sweeping assault on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, provides challenging political crosswinds. 'The fact that this lines up with a broader national conversation is a tough environment,' Nichols admitted, 'but it doesn't change the work we have to do.' Jacqueline Weary, is a granddaughter of massacre survivor John R. Emerson, Sr., who owned a hotel and cab company in Greenwood that were destroyed. She acknowledged the political difficulty of giving cash payments to descendants. But at the same time, she wondered how much of her family's wealth was lost as a result of the massacre. 'If Greenwood was still there, my grandfather would still have his hotel,' said Weary, 65. 'It rightfully was our inheritance, and it was literally taken away.' Tulsa is not the first U.S. city to explore the idea of reparations. The Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, was the first U.S. city to make reparations available to its Black residents for past discrimination, offering qualifying households $25,000 for home repairs, down payments on property, and interest or late penalties on property in the city. The funding for the program came from taxes on the sale of recreational marijuana. Other communities and organizations that have considered providing reparations range from the state of California to cities like Amherst, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Asheville, North Carolina; and Iowa City, Iowa; religious denominations like the Episcopal Church; and prominent colleges like Georgetown University in Washington. In Tulsa, there are only two living survivors of the Race Massacre, both of whom are 110 years old: Leslie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher. Both received direct financial compensation from both a Tulsa-based nonprofit and a New York-based philanthropic organization, but have not received any recompense from the city or state. Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney for the survivors and the founder of the Justice for Greenwood Foundation, could not be reached for comment on the mayor's plan, but said earlier this year that any reparations plan should include direct payments to Randle and Fletcher and a victims' compensation fund for outstanding claims. A lawsuit filed by Solomon-Simmons on behalf of the survivors was rejected by the Oklahoma Supreme Court last year, dampening racial justice advocates' hopes that the city would ever make financial amends.
