BIG BROTHER TO INTRUDE SHELTERS & SOUP KITCHENS

Roll Back The Rents
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BIG BROTHER TO INTRUDE ON SHELTERS & SOUP KITCHENS

BIG BROTHER is setting up an intrusive database that targets the unfortunates...

Shelters across the nation reject HUD's (BIG BROTHER) homelessness database project...

Big Brother (HUD) also plans to force food banks, soup kitchens, street outreach programs, mental illness treatment facilities, HIV/AIDS clinics and human services departments, to collect and give up data such as a birth date, Social Security number, veteran status, race, ethnicity and family background of all their clients! See story below...

Plus....

Suppressing The Poor Vote In Public Housing...

Republicans are desperate to steal present and future elections by suppressing the poor vote of Native Americans and Public Housing residents...

The New York Times has spoken out against the efforts of the Republican Party to target over 3 million people in Public Housing with efforts to suppress the poor vote... See Editorial & report below...

More on the homeless crisis in New York City... See story below...

Maine's homeless crisis worsens... See story below...

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a non-profit group has been exposed for charging new homeowners twice the amount of what their homes are really worth... See story below...

Nice guy bank robber promotes transitional housing for ex-cons... See story below...

So-called affordable housing, does not seem so affordable to migrant workers... See story below...

Advocates seek tenant rights protections in Alabama & Arkansas, such as the Repair & Deduct Remedy... See report below...

Plus more on housing & political issues...

Roll Back The Rents

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Shelters Opt Out of HUD's Homelessness Database
Elizabeth Aguilera Denver Post Staff Writer
The Denver Post
October 29, 2004


Domestic violence shelters across the country are balking at a new federal directive requiring homeless shelters to provide client information for a new national database.

Advocates say the database, set to roll out in Colorado in January, would jeopardize the safety of abused women and children.

HUD will require a birth date, Social Security number, veteran status, race, ethnicity and family background. The department also urges shelters to inquire about HIV status and mental health.

Currently, housing providers are the only groups required to participate, but the system will expand to other homeless services such as food banks, soup kitchens, street outreach programs, mental illness treatment facilities, HIV/AIDS clinics and human services departments, said Tracy D'Alanno, manager of the homeless and resource development program for the state department of human services.

Several Colorado shelters are opting out of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homeless Management Information System, even though they risk losing future federal funding.

Although the money is desperately needed, advocates say, the funds aren't worth giving up the anonymity of those they are trying to help.

"They are asking us to go to a woman who has been traumatized enough to flee her home with her children and the clothes on her back, and grill her over a few days for information we are not going to use but that the government wants," said Carol Hollomon, executive director at Alternatives to Family Violence, a safe house in Adams County. "It's not going to happen."

In Illinois, all the domestic violence shelters under the state's "umbrella" have refused to participate in the program, risking its share of $1.3 billion of federal support that is available nationwide.

Click below for full story...

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2499050,00.html

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HUD Clarifies Domestic Violence Shelter Guidelines

After receiving comments from advocates, HUD has reinstated provisions that protect the confidentiality of domestic violence victims.

Click below for report...

http://www.nlihc.org/mtm/mtm9-41.html#11

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---REPUBLICANS ATTACK PUBLIC HOUSING VOTERS---

---The New York Times---

Editorial;

Published October 30th, 2004

G.O.P. to the Poor: Don't Vote

With little notice or discussion, Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri allowed a provision into a Senate appropriations bill that could ban even nonpartisan voter registration efforts in public housing developments all over the country. This is an example of the unfortunate impulse now afflicting some parts of the Republican Party: a desire to suppress voting in poor and minority neighborhoods. Mr. Bond's proposal runs contrary to both the spirit of democracy and federal law, which in recent years has moved increasingly toward broadening ballot access. The National Voter Registration Act - commonly known as the Motor Voter Act - actually requires state agencies, including those that issue welfare benefits and drivers' licenses, to offer voter registration materials to the people they serve.

The proposed Senate legislation comes on top of recent G.O.P. maneuvers in Ohio, where Republicans challenged the registrations of more than 30,000 voters, many of them impoverished. Federal courts have stepped in to halt such challenges for now, but more are expected at the polls.

The same impulse to discourage voters was on display over the last several months in New Mexico, where the Indian Health Service of the Health and Human Services Department suspended voter registration efforts for several months at some medical centers and clinics serving Native Americans. Earlier this month, the Indian Health Service issued a memorandum effectively ending the ban, but only after untold numbers of Native Americans had missed the opportunity to register to vote in the coming election.

Mr. Bond's argument - that housing built with public money should be used only for housing, not voter registration - makes no sense on its face. It is even more ridiculous given the universal support for voter registration on military bases around the world. Military voters tend to favor Republicans, and public housing residents tend to favor Democrats. It would be nice if everyone could agree that both groups should be encouraged to vote.

End Story...

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Senator Seeks Removal of (Public Housing) Anti-Voter Section

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has requested that Section 224, which prohibits housing authorities from using federal funds for a variety of voter registration and other voting activities, be stricken from the Senate appropriations bill (S. 2825) for VA-HUD-IA.

In an October 21 letter to Senate VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Christopher Bond (R-MO) and Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Senator Cantwell states that partisan politicking by housing authorities is already illegal because of the Hatch Act and that many federal programs provide voter registration materials to citizens.

Ms. Cantwell further points out that many housing authorities maintain polling places in their buildings and “this language could be interpreted so as to have dramatic effects on individuals’ ability to access a convenient polling place."

Ms. Cantwell describes Section 224 as “problematic and overly broad, effectively prohibiting housing authorities from doing what any other agency receiving federal funds is able to do.” Congress will take up the VA-HUD-IA and other unfinished appropriations bills when it reconvenes after the election.

http://www.nlihc.org/mtm/mtm9-41.html#7

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Republicans Stealing The Poor Vote...

Voter Concerns--COHHIO in the National Spotlight

Huge numbers of “challengers” who will be placed in the polling booths to challenge the qualifications of voters – are likely to have the most negative impact on first time voters who are expected to be mostly low income and minority voters.

Ohio is living up to its title of “battleground state” in the final days leading up to the presidential election. Nearly every day since the voter registration deadline on October 4 there have been news reports about the potential for election day mishaps in the state.

“More than 600,000 people have registered to vote in Ohio this year, this should be cause for celebration. Instead, we see numerous attempts to suppress the vote.

While the two parties and campaigns are busy trying to make the other look more guilty, the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) and their nonpartisan 501(c)(3) partners in the Ohio Voterization Project (OVP) are worried that those who will be most effected by the bickering are the very people they have spent the last six months registering and educating.

OVP is also launching a radio advertising campaign and public relations effort in the final days before the election to help get out the vote and provide important voter protection information, especially to African American and low income voters.

Click below for full report...

http://www.nlihc.org/mtm/mtm9-41.html#2

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City's homeless population continues to rise

Capital Weekly
   
BY MICHELLE PRONOVOST

October 29, 2004

AUGUSTA - Homelessness has become so prevalent in Maine that merely one shelter in a city cannot feasibly deal with that city's homeless population.

"In August alone, our homeless shelter is approaching 10,000 bednights in 2004," said John Applin, executive director of the Bread of Life Ministries. "Five years ago, that number was 1,800."

For every homeless person the shelter helps per month, five people are turned away, Applin said.

Click below for full story...

http://www.courierpub.com/articles/2004/10/29/capitalweekly/local_news/2bread.txt

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New Programs Aim To Prevent Homelessness

Gotham Gazette

by Joe Lamport
October, 2004

With the homeless population at a record high and likely to get worse, thanks in part to an exhaustion of federal subsidy money and skyrocketing costs of providing shelter, two new projects –- one funded by the Bloomberg administration, one by United Way of New York City -- are focusing on the prevention of homelessness. Homeless advocates are skeptical about both

The organizations are currently setting up office space, hiring staff and organizing themselves to accept clients. Much of their $2 million will be used to pay clients’ rent, often long overdue, in order to prevent their eviction.

As many as 20 percent of people in city shelters, Auwater said, ended up in the shelter because they lost their Section 8 assistance.

Sounds Great, But Where Are the Resources?

Some advocates said the city’s new focus on prevention did not seem sincere.

"Everything they’re saying sounds great, there just are no resources yet,” said Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless. “You can’t say you’re going to prioritize prevention until you put resources into it.”

Mayor Bloomberg has cut city spending on prevention in every budget he has sent to City Council, Markee pointed out. And the homeless population has increased by 25 percent on his watch, he said.

“If you look at the mayor’s track record you can’t consider it as anything more than talk,” he said.

Click below for full story...

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/housing/20041029/10/1169

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Bill on Affordable Housing Sets Up Sides for a Debate
By DAVID W. CHEN

New York Times

Published: October 29, 2004

The Bloomberg administration and the City Council staked out opposing positions yesterday on a new tenants' rights bill, ratcheting up the debate over how New York City can best preserve housing for the poor and working class.

Under new legislation proposed by the City Council, tenants would be guaranteed the opportunity to band together to buy their buildings from any owner who plans to leave a rental assistance program, or they could choose a nonprofit group to buy the building and continue the rental assistance.

Click below for full story...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/29/nyregion/29housing.html?ex=1099713600&en=4060ad68c8370db0&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

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Posted on Fri, Oct. 29, 2004

Buyers’ rights fair housing seminar’s aim

By Benjamin Lanka
The Journal Gazette

Six weeks after Fort Wayne residents learned that they paid significantly more than market value for their homes, a local anti-discrimination group will host a fair-housing seminar to help explain to prospective homebuyers their rights.

A Sept. 19 report in The Journal Gazette showed that one out of four homeowners reviewed by the newspaper who bought houses through the Neighborhood Housing Partnership, a non-profit agency created to help low-income people buy homes, paid significantly more than the market value of their homes. Some clients paid more than double what their homes are worth, the report found.

Click below for full story...

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/local/10046838.htm

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Migrant housing opens to other low-income families

Daily Herald News - Oct 30
The lack of migrant workers moving into the brand new 13-unit Spring Lake migrant housing development has opened the door for other low-income families to get affordable rent.After once-interested migrant workers turned down the new housing complex because the rent was too expensive, the Department of Agriculture gave permission to rent to other low-income families.

Another hitch in the plan is that the new complex requires occupants to have legal documentation, something many migrant workers are failing to produce.

Click below for full story...

http://devel.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=38709

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Center targets fair housing issues
 
South Bend Tribune - Oct 29
BENTON HARBOR -- Fair housing violations occur an estimated 3.7 million times annually, according to the National Fair Housing Alliance. Yet ask 10 people what fair housing is, and you'll likely receive as many answers, according to Willie Mitchell of Benton Harbor.

Click below for full story...

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/10/29/local.20041029-sbt-MICH-B1-Center_targets_fair.sto

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Alabama: The Ongoing Struggle for Tenant Protection Legislation

Currently, Alabama and Arkansas are the only two states in the United States without tenant protection legislation outlining the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. Housing advocates have endeavored to pass such laws, but have had little success in winning the support of legislators.

Renters comprise 27.5%, of Alabama residents, but a study released by the Center for Public Integrity in September 2004 found that 60% of the Alabama legislature has connections to the real estate industry, including that 41% of legislators are landlords and 17% work in real estate. There is also a great deal of political funding provided to Alabama politicians by the real estate industry.

Advocates acknowledge that any tenant protection legislation will require compromise from both sides, but adamantly insist that some items are non-negotiable, such as a Separation of Habitability and Rent, and a Repair and Deduct provision.

Click below for report...

http://www.nlihc.org/mtm/mtm9-41.html#13

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Published: Friday, October 29, 2004

Former Tulalip housing head pleads guilty to embezzlement
Herald staff

SEATTLE - Dale Jones, former head of the Tulalip Tribes Housing Authority, pleaded guilty today to a federal embezzlement charge in connection with a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development probe.

Jones admitted illegally receiving $23,500 in HUD grant money for housing authority travel, meetings and training sessions. Under tribal law, he’s not allowed to collect that money, and his salary as a tribal employee for the same meetings.

Click below for full story...

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/04/10/29/loc_tulalip.cfm

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Edmonds could get homeless shelter

By Michael McQuillan
NewsLeader Staff

The City of Burnaby is looking at accommodating a homeless shelter, possibly in the Edmonds area.

Homelessness has been on the increase in the southeast area of Burnaby, according to police and a number of agencies that help those in need. Residents concerned about the problem appeared before Burnaby's Housing Committee Tuesday looking for solutions.

"Since the summer there have been homeless people everywhere. They're in abandoned houses, on residential streets, rundown garages, brand new unoccupied houses and in parks," said an Edmonds resident who appeared before the committee. She asked not to be named. "Some of them are looking pretty rough, pretty scary, very drug addicted."

Click below for full story...

http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=41&cat=23&id=321607&more=

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Windcrest Holds Neighborhood Meeting
 
KCBD-TV - Oct 29
They came to talk about security at Windcrest. Four days after four murders, the Lubbock Housing Authority held a meeting for Section 8 residents to discuss the aftermath. "This is a community problem, a situation here," said one resident.

Click below for full story...

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=2500504&nav=CcXHSZvP

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HOPE focuses on transitional housing in area for ex-inmates

October 30, 2004

By Bob Miller ~ Southeast Missourian

Ken Cooper, at one time in his life, was a serial bank robber who sometimes took hostages.

He used the money to pay off bills, even supported some charities with his loot. He had a soft spot for disadvantaged and homeless people who couldn't work or couldn't find a job.

He never killed anyone, and he was always polite while wielding his gun, telling them to do what the "nice robber" said. But he was eventually caught and sentenced to 99 years in prison.

To make a long story short, he ended up serving only three years.

Now, several years later, he is on a mission to help prisoners turn around their lives before they're released from prison.

Click below for full story...

http://www.semissourian.com/story.html$rec=149258

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Rents to be Raised on Poorest Residents

The Chattanooga Tennessee Housing Authority (CHA) is seeking permission from HUD to double the minimum rent for Section 8 residents, a move that CHA officials say was suggested by HUD. If approved, more than 600 families will see their rents increase from $25 to $50 a month, although CHA says it would waive rent increases for hardship cases on an individual basis. Bob Dull, CHA’s deputy director of asset management, reports that the money collected from increased rents will help offset the rising cost of housing in the area.

http://www.nlihc.org/mtm/mtm9-41.html#5



Roll Back The Rents
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