Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition December 14, 2016 at 9:30 AM at VCIL, Montpelier, VT

Transcription

1 1 P a g e Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition December 14, 2016 at 9:30 AM at VCIL, Montpelier, VT Present: Ted Wimpey, CVOEO FHP; Chris Donnelly, CHT; Sash Lewis, Dunkiel Saunders; Bill Thompson, VIA; Erhard Mahnke, VAHC; Byron Stookey, Westgate; Luke Dodge, AmeriCorps VISTA; Corrine Younce, AmeriCorps VISTA; Paul Hill, VCLF; Kenn Sassorossi, Housing VT; Ray Brewster, Consultant; Jonathan Bond, MHP/VTI; Leah Sare, VSHA; Anna Herman, CHT; Shaun Gilpin, DHCD; Katarina Lisaius, Sander s Office; Maura Collins, VHFA; Tricia Tetrault, USDA-RD; Willa Davidian, VHCB; Ari Kessler, VCRHYP; Kate Ash, Leahy s Office; Patricia Tedesco, VCIL; Liz Whitmore, DOC; Matt Levin, VECA. By phone: Sara Kobylenski, UVH; Kevin Veller, Welch s Office; Karen Ranz, VLIAC. Introductions and Announcements: Maura Collins reported that the QAP for 2017 has been approved by the VHFA Board. There are minor changes for 2017, but major ones are anticipated for The draft is on the VHFA website, and comments are welcome but the documents will be finalized by Dec. 22nd. Treasurer s Report: $4,690 account balance; $11,700 has been disbursed since the last report including the VISTA co-pay, personnel, tax return preparation $3,200 has been received and is yet to be deposited $5,700 is anticipated from VSHA for the VCEH share in the VISTA cost Membership letter is finalized; the mailing is in process; three memberships have been received since the last meeting Secretary s Report The minutes of the November meeting were moved by Paul Hill, seconded by Sara Kobylenski and approved unanimously Ray Brewster passed around the in-kind report sheet Staff Reports: Corinne Yonce o BHA residents are seeing themselves as members of resident steering committee; people are demonstrating a desire to be more broadly and deeply engaged. Leadership is appearing. o Voices of Home project progress continues, but will now slow down until January. There will be a soft opening of portraits at an art show at Pathways Wellness Coop; the announcement will be out soon. o A partnership with DREAM is being explored; one interview with a young woman who grew up in Winooski Housing Authority has been conducted. Luke Dodge o He is producing the monthly newsletter o He has been involved in one new Voices of Home interview o Story Lab Training is being planned, to incorporate stories into organization communications o Membership letters (noted above) are going out o In conjunction with VCEH he is visiting all local CoC groups around the state, including asking about the value of the VAHC legislative agenda. He noted that on his Bennington visit he learned that their shelter has been upgraded and increased from 6 to 17 beds Erhard o Information packet circulated o Homelessness Awareness Day at the Statehouse will be January 5, Please set up visits with your legislators o VHCB Day at the Statehouse will be on February 2, 2017.

2 Federal Reports Kate Ash for Senator Leahy: report attached at end of Minutes Katarina Lisaius for Senator Sanders: report attached at end of Minutes Erhard Mahnke reported on the DC housing retreat. A Continuing Resolution has been passed, to remain in effect until April 28, It is anticipated that the CR will be renewed for the entire year. VSHA will get its funding allocation based on the CR. There is a potential for a loss of 100,000 vouchers nationally. Sequester caps will return for FY18. He also spoke to the Reconciliation process, which covers all of the mandatory/entitlement spending bills. There is tremendous concern about the National Housing Trust Fund, Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, revenues and the debt ceiling. There is clear Republican intent to repeal much of the ACA. Housing innovations recently funded through health dollars are vulnerable. Fortunately, the medical community is no happier about this threat than is the housing community. They met with someone from the Trump transition team responsible for handling the confirmation of Ben Carson. That person encouraged suspending judgment on Carson, with an expectation that he will leave HUD programs in place, that he will enforce fair housing, and he will have the ear of the President. Mel Watt is to serve as FHFA Director until 2018 and he has no intent to step down. The NHTF will keep funding unless Congress specifically acts to shut it down and/or Fannie and Freddie need to draw from the US Treasury. Fair housing regulations are potentially in danger going forward. Good news involves potential for Dr. Carson to understand housing and health connections, the Fannie and Freddie duty to serve rules due out before year end, and the coalition building that is growing. Ted Wimpey reported on the Town Hall Session with Peter Welch held on December 13, Section 8 Update, Leah Sare, VSHA VSHA has been very aggressive about getting vouchers out at the highest levels over the past few years. Because of the uncertainties ahead, they have as of now stopped issuing tenant based vouchers on turnover of existing ones. They continue to issue VASH vouchers and fill Project Based vacancies. They are not extending search options for people with vouchers searching for housing. Champlain Housing Trust Homelessness Initiatives, Chris Donnelly, CHT Chris offered what he presented as really good news from CHT. Harbor Place, established through community loan financing and VHCB, experienced a zoning challenge by the town of Shelburne. However, the Court has ruled that it is a motel and residents are members of the general public. CHT has also purchased the BelAire Motel. UVM Medical Center has put forth the money to purchase and renovate it, as well as operate it for the foreseeable future. This will provide eight units for people who are otherwise unable to be discharged from the hospital. CHT also plans to purchase the former St. Joseph School in the Old North End. Present occupants: the VNA Family Room, Association of Africans Living in VT, and Burlington Parks and Rec, will all remain. Roadmap to End Homelessness Report, Maura Collins, VHFA The legislature committed funds, matched from other sources including VHCB and NeighborWworks, to look at how to end homelessness and avoid costs, including those in the health care domain. Jen Hollar and Angus Chaney have led the process, and the Corporation for Supportive Housing has been contracted with to conduct the study. There are 13 people on the steering committee. The draft report with four main pieces is to be published before the end of December. It includes an assessment of resources, including 338 survey responses, 50 written reports, 16 interviews and a focus group of 50 people. They have put forth five recommendations, none of which are earth shattering. They have assembled housing need projections and executed financial modeling to describe how many of what sorts of units of housing at what cost it will take to end homelessness. This includes units for those for whom the best option is permanent supportive housing, units for those with extremely low income, units for those needing rapid rehousing resources, and 2 P a g e

3 consideration of those who may be served outside of the groupings listed. They include one-time cost of construction, ongoing operating costs, rental assistance and services. Another section is the cost avoidance piece, for which they can only do a very high level estimate by looking at the costs of those in DOC institutions and DMH hospitalization and remain there only because of homelessness. It is anticipated that they will report out an estimate of around $480 million needed over five years. Matt Levin spoke to the parallel study being done by the Early Childhood Alliance. The Blue Ribbon Commission has identified that affordable child care would cost $300 million per year every year. They are not making a recommendation to do this. It is useful however, to know what it would cost if people did not pay more than 10% of their income for child care. It was agreed that in the cases of both child care and affordable housing that the message is that this is the scope of the need, but now let s look at how we can begin to work on it. In the discussion that ensued, Chris Donnelly made the point that this number is in addition to the housing needs of everyone else who is not homeless. State legislative update & draft coalition priorities, Erhard Mahnke Erhard spoke about the new leadership including Tim Ashe, Mitzi Johnson, Jill Krowinski and Becca Balint. There is an anticipated $50 to $60 million shortfall in the revenues. If the ACA is repealed and Medicaid dollars lost, Shumlin has projected that Vermont would lose $100 million, which would be devastating to the Designated Agencies and others who depend on those dollars. Al Gobeille has been appointed AHS Secretary. Tayt Brooks returns to state government as Phil Scott s Director of Affordability and Economic Initiatives, a new position. It is anticipated that much of the session will be focused on the repercussion to the state of federal actions. Erhard also reviewed the draft 2017 State Legislative Priorities, expects to finalize with Steering Committee and for coalition to vote in January, called for comments and suggestions between now and then. The meeting was adjourned by action of Chair Ted Wimpey at 11:35 AM. Respectfully submitted by Sara Kobylenski, scribe du jour REPORT FROM KATE ASH FOR SENATOR LEAHY Update on Appropriations: Congress passed a Continuing Resolutions Bill through April 28 th, which means no cuts to programs; also means no increases. When the Budget Control Act of 2011 was signed into law, it set in motion very low spending caps, limiting federal funding for defense and non-defense discretionary programs. Since then, Congress has reached short-term agreements to increase spending above the caps to avoid sequestration or across-the-board spending cuts that are triggered when Congress spends more than the caps allow. Last year, Congress reached an agreement to increase the spending caps for Fiscal FY17 and to suspend the debt ceiling through March This means that low spending caps and the debt ceiling are slated to return for the FY18 budget. Trump has proposed cutting non-defense spending by an additional 1% each year for the next 10 years. Will be calling on advocates for assistance in defense of these programs. Senator Leahy s new position as Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee provides opportunity to legislate even more so than has been done in the past. Staff will be approaching Vermonters for assistance in developing new ideas to benefit programs, including increasing the number of programs that benefit from small state minimums, for example. 3 P a g e

4 Legislation in 2017: Tax Reform: Republicans are committed to passing comprehensive housing finance reform legislation; however with much debate among leadership in both parties, it is also possible that tax reform will not appear in the first portion of the new Congress. S Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act an updated version of this bipartisan bill aimed at expanding the flexibility of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit was introduced this summer to allow application to mixed income housing developments. Senator Leahy is a cosponsor of this bill. S Middle Income Housing Tax Credit Building on the success of the long-standing low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), the new credit would create rental homes for families with incomes between 60% and 100% of the area median gross income (AMGI). In order to help guarantee that the MIHTC program does not detract from investment in low-income housing, a state s unused MIHTC dollars would be returned to the existing pool of funding for LIHTC. This bill has received mixed feedback from Vermont advocates. Targeting Fair Housing With President-Elect Trump s nomination for Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), fair housing is at risk. This includes preventing HUD from implementing its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which is designed to provide state and local governments with the guidance and tools they need to better address fair housing barriers and to help ensure federal funds are more fairly and effectively invested in communities across America. In 2016, HUD has issued two version of the AFH Assessment Tool for public comment. Vermont and other small states have submitted feedback discussing concerns about the resources that will be required and question the commensurate benefit in terms of resulting guidance for HUD programs. What is Our Strategy from Here? Coalition Building: Senator Leahy s staff will be meeting with the New England Housing Network s Federal Forum in Boston this week to begin discussing New England strategy o Rural state partnerships will be key, especially with key (swing) states where influential members exist. Ohio is a strong example as a result of Senator Brown s (D-OH) position as the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. There is also opportunity to align with Trump Administration s priorities, including: o Housing as Infrastructure o Finding Efficiencies: Vermont already has a culture of collaboration; innovative and integrative i.e. SASH; Health & Housing Thinking Outside the Housing Box: Advising groups to think more broadly about legislative priorities this year to represent a broader array of programs that help your client base. House Speak Ryan s Poverty Plan for example, addresses major changes to the way that welfare programs are available to Americans so expanding legislative reach beyond typical areas (i.e. housing) will be key. President-Elect Trump has also prioritized deregulation o Congress will have until now until April to use the Congressional Review Act on regulations issued in the last half year of the Obama administration. This effort by Congress can be part of an overall effort that looks to reform the regulatory process. o We will most likely see a freeze on all new rules from the Trump Administration Chief of Staff in the first few months of the new Administration, which was also seen in the Obama Administration. Organizations should be prepared for possible changes, including to the Overtime Rule that is under evaluation. We know investments are working! Proof of these federal investments can be seen in the 28% decrease in homelessness in this year s PIT count and the impressive work of councils like this one. 4 P a g e

5 Additional Updates: As the Administration undergoes its transition, agencies have been busy finalizing their priorities, including rules for the Housing Opportunities through Modernization Act. HUD has put forth a list of rules to OMB that is under evaluation prior to being released for public comment. Senator Leahy s staff is working with HUD and OMB to prioritize this roll out, including Sec 106, related to mandatory services as a condition of tenancy with PBVs. We have also seen some good news in HUD s willingness to be flexible around the environmental review process and the often costly and burdensome requirements for new development projects. On Friday, Dec 6, Senator Leahy helped the Senate pass by unanimous consent, H.R. 6416, the Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of This bill contained several provisions related to veteran homelessness which included permanently authorizing the use of VA homeless programs by veterans with Other Than Honorable discharges. REPORT FROM KATARINA LISAIUS FOR SENATOR SANDERS With Republican control on White House, House, and Senate we will have a lot of work in the coming years to protect affordable housing. We know that increasing defense spending is a priority, and we can assume the non-defense cuts will affect marginalized, vulnerable populations. Bernie remains Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and has been named to the Senate Democratic Leadership Team as Chair of Outreach. This is a new role that allows him to help reshape the Democratic Party by meeting average Americans where they are and to hear their biggest concerns. In the new Congress, we will work to protect the National Housing Trust Fund. Some of the potential risks are: 1. There is a risk that Freddie and Fannie could stop making profit. As we have seen in the past, FHFA could suspend payment to the NHTF. This has always been a risk, as you all know when it went into conservatorship. The good news in this is that we have been working closely with Mel Watt s office. He is planning on making the NHTF payment and his position serves through Ben Carson as Secretary of HUD. He has no experience in housing. Even if FHFA makes the payment to HUD, Ben Carson could decide that he will not release the money to states. 3. We are 8 years after the housing bubble burst and have been trying to pass GSE reform since Conservatorship was supposed to be a short-term solution. There will be rethinking of the federal role in the secondary mortgage market. As we all know Republicans have control of the White House, House, and Senate and we may finally move forward with GSE reform. If GSEs go away, the NHTF will most likely go away too. All of this being said, the payment for the NHTF is set to happen early in the year. The new revenues for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae look a hair better than last year s quarters (with only having ¾ of the data). The 4th quarter will be reported 45 days into the new year, and at that point we will know the payment to the trust fund. We are in regular contact with Mel Watt s office and Bernie has personally weighed in on several occasions. We feel relatively optimistic that this year s payment will be made. The payment could be stopped. Yet honestly with it happening so early in the year, and with so many other nominations, repeals, and ideas on the agenda, it is highly probable it will go through. We are looking for ways to build community and come together. Please stay in close contact with all three congressional offices, as we may all have different ways, and small windows, to weigh in. 5 P a g e