Number
061323
Version
ORIGINAL
Reference
Sponsor
ALD. DAVIS, D’AMATO AND MURPHY
Title
Resolution expressing City of Milwaukee support for the federal Affordable Housing Expansion and Public Safety Act.
Analysis
This resolution expresses the City of Milwaukee’s support for the federal Affordable Housing Expansion and Public Safety Act (S. 4063, 109th U.S. Congress). This legislation, which was introduced by Wisconsin Senator Russell Feingold on November 16, 2006, would increase federal funding for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and the Home Investments Partnership (“HOME”) program, provide funding for the Public and Assisted Housing Crime and Drug Elimination Program and put the U.S. Senate on record in support of establishment of a national affordable housing trust fund.
Body
Whereas, As housing prices and rental costs increase faster than household incomes, more and more individuals and families in Milwaukee and across the nation are unable to find decent, affordable housing units; and
Whereas, One in 3 American families now spends more than 30 percent of its earnings on housing costs; and
Whereas, Demand for rental-housing vouchers under the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, the largest and most successful federal housing program, far exceeds supply in communities across the country; and
Whereas, Funding for the federal Home Investments Partnership (“HOME”) program, which was created in 1990 to assist states and local communities in funding the production of affordable housing for low-income households, has decreased in the last 2 fiscal years, even though local governments and community-based organizations have effectively used HOME funds to increase the supply of new or rehabilitated affordable housing units; and
Whereas, The supply of affordable housing could be expanded through the creation and funding of a national affordable housing trust fund that provides financial support for local efforts to produce, preserve and rehabilitate affordable housing units; and
Whereas, While rates of violent crime have been increasing in many communities across the nation since 2005, local housing authorities and other providers of low-income housing are experiencing declining resources for crime prevention activities, with the result being reduced security for residents of public and other low-income housing; and
Whereas, Before it was de-funded several years ago, the Public and Assisted Housing Crime and Drug Elimination Program (“PHDEP”) provided public housing authorities and other federally-assisted low-income housing entities with resources to hire public safety officers, make physical security improvements, sponsor crime prevention programs and take other steps to combat violent and drug-related crime; and
Whereas, On November 16, 2006, Senator Russell Feingold introduced the Affordable Housing Expansion and Public Safety Act (S. 4063, 109th U.S. Congress), which addresses the above-described problems and issues by:
1. Authorizing the appropriation of $8.4 billion for 100,000 additional Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers for FY 2008 and their subsequent renewal and administrative fees.
2. Authorizing $400 million in additional funding for the HOME Program for fiscal years 2007 through 2011 targeted for the production, rehabilitation or preservation of affordable housing for extremely low-income families and individuals.
3. Calling for the creation of a national affordable housing trust fund to provide the funding necessary to create 1.5 million additional affordable housing units nationwide over the next 10 years.
4. Authorizing $200 million for the Public and Assisted Housing Crime and Drug Elimination Program each year for fiscal years 2007 through 2011.
; and,
Whereas, Senator Feingold’s bill is supported by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, the City of Milwaukee Housing Authority, the Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development, Inc., the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council and the Wisconsin Community Action Program Association; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, By the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, that the City of Milwaukee supports the efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing and the safety of public housing and other federally-assisted low-income housing set forth in the Affordable Housing Expansion and Public Safety Act, and urges all members of the U.S. Congress to support passage of this legislation; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the City Clerk shall send a copy of this resolution to each member of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation.
Requestor
Drafter
LRB07038-1
JDO
02/02/2007