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Monday, August 31, 2020
"Moving from a War Economy to a Peace Economy": an ICUJP presentation this Friday at 7:30 am by Jodie Evans, Co-founder, CODEPINK
years after its founding.
Monday, August 24, 2020
Where Do Trump and Biden Stand on Affordable Housing?
We at MHCH are convinced that because the
outcome of this election will significantly impact our nation’s housing crisis,
we need know where candidates stand on affordable housing. While MHCH is
nonpartisan and doesn’t endorse a candidate, we believe that voters need to
know the facts and decide for themselves who is best qualified and able to
address our nation’s housing and homelessness crisis.
Trump
on Affordable Housing
President Trump has cut HUD funding each year and intends to cut it even more
in 2021, if reelected. President Trump’s and HUD secretary Ben Carson’s Fiscal Year
(FY) 2021 budget request proposes to drastically cut housing benefits that help
millions of low-income seniors, people with disabilities, families with
children, and other individuals afford their homes. Overall, the administration
proposes to cut HUD by an astounding $8.6 billion or 15% below 2020 enacted
levels, not including those cuts offset by increased FHA receipts. See https://nlihc.org/resource/analysis-president-trumps-fy-2021-budget-request
Trump appointed Ben Carson to head HUD, a
surgeon with no experience in housing policy who is not only unqualified for
this position, he is also philosophically opposed to affordable housing and other
government programs intended to help reduce poverty. Carson has tried
to eliminate a number of HUD programs in their entirety, including
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), the Public Housing Capital Fund,
HOME Grants, housing vouchers for veterans, housing block grants for Native
Americans, and the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, among others. Programs that
weren’t cut entirely were slated for massive cuts, including chronically
underfunded housing vouchers and the Public Housing Operating Fund. These
programs are designed to either build, maintain, or revitalize affordable
housing for low-income families. Fortunately for those families, Congress
rejected all four of these budget proposals.https://www.curbed.com/2020/8/17/21372168/ben-carson-hud-housing-trump
With much fanfare, Trump rolled back the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, falsely claiming that affordable housing leads to crime and deterioration of property values. The Obama-era update to a decades-old federal requirement aimed to eliminate discrimination and combat segregation in housing. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/politics/fact-check-trump-low-income-housing-suburbs-crime/index.html
Biden on Affordable Housing
(The opinions expressed here are those of Shelterforce, not necessarily MHCH.)
Joe Biden has proposed an
ambitious housing platform to spend upward of $640 billion to increase federal
funding for the construction and maintenance of public housing, and access to
Housing Choice Vouchers and other rental assistance. His plan would also expand
the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, bolster the Fair Housing Act, and
more.
If
Biden wins and is able to implement his housing goals, it would mark a
significant shift in how America tackles housing affordability. But with
Democrats fairly unlikely to flip the Senate and Senate Republicans even less
likely to sign on to sweeping affordable housing reforms, Biden would face a
steep uphill battle for any idea that required Congressional approval.
So
what could a future Democratic president accomplish on affordable housing if
they can’t get their bills passed? Perhaps not enough to create paradigm
shifts. But according to housing advocates and policy experts, the executive
branch has a lot of leeway within administrative rulemaking to increase access
to housing, protect vulnerable communities from discrimination, and potentially
even increase housing supply.
Biden wants to bolster the
Housing Trust Fund by $20 billion to construct low-income housing, make Housing
Choice Vouchers an entitlement (meaning they would reach everyone who is eligible,
instead of the current 1 in 4), allocate $5 billion a year for a renters’ tax
credit, expand LIHTC and Community Development Block Grants by $10 billion
each, invest $13 billion to address homelessness, and more.
That
is sure to be a hard sell to a Republican-controlled Senate. But there are
elements of his plans that can be done administratively.
Biden
wants to reimplement AFFH and other elements of the Obama administration’s fair
housing rules that Trump is rolling back. He also wants to establish a rule
that HUD can only contract with housing providers willing to house formerly
incarcerated individuals, part of his pledge to end homelessness for people who
leave prison.
None
of those administrative actions would drastically increase affordable housing
supply, of course. But they are signals that Democrats are taking affordable
housing seriously and advocates and experts are hopeful about what that could
mean in years to come.
How would Trump or Biden approach housing and homelessness?
By MICHAEL FINNEGAN STAFF WRITER for LA TIMES, AUG. 17, 2020
Even before the coronavirus crisis hit, cities
across the nation were confronting a historic surge in homelessness as hundreds
of thousands of Americans found themselves unable to afford rising rents.
Now, some of the millions who lost their jobs as
businesses shut down to slow the contagion are in
danger of eviction or foreclosure. Regardless of whether
Congress and President Trump agree on a new relief package, the housing crisis
is sure to remain severe in the months ahead.
In the primaries, former Vice President Joe
Biden and his Democratic rivals released sweeping and costly housing proposals
reflecting heightened voter concern about higher rents and the spread of
homelessness, especially on the West Coast.
Trump has taken no major steps to relieve homelessness or expand the supply of low-cost housing. But a White House spokesman said the president deserved credit for revitalizing urban communities in part by “building the most inclusive economy in American history.”
Donald Trump
Trump’s signature housing initiative has been
the repeal of a rule requiring communities to build low-cost units in
neighborhoods where it can relieve racial segregation in housing. The rule,
“Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing,” was issued under President Obama to
enforce the Fair Housing Act, one of the landmark civil rights laws of the
1960s.
“I am happy to inform all of
the people living their Suburban
Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially
hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood,” Trump tweeted in
July. “Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go
down.”
The Trump administration threatened
last year to “crack down” on homelessness
in California by tearing
down encampments and sheltering the homeless in government facilities.
Nothing came of it.
But Trump has approved increases in
federal homeless assistance grants. The White House spokesman said Trump was
also removing regulatory barriers that hinder construction of low-cost housing.
Trump’s 2017 tax cut included
incentives to encourage developers to build projects in low-income
neighborhoods known as “opportunity zones.” The projects have included luxury
housing. Among the applicants for the tax breaks are well-connected developers
and investors such as former White House aide Anthony Scaramucci and the family
of Trump son-in-law Jared
Kushner.
Trump’s campaign website includes
no proposals on housing or homelessness that he would pursue during a second
term, only a section on “promises kept.”
Joe Biden
Biden has promised to reinstate the fair housing rule scrapped by Trump.
He has also pledged a sharp increase in Section 8 rent subsidies to ensure they’re available to all Americans whose income is low enough to qualify. He would allocate $5 billion for a tax credit to ensure that no family that is eligible for the subsidies would have to spend more than 30% of the household’s income on rent.
Biden would establish a $100-billion affordable
housing fund to finance the upgrading of housing for low-income Americans. He
vowed to put $10 billion into tax incentives that encourage developers to
build affordable
housing in communities that need it the most.
Biden would also condition federal grants to
localities on the elimination of zoning restrictions that limit development
near public-transit centers or encourage suburban sprawl.
Biden has pledged $13 billion in spending to
combat homelessness. His criminal
justice proposals include a goal of ensuring housing for all formerly
incarcerated individuals upon release from prison. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-08-17/trump-biden-housing-homelessness-policy
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Nuclear Abolition and Climate Justice: Lessons from the Pandemic Timmon Wallis and Vicki Elson
We've all learned during the Covid pandemic about “flattening the curve.” How do we flatten the curve on climate change before it's too late? And what about flattening the curve on that other existential threat to the planet, nuclear war? We don't often talk about inequality as an existential threat, but that curve needs flattening, too. We have the tools to flatten all these curves, if we just set our minds to it. And, as it turns out, flattening one curve is the best way to flatten the others. Timmon Wallis and Vicki Elson of NuclearBan.US will talk about their involvement with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Adopted at the UN by 122 countries, the treaty won ICAN that year’s Nobel Peace Prize. NuclearBan.US’s report Warheads to Windmills: How to Pay for a Green New Deal, launched in Congress last year, suggests ways to unify and address the issues of nuclear weapons, climate change and inequality all at once.
----- Start your morning with us! Reflection: Louis Chase * Link to this week's agenda. * ** Meetings begin promptly at 7:30 am PDT. ** ----- Here's how to join the online meeting:To participate by video conference, you'll need to first download the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device. When you log in, you'll then enter the Meeting ID number. The video conference will allow you to see slides and video, as well as speakers and other attendees. If you prefer to join by phone, you'll be prompted to enter the Meeting ID number. You won't be able to see the visuals during the presentation, but you can view them on the meeting video recording afterward. If you're new to Zoom and would like to use the video option, we recommend you download the app well ahead of time. ICUJP Friday Forum 8/14 Option 1: Join Zoom Video Meeting: Meeting ID: 846 8850 3371 Option 2: Dial in by phone only: (To find a dial-in number closer to you, go here.) ----- Please note: Our Friday Forums and other events are open to the public. By attending, you consent to having your voice and likeness recorded, photographed, posted on ICUJP's website and social media, and included in ICUJP materials and publications for noncommercial purposes. If you don't want to be photographed or recorded, please let the facilitator know. UPCOMING EVENTS FRIDAY, SEPT 11: Save the date! The Friday Forum will commemorate the 19th anniversary of 9/11. At 5:00 pm, the 2020 George F. Regas Courageous Peacemaker Award will be presented in a special online program. Details coming soon! FRIDAY FORUMS AUG 21: Greta Zarro, World Beyond War ICUJP Board members: The August meeting will take place following the 8/21 forum. You are receiving this email because you are a part of the ICUJP Mailing List. You cannot reply to everyone through this email. If you wish to send something to the entire discuss list, email: icujp-discuss-list@googlegroups.com.
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