2005 Year in Review

The National Housing Conference (NHC) is the nation’s oldest advocacy organization working to raise awareness of housing affordability issues, especially as they relate to low- and moderate-income working families, and to build momentum behind policies and programs that address the need. We do this through education, advocacy and outreach.

NHC’s membership represents the breadth of individuals and organizations working on affordable housing; our focus is on the entire spectrum of housing choices – rental to homeownership. NHC’s unique strength is the ability to bring together diverse stakeholders both within and outside the housing community.

The following is a summary of NHC’s major activities in 2005.

A Vision for the Future
During 2005, NHC officers and staff traveled to locations across the country to meet with members and other community leaders to discuss how we can create national policy that better addresses the housing needs of all Americans. What emerged out of these meetings was a consensus that as much of the responsibility for addressing housing needs has shifted to the state and local levels, federal policy must be changed to create better outcomes in terms of the delivery systems in place, how existing resources are used and what new policy tools can be developed. It also was clear that NHC must continue to work to build public support for affordable housing so that it is viewed as a national priority. In particular, participants called on NHC to document and expand awareness of the role that affordable housing plays in key social and economic outcomes, such as education, health care, strong neighborhoods and a vibrant economy.

The culmination of these meetings was a Policy Summit, held in October, where NHC members and selected guests discussed and debated these issues in greater depth. This was followed the next day by a Board strategy session to incorporate these messages into a strategic plan. What emerged from these meetings was a set of four overarching goals which will be the foundation for NHC’s work plan in 2006 and beyond: increasing funding and support for affordable housing; strengthening federal, state and local housing policies and operations; increasing low- and moderate-income families’ access to affordable housing; and meeting the needs of NHC’s members.

Advocacy
In addition to planning a long-term strategy, we are engaged on a number of immediate issues relating to production and preservation of the rental stock as well as on ways to expand opportunities for sustainable homeownership.

NHC continues to be a leader in the fight to maintain federal support for affordable housing and community development programs. This year, we successfully opposed the Administration’s proposed block granting of the Section 8 voucher program and consolidation of economic and development programs, including the Community Development Block Grant program, under the Commerce Department. Thus far, we also have been effective in convincing Congress to maintain funding for most vital housing programs, including continuing the HOPE VI program. Currently, we are working to save the HUD upfront grant program, a preservation program that allows HUD to sell foreclosed FHA properties at below market prices and provide rehabilitation grants for preservation purchasers.

NHC supports a strong regulator for all the GSEs, as long as that regulator is empowered and authorized to focus on basic safety and soundness standards and will not be forced to micromanage any of the GSEs. We have weighed in on GSE reform proposals currently pending in Congress. We support establishment of an affordable housing fund to which Fannie and Freddie would contribute some portion of their profits. We are concerned, however, about the impact that limiting GSE portfolios could have on their affordable housing activity, especially investments in Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Mortgage Revenue Bonds and multifamily loans. Therefore, we believe that their portfolios should only be limited if there are safety and soundness concerns.

We are focusing on the government’s response to the significant displacement caused by hurricane Katrina. Our working paper, “Helping Displaced Families Rebuild Their Lives – Housing and Asset-Building Challenges Beyond Emergency Shelter and Community Rebuilding,” considers issues related to the preservation of pre-hurricane equity of homeowners and the rebuilding of the asset bases of both renters and homeowners, and provides some preliminary ideas to address the long-standing poverty exposed by the hurricane. We also are pressing on the need for emergency housing vouchers as well as for substantial federal financial support for a housing production program to ensure the availability of affordable housing within the rebuilt communities.

Over the last two years, NHC has been grappling with the issue of how to encourage private sector participation in housing and neighborhood revitalization efforts. The work of our Employer Assisted Housing Work Group has culminated in legislation being drafted to create a tax credit for employers who provide a housing benefit to their employees. Over the summer, this legislation, the “Housing America’s Workforce Act of 2005” was introduced in the Senate by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Mel Martinez (R-FL), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Richard Durbin (D-IL). An identical bill, introduced in the House by Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), now has 20 co-sponsors. NHC is working to build support on Capitol Hill, especially among Republican members of the House, and within the housing and business communities.

We continue to be concerned about the preservation of a significant number of older properties whose owners are not interested in recapitalizing, but are unwilling to sell their interest because of the tax liabilities they would incur. In 2004, NHC convened the Exit Tax Reform Work Group to discuss exit tax reform issues and legislation that was then pending in Congress. Concerned about some aspects of the legislation, the Work Group suggested modifications to the bill. On September 8, the “Affordable Housing Preservation Tax Relief Act of 2005” was introduced in the House by Congressmen Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD). This legislation incorporates most of the modifications proposed by the NHC Work Group. We are now working to secure original sponsors for a similar bill to be introduced in the Senate.

NHC’s Assisted Properties Task Force continues to meet and examine issues associated with older assisted properties, including innovative approaches to recapitalize these properties, resources available to address their physical needs and ways to preserve this housing stock. Currently, the Task Force is focusing on the sharp increases in natural gas and home heating oil costs being projected for this winter and their impact on HUD’s assisted portfolio.

Elevating Awareness
Building awareness of the housing affordability challenge facing this country is the first step in creating widespread support for solutions. In the last few months alone, we have generated significant nationwide media coverage about the severe shortage of housing affordable to working families. As a result, we have reached tens of millions of people through print and broadcast news coverage, including an interview on the NBC Today Show and articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, USA Today, Business Week, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Charlotte Observer, Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington Post and Washington Times. In addition, since August approximately 30,000 visitors from across the nation have logged on to the joint NHC and Center for Housing Policy Web site.

Celebrating Achievement
On June 15, NHC held its 33rd Annual Housing Person of the Year Award Dinner at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. Nearly 1,000 industry leaders from around the country joined NHC to honor Stephen M. Ross, chairman and CEO of The Related Companies, L.P. and chairman and founder of CharterMac. Ross delivered a powerful speech about the need for society and government to recommit to the goal of decent affordable housing for those in need.

In conjunction with the October 17 Policy Summit (discussed at the beginning of this report), NHC awarded retiring Senator Paul S. Sarbanes the 2005 Carl A.S. Coan Sr. Public Service Award. The Coan Award was established to celebrate outstanding commitment and leadership in the effort to provide decent, safe and affordable housing in this country.

Finally, on December 12, the New York Housing Conference and NHC will celebrate women in housing development at the 32nd Annual Awards Luncheon. The honorees are: Judith Calogero, Commissioner, New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal; Rosanne Haggerty, President, Common Ground Community HDFC, Inc.; Sydelle M. Knepper, President and CEO, SKA Marin; Carol Lamberg, Executive Director, Settlement Housing Fund, Inc.; Ronay Menschel, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Phipps Houses; Joanne M. Minieri, Executive Vice President and COO, Forest City Ratner Companies; Denise Notice-Scott, Managing Director, Local Initiatives Support Corporation New York City; and Amy Rose, Executive Vice President, Rose Associates, Inc. The keynote speaker is Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez.

Framing the Issue
NHC’s affiliate, the Center for Housing Policy, continues to produce research with the purpose of expanding support for affordable housing and strengthening housing policy, over the long-term, to better meet the needs of working families and others with housing needs. During 2005, the Center produced:

• The Housing Landscape for America’s Working Families, which revealed that in just over five years the number of working families paying more than 50 percent of their income for housing grew 76 percent. The study also compared immigrant working families to their native-born counterparts and concluded that immigrant working families are 75 percent more likely to pay more than half their income for housing.

• Something’s Gotta Give: Working Families and the Cost of Housing, which examined the tradeoffs working families make in their household budgets when forced to choose between housing costs and necessities such as transportation and healthcare. The most startling finding in this report was that by far the biggest tradeoff existed between housing and transportation—on average, for every $1,000 working families are able to decrease their cost of housing, their transportation costs increase by $775. Based on this report, we are now taking a closer look at the connection between affordable housing, transportation and jobs at the regional, metropolitan and neighborhood levels.

• The Center launched a redesigned version of the online Paycheck to Paycheck database (www.nhc.org), which provides frequently updated information on wages for more than 60 vital occupations and home prices and rents for nearly 200 metropolitan areas. The frequency of the data updates combined with the dynamic format which allows users to customize reports provides a valuable resource for public officials, business leaders, advocates and the media.

• At this writing, the Center is completing a new publication on the homeownership rates of Working Families with Children, sponsored by the Chicago Dwellings Association. The study will show that while we have achieved an unprecedented high in the national homeownership rate, homeownership among working families with children is lower today than it was prior to 1980. This trend persists despite a growing body of research documenting the positive effect of homeownership on the successful life outcomes of children. The report will be released in early 2006.

In January, Jeffrey Lubell, an expert in housing and community development policy, will become the Center’s Executive Director. Previously, Jeff served as the Director of the Policy Development Division of the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and as a Housing Policy Analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In addition to continuing the Center’s trademark studies developed under Bob Reid’s leadership, Jeff will expand the scope of the Center’s work to include, among other things, a project to stimulate additional research on the benefits of affordable housing on key social outcomes related to strengthening families and communities, and an analysis of the policies that state and local governments have employed to develop housing affordable to working families. As we embark on this new phase, the Center’s value as a resource to NHC, its members and all those working to provide affordable housing will certainly continue to grow.

Providing Vital Information
NHC’s events and publications provide critical information on industry developments, with an emphasis on innovative techniques to create and preserve affordable housing opportunities.

Strengthening the Ladder for Sustainable Homeownership, provides a roadmap for foundations and other funders interested in strengthening low-income families and communities through homeownership. The report points to how very low-income families can be encouraged to build assets and wealth through sustainable homeownership, just as higher-income families have done. On November 3, NHC held a convening to discuss strategies for advancing this agenda, and a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation is providing funding for a project building on a recommendation contained in the report.

In addition to special reports, members also receive publications such as the Washington Wire, NHC’s weekly bulletin on housing policy and legislation; and NHC at Work, our monthly newsletter.

In April, NHC launched a redesigned, user friendly Web site (http://www.nhc.org). The Web site is a valuable resource for those interested in and working on affordable housing and community development issues. We will continue to expand the information available on the Web site during the coming year.

During 2005, NHC hosted a number of educational events, including the annual Budget Forum, which examines how the Administration proposes to structure and fund housing assistance and the anticipated congressional response. In June, we hosted a National Policy Symposium on mobilizing support for affordable housing through public education.

At the end of 2004, we launched a new program, the Vital Link Discussion Series. Designed to facilitate conversations around the relationship between housing and other social and economic issues affecting families and communities, these sessions feature experts from other disciplines who come to speak with members of the housing community. In 2005, meetings have focused on education, immigration and child welfare. Not only is this interdisciplinary approach important in terms of addressing problems in a comprehensive manner, but it also helps to build the constituency of people who are concerned about housing issues.

In October, NHC cosponsored a National Conference on Inclusionary Zoning to examine how inclusionary zoning is being implemented around the country and successful campaigns to build support for such an initiative.

NHC staff also traveled across the country to participate in conferences and meetings held by our members and others. These included the 2005 Ohio Housing Conference, National Neighborhood Coalition-University of Missouri Town Hall Meeting on Community Development Financing, New York State Association for Affordable Housing Conference, National Association of Realtors Regional Summit on Housing Opportunities in Phoenix, Lakefront Supportive Housing Conference in Chicago, Consumer Federation of America’s Consumer Assembly, Council for Affordable and Rural Housing Annual Meeting, Community Solutions Conference on Repositioning Public Housing, National Council of State Housing Agencies Legislative Conference, Urban Land Institute’s Work Force Housing Committee meetings, National Trust for Historic Preservation’s National Roundtable, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Housing Voucher Summit, to name just a few.

NHC’s 75th Anniversary: Fulfilling the Dream
NHC will celebrate its 75th Anniversary in 2006 and is rededicating itself to pursuing policies and actions that will fulfill the dream articulated in the landmark Housing Act of 1949, which called for “a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.”

A full complement of activities are planned to commemorate this milestone and to publicize NHC’s new initiatives. NHC’s Vice Chair Helen Kanovsky is the Chair of the 75th Anniversary Celebration and Bob Reid, who is retiring as the President of the Center for Housing Policy at the end of 2005, has agreed to serve as the General Manager. Under their guidance, we will host events from coast to coast starting with a Conference and Awards Luncheon on April 27 in Los Angeles co-sponsored by our affiliate the California Housing Consortium. This conference will focus on the link between housing and transportation. That will be followed by our 75th Anniversary Gala on June 7 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. A two-day National Policy Conference examining the vital links between housing, education, health and transportation—quality of life issues—will be convened in Chicago in October. The final celebratory event will be the Annual Awards Luncheon in December in New York City, co-hosted by our affiliate the New York Housing Conference. Please watch for additional information on these events.

In 2006, NHC will implement an agenda based upon the goals emerging out of the year-long Regional Policy meetings and the Policy Summit and Board Strategy session in October. Specifically, our priorities will be to:

• Demonstrate the positive impact of good affordable homes;
• Develop better ways to share successful tools with our local, state and federal colleagues;
• Help families build assets through better and more affordable rental and owned homes;
• Aggressively press for continued and increased federal support for good homes for all Americans.