February 20 , 2007
The Housing Alliance Update & Announcements is a bi-weekly electronic newsletter to keep you up-to-date about everything the Housing Alliance is doing to win in 2007 - and how you can get involved!
in this issue
Call your Senator and Representative
SB 38 Hearing
Lobby Day Success! Hundreds go to Capitol
Congratulations to Endorsement Contest Winners!
Housing Alliance Voting Results on Manufactured Home Parks
Other News
What you can do next. Call your Senator and Representative!
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We made a big impact during lobby day and have a hearing on SB 38 coming up soon (see below). Now it's time to pick up the phone and remind each and every legislator in Salem that we want them to vote YES on SB 38!
Please take a few minutes this week and call your State Senator and Representative! If you don't know who your legislators are, or need a phone number, click here and type in your address.
When you call, please:
1. Talk briefly about the need for affordable housing in your community, and
2. Ask the Senator or Representative to vote YES on SB 38!
Pick up the phone today!
SB 38 Hearing
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SB 38 is poised to move quickly. We have heard that the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee will hold a hearing on SB 38 by the end of the month. While we don't have a date set yet, we do know that the Housing Alliance will only have a short amount of time to testify. Due to time constraints, we will not be asking supporters to line up testimony, but we will let everyone know once we have a firm date for the hearing.
Stay tuned for more details...
Lobby Day Success! Hundreds go to the Capitol for Housing Alliance Lobby Day
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Thank you to all of you who participated in and made the Housing Alliance Lobby Day a huge success! Hundreds of Housing Alliance members and supporters from across Oregon went to Salem on Tuesday, February 6 to ask for legislative support for the 2007 Housing Opportunity Agenda. Housing Alliance delegations met with over 80 of the 90 total state Representatives and Senators. Housing Alliance Members brought staff, board and residents to help make for the most well-attended Housing Lobby Day in recent memory.
Participants came from as far away as Jackson and Deschutes Counties, and as near as Salem itself to advocate for our Housing Opportunity Agenda. Legislators were particularly impressed that the primary funding source for the $100 Million for Housing, the document recording fee (SB38), has the endorsement of over 150 organizations, municipalities and elected officials from communities throughout the state, including the Oregon Association of Realtors®!
We are having an impact! Many lobbying teams reported hearing from legislators that they were already very familiar with the Housing Alliance's agenda. In fact, Housing Alliance materials have been part of four recent lobbying efforts. In addition to the Housing Alliance's Lobby Day, the 2007 Housing Opportunity Agenda was a central lobbying focus of the Oregon Food Bank's lobby day in January, the Community Action Directors of Oregon (CADO) lobby day on February 2, Interfaith Advocacy Day on February 5, and Rural Oregon lobby day on February 12 as well.
Congratulations to the Housing Alliance Endorsement Contest Winners
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While the quest for endorsements is not over for the Housing Alliance, the contest is! The Housing Alliance challenged its members and supporters to go out into the community and seek out endorsements from supporting organizations and prominent individuals. The contest has ended, and it was so close, we've awarded two prizes!
1st Place: Michael Anderson, Community Development Network
For his hard work, Michael receives $1000 to donate to the organization of his choice. Michael chose to donate the $1000 to the Community Alliance of Tenants.
Congratulations and thanks, Michael!
2nd Place: Martha McLennan, Northwest Housing Alternatives
For her hard work, Martha receives $500 to donate to the organization of her choice. Martha chose to donate the $500 to the Clackamas Housing Advocacy Network. Congratulations and thanks, Martha!
Housing Alliance Voting Results on Manufactured Home Parks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In early February Housing Alliance members were asked to vote on three related proposals concerning manufactured home parks. All three proposals were unanimously approved by the membership and will be added to the Housing Alliance's legislative agenda.
The three proposals that were approved by the membership are as follows:
Proposal #1: Support HB 2096
HB 2096 allows for the creation of a new manufactured dwelling park nonprofit cooperative, one of the three preferred entities for purchase of the parks. This nonprofit cooperative structure is necessary to allow us to implement the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund model.
Proposal #2: Support adding manufactured home park purchase as an eligible use for OAHTC.
This proposal asks the Legislature to use the existing Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit (OAHTC) program as a mechanism to finance the purchase of manufactured home parks. The OAHTC is a state tax credit now provided to banks in return for reduced interest on mortgages on affordable rental housing - the difference in the interest rate is then used to directly reduce the rents that tenants pay. The OAHTC is an extremely valuable tool, particularly in rural areas. It is also, with some revision, an elegant tool to use to finance manufactured home park purchases.
The OAHTC would be equally available for all eligible uses, included manufactured home park purchase (i.e., no set asides for specific uses).
Proposal #3: Support a tiered increased in the OAHTC cap.
The current cap on the OAHTC is $11 million. This proposal asks the Legislature to increase the cap to $13 million in 2008 and $15 million in 2010. These increases will ensure that we don't reduce current multi-family development capacity. Again, the OAHTC would be equally available for all eligible uses, including manufactured home park purchase (i.e., no set asides for specific uses).
Click here for an update on the manufactured home park closure issue.
Other News!
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Want more information on the Housing Alliance? Go to http://www.oregonhousingalliance.org.
For a full archive of Housing Alliance Weekly Updates, go to http://www.oregonhousingalliance.org/updates_archive.html
For information on the 2005 Legislative Session, click here.
Please email or call us with questions or ideas for how we can best keep you informed. Contact Amy Fauver or Michael Anderson.
