While the NC Legislature has gone home, there is still a great deal to do as we shift gears to speaking opportunities and ways to get involved in the many discussions happening around our state that are connected to housing issues.
Last week, I enjoyed the opportunity to spend part of day with Ryan Miller from Sen. Dole’s staff in Washington. Ryan was in NC on a week long tour of housing developments across the state on an itinerary arranged by Denise Neunaber of the NC Coalition to End Homelessness.
We spent the morning showing off housing built by CASA in Raleigh as models for housing for persons with disabilities. Thanks to Debra King and her staff from CASA, who did a great job talking about how the various sources of funding are needed to produce these quality independent living opportunities. We hope to bring Sen Dole on as a co-sponsor of the National Housing Trust Fund bill when it is introduced in the Senate in the coming weeks. Thanks to Denise for all of her work arranging Ryan's visits and to Ryan for taking time to come see all the great examples of affordable housing in our state.
Later that day, I headed down to Fayetteville to speak to the NC Association of County Commissioners on affordable housing issues. This was an opportunity to talk about the impact the lack of affordable housing has on both their spending in human services (because of the increased costs serving persons with disabilities in particular) and their difficulty in hiring needed public employees in high land costs areas. It was also great to be speaking alongside Sue Perry-Cole from the CDC Association who talked about their report looking at workforce housing issues in Brunswick County. Thanks to Anthony Allen from the Commissioners Association for inviting me to speak.
NC Housing News
Monthly Fair Housing Training Series to begin in September
NC Housing Coalition invites you to attend a Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Property Managers Training. This training will focus on the rights and responsibilities of landlords and property managers under Fair Housing laws, including Reasonable Accommodations, and NC Landlord-Tenant Law.
This training is designed for landlords and property managers of developments that serve low to moderate income residents. Certificates of attendance are available.
Raleigh: September 14, 2007, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm in the Meeting Room at the RDU Airport Authority Building; 1000 Trade Drive, RDU Airport, NC 27623.
Registration costs are $20 for NC Housing Coalition members and $30 for non-members. Registration is required, and closes a week before each event. For more information and to register, please click here. Trainings are scheduled for Asheville in October and Winterville in November with more to come in other parts of the state in 2008.
NC Housing Preservation Project
We spend a lot of time here focused on increasing resources for the increased production of new quality affordable housing in our state. Another very important issue is the preservation of the affordable housing stock already in place.
Two weeks ago we held the first meeting of interested parties in the NC Housing Preservation Project at the NC Housing Finance Agency. The goals of the project are twofold: to compile a complete list of all the subsidized rental units (including vouchers and PHA units) in the state, and to establish a “monitoring” network that will ensure that any units threatened with conversion or demolition can be preserved as affordable units.
If you are interested in being a part of such a preservation effort, please contact us at the NC Housing Coalition by emailing jniff@nchousing.org.
National Housing News
Click here for the latest in national housing news, courtesy of NLIHC and HAC.
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