Wednesday, July 25, 2007

National Housing News

Striking Racial Disparities in High-Cost Lending

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) released a report this month examining racial disparities in high-cost lending and found that the differences in the number of high-cost loans received by minorities and whites are substantial and persist across all income levels. The authors note that being middle income does not inoculate minority borrowers from receiving high-cost loans; to the contrary, differences widen as income levels increase.

The NCRC finds that in 2005, low-income African Americans were at least twice as likely to receive high-cost loans as whites in 70 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

To address these disparities, the report suggests strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to encourage more prime and market-rate lending to minorities, and increasing federal and state enforcement of anti-predatory and fair lending regulations. The full report can be found here.

Housing Update--Take Action!

While there are still a number of bills we are working on in hopes of passage before the legislature leaves town, the most critical issue we need your support on is increasing the appropriation to the NC Housing Trust Fund.

Right now the Trust Fund stands to get less than last year’s appropriation mainly due to a cut in the support for the Housing 400 Initiative. We know there is a significant amount of discretionary spending that happens outside of the Committee structure, especially in the final days of the budget negotiations.

Lawmakers in the leadership of both the House and Senate can press their priorities and easily secure more funding for budget items. We believe that an additional $10 million is possible for the Trust Fund if you can help us generate enough pressure on those negotiating the budget.

Campaign for Housing Carolina
Click on the Alerts below to send an email message to the leadership of the House and Senate, asking them to find more money for the Housing Trust Fund as they finalize the state budget.

Alert: Tell the House Leadership to Support the NC Housing Trust Fund.
Take Action.

Alert: Tell the Senate Leadership to Support the NC Housing Trust Fund.
Take Action.

Now is the time to call or email the General Assembly in support of affordable housing!

NC Housing Preservation Project – Friday, July 27th at 1:00
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.

If you are interested in this issue, I invite you to join in a conversation with us on this Friday, July 27th from 1:00-3:00 at the NC Housing Finance Agency. The NC Housing Preservation Project is a collaborative effort of the NC Housing Coalition, the NC Housing Finance Agency, Socialserve.com, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The goal of this effort is to create a catalog of the existing affordable housing stock in NC and to create a “monitoring” network that will keep us informed when stock is vulnerable for loss or conversion (with the hoped for goal of convening partners to preserve its long-term affordability). For those of you who cannot make it to Raleigh, there is a call-in number. Dial-in Number (866) 878-4191. Conference Code 2289317.

Thanks for being a member of the NC Housing Coalition,

Chris Estes
Executive Director

Friday, July 20, 2007

Senate says Yes to Improved Migrant Housing

By a vote of 48-0, the Migrant Housing Health/Safety Bill (S1466) met with resounding approval on the Senate floor. The Bill now moves to Governor Easley's desk for approval and a signature!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Migrant Housing Bill Migrates Toward Passage

"North Carolina has the fifth largest migrant farmworker population in the country. Many workers live in housing that’s owned by the farmers they work for, and it’s not unusual for that housing to be shoddy. In the worst cases, migrants don’t have flush toilets and are without kitchens. But a bill making its way through the legislature seeks to improve those conditions."--Jessica Jones, WUNC.

Senate Bill 1466- Migrant Housing/Health/Safety passed the House! It now moves to the Senate TODAY for concurrence, and if successful, to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. This legislation will improve Department of Labor inspection and enforcement for farmworker housing, bringing much needed improvements to the standard of living of migrant workers in NC.

To hear the WUNC broadcast on migrant housing legislation, aired earlier today, click here.

Congratulations to the Farmworker Advocacy Network and the NC Justice Center who worked for over two years for its passage!