Council of Large Public Housing Authorities

The Steering Committee of the 10 Year Roadmap for Public Housing Sustainability, a broad-based coalition of experts in housing, finance, development, and cross-sector approaches organized to advocate for a sustainable future for public housing, has unanimously endorsed an innovative methodology for estimating the baseline hard construction costs to modernize the nation’s public housing portfolio. The adoption of the methodology is the first step in the Roadmap plan to harness increased and targeted public and private investments to preserve and revitalize public housing, making it sustainable for the future. Learn more about this innovative methodology on the 10 Year Roadmap website: https://lnkd.in/eZg6PXCv

CLPHA, whose members serve over 2.2 million people, including over 480,000 children, across the country, congratulates Scott on his nomination as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Our nation is experiencing an unprecedented housing crisis, and PHAs offer critical affordable housing opportunities to the most vulnerable families in their communities. Safe, stable, and affordable housing is central to breaking the cycle of poverty and expanding economic, education, and health opportunities. We look forward to working with?Mr. Turner on our shared goal of improving the lives of low-income Americans who, for a variety of reasons, have been left behind economically, and lifting up the communities where they live through safe and affordable housing.

We are hiring a Policy & Program Analyst! A role within CLPHA’s?Housing Is?Initiative, the Policy & Program Analyst will work under the leadership of the Director of Cross-Sector Initiatives and focus on furthering the goals of the Housing Is Initiative generally to create and strengthen partnerships between housers and other sectors, disseminate best practices, contribute to major Housing Is efforts such as a strategic policy agenda, the annual?Housing Is?Summit and business development and grant management activities. This position will have a particular focus on housing and health partnerships. The position of Policy & Program Analyst at CLPHA is a versatile one, involving a variety of tasks, often at the same time; We are looking for someone who is well-versed in and passionate about health policy and social determinants of health and can also build up subject matter knowledge quickly, in addition to being able to interact frequently with many different stakeholders and inform our larger policy agenda. Learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/e5GyWmau

Today, CLPHA President Jeffery K. Patterson joined George Guy, President of National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), Mark Gillett, President of PHADA_USA, and other panelists at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's celebration of 50 years of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program to share their perspectives on the HCV program's positive impact on low-income families. As President Biden said in a proclamation today, for the last 50 years HCVs have provided millions of families with rental assistance in communities of their choice. We join him in thanking PHA leaders and their local partners for administering this crucial program.

CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative is celebrating our tenth anniversary. To mark this milestone, we have released We Envision..., a comprehensive report reflecting on the Initiative's accomplishments and looking towards the future of cross-sector partnerships that improve life outcomes. Housing Is has achieved great success over the last decade in building momentum for cross-sector work at the national level and in reframing safe, stable, and affordable housing as a crucial foundation for improved life outcomes. Our groundbreaking work as a national convener supports scale and replication of successful cross-sector partnerships and has helped to change the conversation about what housing, and specifically PHAs, can do to help residents achieve their goals, work towards educational success, and live healthier lives. We Envision... shares a history of the creation and national leadership of Housing Is; elevates learnings from a decade of the Initiative’s efforts; spotlights successful PHA collaborations with health, education, digital connectivity, and other partners that serve vulnerable populations; and imagines a future where strong, sustained cross-sector partnerships help low-income individuals to attain the same education, health, economic, and digital connectivity opportunities as their more affluent peers. Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/eai7xsZG?

Excited to be speaking today at #NAHRO on the new Build America, Buy America (#BABA) requirements and how they apply to #PublicHousing. So many passionate people dedicated to improving the lives of residents are at the #NAHROconference, like my friends Kelly McElwain and Cathryn Asp, MPP of the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation! National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) Council of Large Public Housing Authorities HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT LAW INSTITUTE

A recent?NPR article by Jennifer Ludden?spotlights the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) call for research on and establishment of potential pilot programs that would give low-income renters cash for housing rather than vouchers via a policy called direct rental assistance (“DRA”). The article discusses challenges that voucher holders often face in securing and utilizing vouchers, including long waitlists and rejection by landlords due to red tape and source of income discrimination, that could potentially be addressed by providing cash instead. Preston Prince, executive director of the Santa Clara County Housing Authority (SCCHA), is quoted in the article expressing?support of this exploration. SCCHA, a CLPHA member, is also planning to participate in a DRA pilot designed by research group MDRC. Prince notes that this shift in policy could cause housers like himself to ask some tough questions about the status quo of the voucher program, telling NPR, “I've dedicated 35 years of my career to housing. Asking that question of, like, ‘Have we been doing it wrong?’ is a little scary.” At present, only PHAs with?Moving to Work (MTW) authority are able to initiate direct rental assistance programs. Researchers hope to learn whether direct rental assistance could help families find housing quicker, save money for both tenants and housing authorities, prevent recidivism or returns to homelessness, and enable families to move to areas of higher opportunity. However, the article concludes with Solomon Greene, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for HUD’s Office of Policy and Research, reiterating that more data is needed from research and pilot programs, in addition to congressional authority, before HUD makes substantial changes to its current rental assistance models. https://lnkd.in/gwZXxEBF

Dr. Karen DuBois-Walton, CLPHA board member and Elm City Communities (ECC) president, has been named the next president and chief executive officer of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Her last day with ECC and on CLPHA’s board will be November 1. Dr. DuBois-Walton?was elected to CLPHA’s board in 2019. She has served for 16 years as president of ECC, which provides housing opportunities for more than 6,000 families and 14,000 individuals and includes the Glendower Group, LLC (the development affiliate of ECC) and 360 Management Group, Inc. (the property management affiliate). At ECC she has spearheaded initiatives to address systemic inequities in housing and community development, education and economic access and opportunity. Under?Dr. DuBois-Walton's leadership ECC has pioneered numerous cross-sector partnerships with education sector organizations that together offer programming that helps ECC residents pursue educational advancement. ECC’s groundbreaking work that helps improve education outcomes for low-income New Haven residents has long supported and informed CLPHA’s?Housing Is?Initiative, and her move to The Community Foundation underscores the importance of philanthropic organizations to cross-sector efforts to address the needs of low-income families. “CLPHA and our board have greatly benefitted not only from Karen’s intelligence and expertise, but also her warmth and compassion,”?said Jeffery K. Patterson, CLPHA board president and CEO of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority. “We are heartened to know that she will take her passion for helping low-income families find housing stability, economic opportunity, and improved health and education outcomes into her new role. We wish Karen the best of luck as she embarks on this new opportunity.” “Karen’s leadership at ECC and on the CLPHA board has always been centered on the needs of low-income families, and particularly families of color.,” said CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman. “She has shaped our thinking and practices on how to develop and sustain effective cross-sector partnerships to improve life outcomes for those we serve. She will no doubt continue to champion safe, stable, and affordable housing as foundational to improved life outcomes in her new role at The Community Foundation. While we will miss Karen in our industry, we wholeheartedly congratulate her on this new opportunity to continue her work serving the people of New Haven.”?

CLPHA?is pleased to announce that our?Housing Is?Initiative has received funding from the Corporation Supportive Housing (CSH, the Source for Housing Solutions) to?help us guide and assist public housing authorities (PHAs) in their efforts to expand and stabilize housing opportunities for some of our nation’s most vulnerable individuals. Through May 31, 2025,?Housing Is?will?utilize these funds?to: --Provide?expertise on a guide on creating waiting list preferences for Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policies (ACOPs) and Administrative Plans that focus on people experiencing unsheltered homelessness --Contribute to the?creation of products that support PHAs and their community partners in successfully implementing Special Purpose Vouchers (including Foster Youth to Independence, Family Unification Program, and Emergency Housing Vouchers), the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program generally, and Public Housing --Review and provide feedback on a draft of a toolkit focused on supporting the housing stability of HCV and Public Housing tenants, as well as building on a preliminary draft of a product focused on data sharing between PHAs and Continuums of Care These products will support PHAs’?abilities to increase their knowledge of, and ability to successfully implement, HUD’s?various voucher and public housing programs so that special populations including people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, youth aging out of foster care, families with children at risk of separation or a delay in reunification due to lack of housing, and people who need supportive care in housing can better access stable, affordable housing. CLPHA has long partnered with CSH on efforts to align the housing, health, and child welfare sectors?in order to better serve low-income families facing housing instability, including through the participation of Abra Lyons-Warren, CLPHA’s director of cross-sector initiatives, on the advisory board of One Roof, CSH’s national initiative to bring together housing and child welfare partners strengthen families. We thank CSH for their support of our work to help PHAs do what they do best: provide affordable housing opportunities for those who need them most.?

CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman told POLITICO that CLPHA strongly supports the use of federal land for housing, adding, “We want to make sure that public housing authorities are designated as eligible partners or eligible recipients of grant money.” “The federal government really does not control the housing market in the way that people think,” she added. “But I do think people are understanding that we’ve got to push that housing development and supply issue to the top of the agenda.” https://lnkd.in/e4fU-D7Z