Tag: washington-news-and-views
Under Trump, Treasury Goes Backward on Community Protections
A recent Treasury Department report on bank regulation and policy promotes changes that would move us backward when it comes to building a financial system that is equitable, efficient, and protects consumers and communities from abusive practices.
Making Progress in the Preservation of Affordable Housing
During the last six months of 2003, one could easily make the case that the nation’s entire domestic priorities were summed up in five...
Tracking the Homeless: An Overview of HMIS
In Massachusetts a few years ago, data from homeless shelters revealed that a majority of residents had entered the system almost directly from foster...
Building the Political Will to End Homelessness
“Ending homelessness” has become something of a watchword in Washington, yet it is utterly bereft of meaning. The nation’s poor are facing the country’s...
Foundation Fury
Private foundations are roiled, agitated and mobilized about a tiny provision of the Charitable Giving Act of 2003. Section 105 of HR 7 would...
Saying No to “Ney”
Representative Bob Ney (R-OH) has introduced HR 833, “The Responsible Lending Act,” under the guise of protecting consumers from predatory lending. But the bill...
What Were They Thinking?
The Bush Administration’s $720 billion-plus tax plan has many backers and many detractors. However, not enough has been written about a possible “ripple effect”...
Local Lessons for Legislators
The new legislative season is usually a time of optimism for housing advocates, many of whom believe that the right words, coupled with the...
What Congress Left Behind
Legislators failed to complete a range of major initiatives during the 107th Congress, including the passage of affordable housing legislation and reauthorization of federal...
The Legislative Agenda and the Nonprofit Sector
Most community developers do not think of charity and philanthropy as policy issues that fit on the advocacy agendas of CDCs, but they do....
FHA, Turning an American Dream into a Neighborhood Nightmare
Neighborhood leaders know that it is impossible to truly revitalize communities without solving the severe housing abandonment and foreclosure problems plaguing urban areas. It...
Housing and the Bush Tax Cut
Some of the most important policy decisions affecting low-income housing in the years ahead are not about housing per se, but instead revolve around...
Time for a Common Sense Policy on Homelessness
On any given day, at least 800,000 people are homeless in the United States, including about 200,000 children in homeless families. Over the course...
Housing Needs a Champion
HUD budget woes are nothing new. Federal budget authority for low-income housing assistance took a deep plunge in the early 1980s, and ever since,...
Bush Proposes Funding Cuts for Community Economic Development
The community economic development industry faces elimination of several programs and cuts to numerous others in the proposed spending plan presented by George W....
Refundable Child Tax Credit Passes Congress
The otherwise thoroughly regressive tax legislation passed by Congress May 28th includes a significant silver lining – a partially refundable child credit for low-income...
Going After the Predators
In the 1990s, minority and working class communities benefited from a significant increase in home and small business lending. Exploiting the rising homeownership in...
Legislative News
Committee Membership
The first two months of the 107th Congress have been spent mostly on internal organization. Since the Senate is split 50-50, both parties...
Reform Welfare Reform
In 2002, TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) will be up for reauthorization. In preparation for the debate surrounding it, The National Coalition for...
The New HUD Secretary
After his swearing-in as HUD secretary, Mel Martinez vowed to address the needs of minorities, the elderly, and working families.