Save the date for school integration: The National Coalition on School Diversity has scheduled its next national conference in DC on March 26-27; please save the date and we’ll have more information right after the holidays…
Housing Mobility Demonstration expanded in the 2020 budget! In the recently released Omnibus Appropriations bill, the House and Senate have agreed to add $25 million to the Housing Mobility Demonstration, doubling the amount of funding appropriated last year. We had been concerned that the initial $25 million would not be sufficient to fund all the public housing authorities (PHAs) that have expressed interest, so this is a huge step forward! To see the bill language, search for “mobility demonstration” here (with 2 spaces between “mobility” and “demonstration”).
In another exciting development, yesterday Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced the Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act, which would create an additional 500,000 housing vouchers specifically designed for low-income families with young children to expand their access to neighborhoods of opportunity with high-performing schools, strong job prospects, and other resources. Like the mobility demonstration, this bill has the potential for bipartisan support in the coming year – you can read the text here.
Housing mobility practice calls: Two months ago, the Mobility Works technical assistance group started monthly “community of practice” calls for the PHAs we have been working with, covering specific topics of interest such as “landlord recruitment” and “post-move counseling.” If you are working in a PHA that is considering adopting a housing mobility program (or you are working with such a PHA), and want to join these calls, please drop us a line at info@housingmobility.org.
AFFH for PHAs: If you missed our webinar with NHLP last week, “Working with PHAs to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing,” you can watch the recorded webinar here or just see the slides here.
Voucher discrimination in the ABA Human Rights Journal: Phil Tegeler and Antonia Fasanelli published an article on elements of a strong SOI ordinance in the December “Economic Justice” issue.
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