Housing mobility funding in the 2022 budget! In addition to across-the-board spending increases on low-income housing programs, the final 2022 appropriations act provides $200 million to expand Housing Choice Vouchers to an additional 25,000 families, and an allocation of $25 million for a competitive grants program to support additional housing mobility programs – one of our key priorities over the past two years. Although this funding is less than was proposed in the President’s 2022 budget, it is an important start, and we will push for additional funding next year. As we expand the voucher program, it is crucial that we also expand mobility counseling, landlord incentives, and “small area fair market rents,” so that families have real choices about where to live, and so that the expanding program does not become another driver of housing segregation. See the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s budget summary here.
PRRAC welcomes Dave Pringle our new Director of State and Local Engagement. Dave is an organizer and legally trained policy advocate who worked most recently at the Center for Popular Democracy. See more info about Dave on our PRRAC staff page.
AFFH at FHFA: We weighed in this month with comments on the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Draft Strategic Plan, following up on earlier comments on FHFA’s Enterprise Equitable Housing Finance Plans.
Remembering Peter Marcuse: We were saddened to learn of the death of Peter Marcuse, an important theoretician and activist in the field of advocacy planning, and a longtime friend of PRRAC. An obituary was recently posted on his blog page here.
Other news and resources
UN report on housing segregation: The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing has released an extraordinary advisory report on “Spatial segregation and the right to adequate housing,” covering conditions and consequences of racial and ethnic segregation around the world, with important implications for the United States’ upcoming review before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
Connecting renters to assistance programs: In an effort to battle housing insecurity, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has introduced an interactive website “Frontdoor,” that connects renters who need support to pay their rent or utilities to available assistance programs.
Movement Law Lab is providing new training courses in April and May on Campaign Strategy for Movement Lawyers. The trainings are designed for lawyers who want to effectively support organized community groups engaged in campaigns to change laws and policy. We heard great reports about the original round of courses in 2020. Registration deadlines for the April classes are tomorrow; registration for the May classes closes April 8.
Public Advocates is Hiring for multiple housing and education law, advocacy, and communications positions in California! See the listings here.
