icon Blueprint for April

We Need Advocates

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4 min read

One of the primary roles of the President of the United States is encouraging and overseeing creation. Nations have problems and we elect a head of state to find solutions. The Presidents who are usually rated in the top ten in surveys are all men who implemented the most creative solutions.

A few months into our current presidency we seem to have a president who ignores solutions in favor of take-aways. Thus far, he has begun actions to take away healthcare and Medicaid services from the neediest, immigrant children from their parents, funding from the arts and humanities, environmental standards, even Meals on Wheels, of all things, without creating anything. During his campaign, he promised creation and bragged it would all be “the best.” But where’s the beef?

There is probably no single gesture that defines the Take-Away President as clearly as his proposed FY2018 budget. Among the list of take-aways to 19 separate government departments (and as a result, the people) are successful programs that have been cornerstones of our business, such as New Markets Tax Credits and CDBGs, HOME and a quick toodle-loo to the highly creative, though relatively small, Obama Administration Choice Neighborhoods initiative that brought together Housing, Treasury, Health, Education and Transportation to collaborate on neighborhoods that could reinvigorate cities.

The President’s budget is only a suggestion to Congress, which has the final say on spending money. Each member of both houses has their own priorities, hopefully their constituents’ preferences. And that is where we come in. We are the constituents and we need to be vocal advocates for the programs we understand, we believe in and we have seen succeed.

Much of this issue of TCA is devoted to advocates. There may not be a stauncher advocate for affordable housing in America than Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, who has bravely proposed a bill that goes smack in the jaw of Congressional majorities and proposes a 50 percent increase in Low Income Housing Tax Credits. At first glance, you might think this will never happen. But Cantwell is a bulldog and already has four Republican Senators as co-sponsors. You’ll learn more about her bill, her background and her unique style in “A Dependable Advocate.”

Another staunch advocate has been Tom Davis, who oversees HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program that is in the process of preserving its current limit of 185,000 affordable housing units and has a long waiting list for support. In this month’s Talking Heads feature, Davis tells staff writer Darryl Hicks about the program’s efforts and how a developer can take advantage of the RAD opportunities while they last.  The interview is the lead-in to a section of five stories that update the progress of the RAD program.

NH&RA member company Cinnaire is a mission-driven, full-service community development partner whose advocacy includes a University of Affordability. Staff writer Mark Olshaker talks with Mark McDaniel and his team about the transition of the Colony and Fisher Arms Apartments in Detroit from a crime-infested development at which 32 people were arrested in a police raid into the new, much desired Rivercrest Apartments. (Rehabbing Hope)

You will also find content and means for advocacy from our regular columnists Thom Amdur and David A. Smith. And this month our itinerant Housing USA columnist, Scott Beyer, visits San Francisco where he looks at both the largest RAD deal thus far and workforce housing in the nation’s most expensive housing market.

We hope what you will take away from all this will be inspiration that results in more active involvement in NH&RA’s future advocacy efforts.

Marty Bell
Editor