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6/21/2010 - STOP HOUSING DISCRIMINATION BASED ON LEGAL SOURCES OF INCOME

HUD has recognized that it is wrong to deny housing based on one’s source of lawful income. To that end, they are requiring that all grants using HUD funding comply with state and local laws that prohibit “source of income” discrimination. While a couple of counties have passed local ordinances (Frederick and Montgomery—good on them!), the State of Maryland has no such law, leaving 22 jurisdictions and thousands of Marylanders still unprotected.

Health Care for the Homeless, with many other organizations, has been working to pass a law that prevents landlords from refusing to rent units to individuals who receive disability assistance or who have public subsidies.  It has been introduced each of the past several years and continues to make progress, but has not yet succeeded. Last Session, SB 243 (Housing – Discrimination Based on Source of Income – Prohibitions) yet again received an unfavorable review from the Judicial Proceedings Committee. We will continue to pursue this bill and hope that 2011 is the year we can do the right thing for low-income Marylanders trying to access housing. These barriers help no one and only prolong the problem.

ACTIONS

  1. During this election season, raise the issue of housing discrimination—with both incumbents and their challengers—and ask your candidates where they stand on this issue and encourage them to support a prohibition on housing discrimination based on a tenant’s legal source of income.
  2. Contact Senator Frosh (brian.frosh@senate.state.md.us) and Delegate McIntosh (maggie.mcintosh@house.state.md.us), the chairs of Judicial Proceedings and Environmental Matters, respectively, to encourage their support of the bill prohibiting discrimination based on legal sources of income in their committees next year.

Link to HUD press release: http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-121

Link to SB 243: http://mlis.state.md.us/2010rs/bills/sb/sb0243f.pdf

Link to finding your state officials: http://mdelect.net/electedofficials/

For more information or to get involved, contact Adam Schneider (aschneider@hchmd.org) or Barbara DiPietro (bdipietro@hchmd.org).

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12/02/2009 - NATIONAL CALL-IN DAYS TO SECURE FUNDING FOR THE NHTF

Call your Members of Congress today and tomorrow
The National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) campaign is calling on Congress to authorize $1 billion for the initial capitalization of the NHTF before the end of the year. 
 
You can support this message by calling the offices of your Senators and Representatives on the designated call-in days of Tuesday, December 1, 2009, and Wednesday, December 2, 2009. Ask them to pass legislation this year that contains funding for the NHTF.  
  
The goal of the national call-in is to generate a large number of phone calls from all over the country in a compressed period of time. This will demonstrate strong support for an initial infusion of money for the NHTF. Please pass this message on to your networks and encourage them to call as well.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

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11/13/2009 - STOP CUTS TO THE POOR AND DISABLED!

Maryland’s safety net must remain strong:  As Maryland faces continued revenue shortfalls and a structural budgetary deficit, the gradual erosion of health and human services seriously weakens the safety net upon which more Marylanders depend during times of economic hardship.  In general, cuts to the safety net place more of our most vulnerable neighbors at great risk of homelessness and unnecessarily transfers costs to emergency departments and public safety agencies.  Particularly when more Marylanders are in need of emergency services, the Governor should resist the temptation to cut the safety net.     

Recent threats to the safety net:  In order to meet the Governor’s directive, the Maryland Department of Human Resources has proposed regulatory changes to limit the state’s Temporary Disability Assistance Program (TDAP), a safety net resource for poor individuals with disabilities and no other source of income.  TDAP provides $185 per month to destitute Marylanders who cannot work, a large majority of whom have permanent disabilities and await federal disability assistance from the backlogged Social Security Administration (SSA). The proposed changes would take away this small stipend from thousands of Maryland’s most vulnerable residents by giving the Secretary discretion to cut the monthly grant, by reducing the period of short-term eligibility to 6 months (from 9 months), and by limiting long-term eligibility to 24 months within a 5-year period. 

What the changes mean for vulnerable Marylanders:  A recent HCH study found that the majority of TDAP beneficiaries use their modest grant to obtain shelter and food.  Currently, nearly 19,000 people receive TDAP benefits each month.  If the proposed regulations are allowed to take effect, 3,500 people will lose their benefit immediately. Hundreds more will lose TDAP resources each month thereafter. 

What You Can Do:

1. Write to Governor Martin O’Malley (governor@gov.state.md.us) and tell him to preserve TDAP and protect the safety net.  Remind the Governor that short term cuts have long term consequences.  Encourage him to reject the proposed TDAP regulations and spare the Departments of Human Resources and Health and Mental Hygiene from further budget cuts to safety net health and human service programs.  We can’t balance the budget on the backs of the poor. 

2. Read the HCH TDAP study available here.

3. Check back to this site for more information on a possible hearing on December 3, 2009.

4. Read HCH’s TDAP testimony presented to the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review (AELR) on November 10, 2009.

5. Visit the “A Human Right to Live” website at http://savetdap.wordpress.com/.

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10/27/2009 - COSPONSORS NEEDED TO GET $1 BILLION IN THE NATIONAL HOUSING TRUST FUND Call Your Representatives and Senators

The National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) was established as a provision of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in July 2008. The goal of the NHTF is to produce, rehabilitate, and preserve 1.5 million units of affordable housing over the next 10 years. The Obama Administration requested $1 billion to capitalize the trust fund in its FY 2010 budget proposal. Legislation introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate would create a funding source to bring in $1 billion for the NHTF:

H.R. 3766, the Main Street TARP Act, would transfer $1 billion to the NHTF from funds yet to be tapped in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP, which is also known as the bank bailout program). The bill would limit tenant rent payments to 30 percent of the tenant's income (the "Brooke Provision") for units funded by the NHTF.

S. 1731, the Preserving Homes and Communities Act, would provide $1 billion to the NHTF from the TARP.

What You Can Do:

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