What's New

August 21, 2008

Warm Welcome Gulf Coast Brochure
Warm Welcome Gulf Coast, an initiative of Back Bay Mission, is an outreach campaign to position affordable housing as critical to rebuilding the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Warm Welcome seeks to build upon the Coast’s rich tradition of diversity by promoting high-quality and well-maintained affordable housing. The development of diverse housing opportunities benefits local economies, improves neighborhoods, and supports working and senior homeowners and renters. Warm Welcome and its supporters believe that the Mississippi Coast must foster a welcoming environment for affordable housing, because hospitality is more than just a slogan.

August 15, 2008

Low-Income Housing Tax Credits: Affordable Housing Investment Opportunities for Banks
This Insights report describes how LIHTCs are used to develop affordable rental housing and how banks can benefit from investing in LIHTC-financed projects. It describes the two approaches for investing in LIHTCs — direct investments in individual affordable housing projects and fund investments that have multiple projects managed by third parties. The report outlines risks and regulatory considerations of LIHTC investments and describes how these investments would be treated in a Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) examination.

August 14, 2008

2008 Advocates’ Guide to Housing & Community Development Policy
The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2008 Advocates’ Guide is intended to provide advocates, policymakers, students and others with information on the most relevant housing and housing-related programs and issues, as well as information related to the community planning process. Each article provides background information on the program or issue, and its current status. Where appropriate, advocacy alerts are provided to help advocates weigh in on particular topics. The appendices are intended to further assist advocates in making their voices heard. We hope that both the programmatic information and the advocacy tips will be helpful as you work to create better affordable housing opportunities in your communities and across the country.

August 11, 2008

America’s Rental Housing: The Key to a Balanced National Policy
The damage from today’s mortgage foreclosure crisis reaches deep into the rental market. With affordability already a long-standing problem, the current housing debacle not only adds to the number of households competing for low-cost rentals and threatens current renters with eviction from their homes, but also increases the costs of financing rental housing construction and preservation. Moreover, because many high-risk loans now in default are concentrated in low-income and minority communities, the fallout from foreclosures is hitting the same neighborhoods where many of the nation’s most economically vulnerable renters live.

July 29, 2008

Locked Out: Keys to Homeownership Elude Many Working Families with Children
According to the latest Census statistics, nearly 70 percent of Americans now own their homes-the highest homeownership rate on record. However, a closer look at the numbers over the last 25 years suggests that homeownership rates among Working Families with Children were actually lower in 2003 than they were in 1978 and that the share of America's children living in owner-occupied units has also declined. This report looks at the trends in home ownership for working families with children and suggests policies to increase the supply of affordable housing.

Increasing the Availability of Affordable Homes: A Handbook of High-Impact State and Local Solutions
Homes for Working Families, in partnership with the Center for Housing Policy, published Increasing the Availability of Affordable Homes: A Handbook of High-Impact State and Local Solutions in early 2007. The user-friendly handbook serves as a practical reference tool that state and local leaders can use to address the affordability challenge within their jurisdictions.

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