may 25 , 2010: NAHT TESTIFIES on hud petra proposal

NAHT TESTIFIES Before the House Financial Services Committee
To Stop HUD’s PETRA Proposal as written!

In its Preservation, Enhancement and Transformation of Rental Assistance (PETRA) bill, HUD is proposing to allow the privatization
of Public Housing! 

This has huge and serious implications for the tenant movement.  As George Lakoff says in the Huffington Post on May 21, 2010 – if this legislation is adopted – “tenants’ rights would be trampled since tenants could no longer seek redress from the government through their public officials because the government would no longer own the building.”

NAHT and its many allies testified today, Tuesday May 25, 2010 before the House Financial Services Committee. 

Attached is NAHT’s testimony which was delivered by Board Member Judy Montanez at the hearing.

To find the webcast – go to the House Financial Services Committee site and follow the links.  HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan was the opening witness.

Don’t be Petrified of PETRA!
Be aware!  Be informed!  Be organized!

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EARLIER THIS SPRING 2010

NAHT was one of five organizations in the country invited to testify on the latest Preservation BIll before the House Financial Services Sub-committee on Housing and Community Opportunity, chaired by Representative Maxine Waters.

On the morning of March 24, 2010, Ricky Leung, NAHT's current Vice President (East) and president of the Cherry Street Tenants Organization in Manhattan, gave testimony on Affordable Housing Preservation and Protection of Tenants urging the Sub-Committee to restore the Right of First Purchase to the bill, which currently has been replaced by a weaker First Right of Refusal. This is a NAHT priority that is supported by committee member Rep. Gutierrez and 11 other Committee members, who signed a strong letter to Maxine Waters in support of restoration of the Right of First Purchase.  

To view Mr. Leung's written testimony and to access the webcast go to this url:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr_031710.shtml

(special instructions: after clicking on this link, look for the letters cem in the URL and change the c to d to make it read dem; click enter; there you are.)

Background of Preservation Bill and NAHT's Role
From 1990 to 1996, HUD’s Title VI Preservation Program preserved more than 90,000 affordable apartments by requiring owners to refinance or sell their at-risk HUD developments as affordable housing.   Since Congress repealed the Title VI regulatory program in 1996, the US has lost more than 400,000 affordable apartments as owners have converted to market rate housing.  

Click here for the full article.

2010 save our homes conference june 19-22

Make Our Voices Heard! This year NAHT's Save Our Homes Conference will be held June 19 – June 22nd at the Washington Plaza Hotel in NW Washington DC.  (Arrive the evening of June 19th for a NAHT reception). Guests will include Carol Galante, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for multi-family housing. With over 20 Tenant-Led Workshops to help you build your tenant power!

Go here for conference 2010 information.

shelter force article features naht organizing efforts

The winter 2010 issue of Shelter Force magazine highlights the expiring mortgage crisis and successful  organizing by the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants (MAHT) and NAHT in response. Shelterforce is the nation’s oldest continually published housing and community development magazine. For more than three decades, Shelterforce has been a primary forum for organizers, activists, and advocates in the affordable-housing and neighborhood revitalization movements. Shelterforce is published by the National Housing Institute, an independent nonprofit organization that examines the issues causing the crisis in housing and community in America.

View the article here

HUD Seeks naht's input on
bold new plan

On Wednesday, April 14, 2010 in Washington DC, NAHT tenant leaders responded to HUD's radical new Transforming Rental Assistance (TRA) Initiative, a plan to consolidate Public, Voucher and Multifamily programs into one "funding stream" and one set of rules. Details will be available at the NAHT conference, but meanwhile, you can access NAHT's TRA position paper here.

Housing priority won in americorps expansion

On March 31, 2009 Congress adopted amendments first proposed by NAHT to add “housing” as a priority area for the planned expansion of Americorps from 75,000 to 250,000 Members.

This victory will enable NAHT to get desperately needed resources out to local tenant organizing groups and to rebuild NAHT. It will also aid a wide variety of nonprofit housing groups, including homeless advocacy, counseling, tenant organizing, CDC’s, foreclosure counseling, etc., at a time of shrinking foundation grants and resources.

NAHT signs on to G-20 Statement

In response to the global financial & housing crisis, NAHT has joined an international call for fundamental change of global financial architecture and financing habitat: G-20: Build a Global Social Pact for Equitable and Sustainable Habitat now! For more information on the statement, visit the campaign page of the Habitat International Coalition.

NAHT meets with NEW HUD SECRETARY

On March 13, 2009 the NAHT Board met with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. Donovan was supportive of NAHT's tenant organizing and agreed to continue to meet with NAHT as well as to work with NAHT to get $10 million in Section 514 out appropriately.

In the late 1990’s, NAHT board and staff met on a regular basis with Mr. Donovan in his role as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing, saving and improving tens of thousands of at-risk apartments and forging creative, pro-tenant policies. See NAHT's press release on the nomination of Donovan.

On December 8, 2008, NAHT representatives met with the Obama Transition Team for HUD to discuss immediate transition concerns affecting tenants in privately-owned, HUD assisted housing. Read the letter sent to the transition team, signed by NAHT and 29 of its affiliates across the country.

NAHT initiates campaign to win right to housing

Last December representatives from NAHT and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty met with Senator Kerry's office to ask that he take a leadership role in promoting the ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, also known as the Economic & Social Rights Treaty. The treaty defines the right to work, the right to social security, as well as the rights to food, housing, health, and education as fundamental human rights. Thus far 159 nations have ratified the treaty, but the US remains only an unratified signatory. For more information see the fact sheet on housing as a right and the letters to Sen Kerry and Congress.

NAHT promoted the ratification of the treaty in its Tenants' Rights Platform during the presidential campaigns last year, including in a meeting with Obama staffer Ian Solomon during last year's NAHT conference. (See coverage of this on Indymedia and listen to audio.) The campaign for the treaty's ratification by Congress is a continuation of this work to win the right to housing in the United States.

DON'T AGONIZE! ORGANIZE!

Forming a tenant union is the first step to solving problems in your building. Your right to organize a tenant union without interference from management is protected by federal regulations.

Not sure where to start? Have other questions about your rights? Visit our Tenant Organizing Resources to find tips, links, and resources you need for organizing!!