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Showing posts from March 8, 2016

HUD Awards $1.6 Billion for Local Homeless Programs

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HUD Awards $1.6 Billion for Local Homeless Programs Funding support to thousands of local homeless housing and service programs   WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro today awarded $1.6 billion in grants to provide funding to 6,400 local homeless housing and service programs across the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  View a complete list of all the state and local homeless projects awarded funding . The  Tier 1 Continuum of Care (CoC) grants announced today support the Obama Administration's efforts to end homelessness by providing critically needed housing and support services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. HUD will award approximately $300 million in "Tier 2 grants" in the spring to support hundreds more local programs.  To view HUD&#

Using the Wrong Tools to Build Affordable Housing

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Posted by  Alan Mallach  on March 1, 2016 Along with most  Rooflines readers, I believe that having some portion of a community’s housing as long term or permanently affordable is a desirable policy goal. That said, though, I’ve found myself wondering what might be the best way to actually pursue that goal. It is by no means obvious that the default answer of “build it” is the right one. About eight years ago, I spent a few weeks in France talking to developers, nonprofits, and public officials there about how they did affordable housing. It’s well known that from the 1950s through the '70s, France built huge public housing projects, a lot of them on the outskirts of major cities, only to see many of them turn into a social nightmare. The French learned some lessons from this experience. As a result, they came up with a very different approach. Now, when French developers build subdivisions or condo projects, nonprofit housing corporations enter into turnkey contracts with th

Don't Build (So Much) Affordable Housing!

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In this issue: Alan Mallach * Are the Kids All Right in Austin? * How Big Can Community Organizing Get? -- In this issue: Alan Mallach ● Are the Kids All Right in Austin? ● How Big Can Community Organizing Get? Tuesday, March 8, 2016 Shelterforce in Print   1 Year for $18 Subscribe Now! Resources CDFI Collaborations: Keys to Success | OFN Why are some CDFI collaboration initiatives successful while others are not? This paper, put together by the Opportunity Finance Network , seeks to answer this and related questions by studying 12 emerging, ongoing, and completed CDFI collaborations across the industry. Opportunity Call for Nominations | Second Annual HUD Secretary's Award for Healthy Homes The Department of Housing and Urba