AmeriCorps VISTA Brings in $30,000 to Yellow Springs

Adam Abraham, a second year VISTA serving at Yellow Springs Home, Inc., recently received a $30,000 grant to further their affordable housing projects. This is not his first grant, but he did begin his grant-writing work by serving as a VISTA. Good job!

Open Society Foundation Fellowships

Community Progress Leadership Institute

TFN Requests Funding Proposals
The Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities released the RFP for Round 7 of the Partners for Places grant program, focusing on equity and equitable outcomes. Interested parties should submit a proposal by August 10.

State of Ohio Energy Loan Fund 

Open Meadows Foundation Grants for Women and Girls

Lowe's Community Partners Grants

Land Bank Legislation Expands Eligible Counties

The Ohio General Assembly passed legislation contained in the state's budget bill that extends land banking authority to the remaining 44 Ohio counties that previously could not establish land banks. In 2009, Cuyahoga County piloted the land bank structure and its success compelled legislators to extend land banking authority to counties with 60,000 or more residents in 2010.  Now, five years later, the General Assembly has amended the original legislation to allow all counties to create land banks and Governor Kasich signed the changes into law on June 30, 2015.  This amendment paves a path for more exurban and rural counties to access this  tremendous tool for community and economic redevelopment.

Congress Must Lift Spending Caps to Protect Homes, Families and Communities

The federal budget has been on a collision course with sequester spending caps since they were put in place in 2011. With the caps in place, the math just doesn't add up for programs supporting families and neighborhoods and building a ladder to the middle class. A clear example is the House and Senate treatment of the HOME Investments Partnerships program (HOME) and the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). The House would defund the NHTF sending meager funding to the HOME program and the Senate would maintain the NHTF and essentially eliminate funding for the HOME program.

A Congressional spending bill that lifts sequester spending caps is the most feasible way to avoid the severe cuts to HUD and other programs recently passed by the House and Senate. We need to influence Members of Congress in their districts during their August recess. They return to DC on September 8 to pass a budget deal.

Senators Brown and Portman Protect Hardest Hit Fund

As another acute example of the dysfunction of sequester spending caps, the U.S. Senate's highway reauthorization bill recently attempted to take over $1.5 billion targeted for revitalization in 18 states. The Hardest Hit Funds assists with foreclosure mitigation and provided demolition funding in some states including Ohio. Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman provided critical and strong leadership in turning back this measure. It is important to note that those advocating for revitalization funds to the highway bill stated in their written justification specifically that the funds should be transferred "since the housing market is fully recovered." Work needs to continue so that policy makers understand that the damage done by the foreclosure and broader economic crisis continues to fester across LMI communities in Ohio and the country. Many thanks to Senators Brown and Portman for their leadership and understanding of this reality.

HUD Publishes Long-Awaited Fair Housing Rule 

On July 8, HUD published the Final Rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), which outlines requirements for state and local governments receiving HUD funds to administer their programs in a way that overcomes barriers to housing choice and promotes more inclusive cities and regions.  Read more about the rule and HUD's next steps.

Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies Suggests Housing Credit Should be Expanded

Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) recently released "State of the Nation's Housing 2015," which suggests that an expansion of the Housing Credit is needed in order to respond to increasing pressures on the program. JCHS finds that while affordable housing needs are growing, the Housing Credit is needed to fill an even greater role, especially related to preserving existing affordable housing. The JCHS findings are emphasized in a second recently released report from the Urban Institute "The Housing and Affordability Gap for Extremely Low-Income Renters in 2013," and the accompanying interactive map, "Mapping America's Rental Housing Crisis," which finds that there is not a single county in the United States with enough affordable housing for all of its extremely low-income renters.