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| Short Takes
And Take Your Books With You! |
You’ve got to watch out for those professors – they can really bring down a neighborhood! In Orange County, a 90-unit affordable housing development is proposed for entry-level professors at California State University at Fullerton. Homes will be sold to professors with annual incomes of $45,000-$80,000 – which qualifies them for affordable housing. According to the Orange County Register, neighbors are concerned about the impact that this “affordable housing” development could have on their property values. (Livable Places Update, December 2000) |
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| They'd Rather Be in Jail | Kenton County, Ohio, homeless residents seem to prefer anything, even jail, over the local homeless shelters. The county jailer, T. W. Carl, having noticed an increase in older men getting themselves incarcerated on purpose just to have shelter during bad weather, has started a program that opens empty jail cells to the homeless during inclement weather. Those seeking shelter voluntarily ask to stay, and may leave at any time. They are checked for warrants, and jail staff officers supervise them for safety and security. They are not placed in the general population or with felons. Surely we could create shelters at least that welcoming? (Streetvibes, 2/01) |
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| Strange Bedfellows | The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is forming a loan counseling and referral program with Delta Funding Corporation, a Long Island, NY-based mortgage company that has recently been the target of predatory lending lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission, the U. S. Justice Department, state banking departments, and New York’s attorney general. Through the program, Borrow Wise, ACORN will refer low-income loan-seeking clients and their financial information to Delta in return for a small grant to provide homeownership counseling to borrowers with shaky credit. According to Ismene Speliotis, ACORN housing director, “Until there’s sweeping change in the industry, [the partnership] might be the best we can do without legislation.” (City Limits Weekly, 3/26/01) |
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| Seattle Tenants Can Complain Freely | Tenants in Seattle who sue their landlords for retaliation are now only required to meet the standard of “preponderance of the evidence” as opposed to “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The law, sponsored by Councilwoman Judy Nicastro, passed in the council by a 6-3 margin, and is expected to make it safer for tenants to file complaints against their landlords. The council also voted to make it illegal for landlords to block tenants from organizing. (Seattle Post Intelligencer, 3/27/01) |
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| America Still Segregated | Statistics can be confusing. There appear to be differing ideas on what the 2000 Census has to say about our progress toward integration. Studies recently released by the Civil Rights Project of Harvard University and the Lewis Mumford Center of the State University of New York-Albany say there has been little if any change in segregation levels since 1990. But the Brookings Institution’s Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy says that although there are still a large number of “hypersegregated” metropolitan areas, the 1990s continued a three-decade decrease in residential segregation throughout the U.S. |
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| Tenant Sues Nonprofit Houser | A Seattle tenant has filed suit against the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) (see Shelterforce #116) for breach of contract and violation of the state Landlord/Tenant Act. Kenneth Jennings, a resident at LIHI-owned Arion Court since September 1999, claims that by hiring staff and pursuing evictions LIHI has intentionally overridden the resident self-management plan designed to offer tenants more power in return for greater responsibility. Though acknowledging that Arion’s self-management plan is in need of repair, LIHI has argued that the plan is not part of the contractual lease agreement. Resident self management was one of LIHI’s founding principles. (Real Change News, 2/8/01) |
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| Renters, Landlords Have a "Mutual Interest" | Founded by a former landlord, Mutual Interest (MI) helps low-income King County, WA tenants move from transitional to permanent housing by providing security deposit assistance. Working through local nonprofits, MI has established a Security Deposit Assistance Fund, supported by landlords who make a one-time suggested donation of $10 per unit and banks that periodically sweep the interest from participating landlords’ security deposit escrow accounts. Landlords get good PR from participating and support the private sector nature of the project. www.mutualinterest.org |
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| "One Strike" Struck Down | The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found the “One Strike” policy, a zero-tolerance policy aimed at drug use in public housing units, unconstitutional. The ruling was made on a case in which an elderly Oakland, CA public housing resident fought eviction after her son was charged with cocaine possession three blocks away from her residence. The One Strike clause appears in public housing leases as a result of the 1996 Housing Opportunities Extension Act. (Residents Journal, February 2001) |
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| Local Progress on Predatory Lending | New policies against predatory lending have gone into effect in Massachusetts and Colorado. In Massachusetts, lobbying efforts by ACORN and other activists have influenced the Division of Banks to effect regulations prohibiting the financing of single-premium credit insurance and the inclusion of mandatory arbitration clauses. Meanwhile, Denver now includes anti-predatory lending language in Request for Proposals (RFPs) to banks seeking the city’s business, and banks practicing predatory lending directly or through affiliates are locked out of the RFP process. Carolyn Siegel, ACORN, 303-393-0773; www.acorn.org. |
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Copyright 2001
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