Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the men who have demonstrated what love, hard work, and patience can mean to a family. May you and your love ones be blessed. For those unable to share this day with their dads, don't dwell on the time lost but remember the times you had. Hopefully they bring you loving memories.

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Washington Post article on the foreclosure crisis

The Washington Post contains the first part of a three-part series on the mortgage crisis. Enclosed is the link.

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Posted in: crisis,mortgage,post,wall street,washington

Q&A with Phyllis Shelton

A standard feature of AViewfromDC will be a Q&A section on a variety of topics of importance to members of the housing and community development community. This week’s interview is with Phyllis Shelton. Phyllis is CEO of iPower Global Solutions. IGS is committed to empowering professionals and small business owners for success by mixing non-traditional venues, dynamic leaders and socially interactive activities in productive, yet relaxing environments. IGS insures companies succeed by implementing creative solutions through events, public relations and self empowerment opportunities. She has worked on 22 campaigns 21 of which have resulted in a victory for the candidate. Two of her more prominent clients were for New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins (the first African American Mayor in NY) and former first Lady and current Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton. She has received numerous awards for her and is a highly sought after political operative in New York City.

In this interview she discusses how to present your issues to a candidate running for office.

What must our audience do to meet with a candidate seeking elected office?

To see a candidate in a campaign you need to know someone or be considered fairly important so the candidate feels he/she must meet with you and address your issue of concern. Campaigns usually don’t respond to letters, they get inundated with a lot of letters. Also, the campaign staff, particularly the campaign manager, deputy campaign manager and secretary, tries to control the control everything that takes place with the candidate. You have to be someone of significant to get a meeting with the candidate. That means you have a large voting block or be an influential member of the community to be seen and heard. John Doe doesn’t have a chance to be seen. Phones are better entrees if you are a recognizable person or organization.

Does it make sense to hold an event, such as a town hall meeting, and invite the candidate to discuss issues?

Town hall meetings can work but it depends on the community and the environment. The higher the office sought, the less likely you will have the candidate attend. For example, you are more likely to have the candidate running for a local office like mayor attend a town hall meeting versus a person running for Congress or the President. In some cases, if you can guarantee a large, fairly receptive audience, of 200-300 participants, you might be successful in securing a visit from the candidate or a substitute. Oftentimes the invitation is declined due to “scheduling conflicts”. The candidate not attending happens all the time, the fall out is people develop a low level of expectation from their elected officials and may not vote. A substitute is more than enough if you want to hear where the candidate stands.

What type of event works best in getting the candidate to attend?

It is better to hold smaller events. In New York we hold coffee clutches where we invite a small group of people to meet with the candidate over coffee and pastries. If you can get a group up to approximately 50-60 influential people in your field, you can get the candidate to attend of a high-level surrogate who can be the entrée to a meeting with the candidate. For housing and community development professionals, these individuals may include the agency board members, the mayor, city or county council representatives, business owners, landlords and residents.

What should guide a voter’s thinking during this election season?

It is critical to look at the issues which are important to you when considering a candidate. When looking at those issues pick the candidate who will best address those issues regardless of political affiliation. There are good Republicans and bad Democrats and vice versa but there needs to be watchdogs in both parties to ensure certain issues are addressed. If a person votes simply on party affiliation, where are the checks and balances? Many people vote simply on emotion and that could be counterproductive to the issues of concern to the voter.

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Posted in: candidate,clinton,community,consultant,election,hall,hillary,mayor,political,town

Summer Reminders

Washington, DC is going to be mired in presidential politics in 2008. For housing and community development professionals, the most substantive work to come out of DC in 2008 will be a 2009 budget. There is a chance that other initiatives will be passed but during a presidential election year, the budget and attendant appropriations bills are the only legislative measure Congress will pass in 2009 affecting the housing and community development community.

Here are few things you can do in 2008 that will help your agency:

1. Financial earmarks. Do you have a new playground you want funded? Are you looking to fund a project for seniors in one of your developments? Talk to your congressional representatives about placing “earmarks” in the next budget. “Earmarks” are specific items the Member of Congress slips into an appropriations bill for a project in his or her district. Commonly known as “pork”, but during an election year it is a great way to fund a specific project. Although Congress reduced the percentage of “earmarks” by 50 percent in FY 2008 compared with FY 2006, it is unlikely they will be eliminated altogether. In FY 2008 $179.8 million was appropriated for Economic Development Initiative (EDI) “earmarks” and @46 million for neighborhood initiative “earmarks” within CDBG. Examples of HCD “earmarks” in FY 2008 can be accessed at: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_reports&docid=f:hr497.110.pdf (Pages 599 thru 606).
2. Mortgage Credit Crisis: If any legislative action is to occur it is to resolve the mortgage credit crisis. It is important that your agency and your organizational representatives are active participants in the discussion on the credit solution so it does not adversely affect access to the bond markets for tax credit production and low-income homeownership initiatives. Efforts must be made to push Congress, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to represent your interests in this matter.
3. District visits: Invite your congressional delegates to as many photo opportunities as possible. Whether they come or not is irrelevant. During an election year it gets them face time in front of your activities and provides you with a chance to promote your agency’s work and to illustrate that you are a valuable resource to your congressional representatives and their staffs... You should also invite the opponent as well; however, protocol certainly calls for the incumbent to be invited.
4. Issues within your power to control: Don’t get your hopes up that things will change at the central offices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It is great to be optimistic but you are still dealing with an institution, which in my opinion, is outdated to meet the demands of today’s agencies. HUD has a vested interest in regulating and maintaining compliance controls for it to fulfill its oversight responsibility more so than establishing a regulatory framework that permits maximum flexibility and spurs creative development and program implementation. Although some administrative reforms and simplification have been proposed, without statutory reform, it is unlikely the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) will be moved beyond the Administrative Reform Initiative enhancements until the Department assesses the results of implementing the new program monitoring and reporting systems under the new asset management framework.
5. Private investment opportunities: Learn as much as possible about the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). CRA is legislation enacted 30 years ago which requires banks to invest in low income communities. Here is a web site with useful information: http://www.ncrc.org/. The more tools you are able to use outside of the normal HUD structure, the more successful your agency will be.
6. Vote. You need to vote and encourage others to vote. Your vote does count and will have a huge difference in both the local, state and national election. Understand that your “big picture” vote may undermine your job. For example, if you believe we need a Democrat in the White House and Congress, you can expect more regulation with whatever increase in money may come to your agency. Traditionally, the reverse is true. A Republican in the White House means more of the same from the last eight years. Regardless, VOTE.

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Interesting Reads

The Washington Post includes two articles which offer different insights into the current housing situation. This first article "How HUD Mortgage Policy Fed The Crisis" by Carol D. Leonnig, describes how the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) policies contributed to the current crises. The second, "FHA Loans Emerge From the Sidelines" by Dina ElBoghdady , describes how the increase in the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) loan limits has benefited homebuyers.

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Posted in: crisis,development,fed,fha,hud,loans,mortgage,urban