Dear Members & Friends,

This policy alert and update covers a few topics of interest: 1) DHCR updates, 2) Legislative Awareness Day & Budget Status, 3) Local Budgets, and 4) Federal Budget.

NEW YORK STATE POLICY

1.       DHCR

NOTE TO Preservation Companies: The final date to submit your Work Plan modifications is March 31.  Please take a few moments to review your work plan and determine if you are on track to complete 80% of the work plan.  Any program between 60-80% completion risks being placed on probation by DHCR.  The Coalition is available to provide technical assistance on work plan modifications.  Please reach out to us.

If you are a program that has yet to receive your $5,000 Strategic Planning grant award, and need assistance in being eligible to receive it, please contact us for technical assistance.  We want all of the programs to be able to obtain and use this funding.

2.       Thank you to all of the members and allies who joined us on February 23 for the annual Legislative Action Day in Albany.  Your participation in Legislative Action Day was critical.  We were able to demonstrate a strong presence in Albany to get our message of necessity across.  Based on the feedback forms, most of you had very good visits.  Please make sure to send thank you notes to the Legislator’s for meeting with you and supporting the NPC’s. 

A thank you to the Rural Advocates for attending our program and for working with us to create a joint Briefing Book.   (Download an electronic version of the Briefing Book at www.npcnys.org).  The Assembly and Senate members and their staff have reacted very positively to being able to read about the programs in one streamlined book. 

The feedback from the meetings was supportive of the NPP/RPP but very unsure as to the amount of funding the Legislature would have as a starting point.  On March 1, the New York State Division of the Budget, Assembly Ways and Means Committee, and Senate Finance Committee jointly released the 2010-11 Consensus Economic and Revenue Forecast Report which reports that there is a decrease in receipts of $850 million through the end of 2010-11, when compared with the amount projected in the Executive Budget.   This is not good news.  This means that there will be fewer dollars to be distributed.  So, we will need to continue to keep the NPP/RPP on the forefront.  Continue doing the great work you do.  If you haven’t visited your representative in their District Office-please do so now.  They are home Friday March 12 & 19.  It is critical that you make your presence known to them as they are prioritizing the programs they want funded.   Highlight the great work you do in your local media and remark on the importance of the NPP/RPP funding.  An example can be found in The Journal News (thanks to June Jarvis of the Interfaith Council for Action).

We will be collaborating with the Rural Advocates to have a Legislative Call-in day during the week of March 22.  This strategy (of Lobby Day, district visits, letters, local media) will allow the N/RPP’s to remain visible to the Legislator’s.  We will have a date and time set for programs and supporters to call the Legislator’s requesting that they fully fund the N/RPP.  More information will be forthcoming.

LOCAL BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

3.       Local Budget Impact

Are you aware of what the Governor’s Executive Budget does to your local community budget?  In NYC, Mayor Bloomberg released a preliminary budget proposal that is contingent on the State restoring $1.3 billion in proposed cuts to local assistance to the City.  New York City Council has scheduled preliminary hearings for public comment on the Mayor’s Budget proposal in the committee’s on General Welfare:

March 8

10:00 a.m. Department of Homeless Services

12:00 p.m. Human Resources Administration /Department of Social Services

*1:30 p.m. Administration for Children’s Services (Agency for Child Development)

3:30 p.m. Public commentary and committee on Housing & Buildings:

March 16

10:30 a.m. Department of Housing Preservation and Development (Expense)

11:00 a.m. Department of Housing Preservation and Development (Capital)

12:30 p.m. Department of Buildings

1:15 p.m. Public commentary period

If you are an NPC providing public comment at either of the meetings, please send us a copy of your statement so that we are aware of your priority issues.  If you are interested in speaking and would require technical assistance, please reach out to us and we can help you prepare for the committee meetings.

FEDERAL BUDGET

4.       President Obama’s proposed HUD budget adds $190million to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Program, increases project-based Section 8 funding by 19% and increases tenant-based vouchers by 8%.  There is a million dollar decrease to the CDBG and HOME programs.  To view a summary of HUD’s Transformation Initiative by Program Click Here.  To review a complete list and history of HUD funding over the past few years Click Here.  NPC NYS will be representing the needs of the NY NPC’s on the national level over the course of the next few months.  As RFP’s and NOFA’s come out we will be including them in the newsletters and in separate alerts as timing dictates.  One NOFA process that I would like to make sure is on your radar is for the Sustainable Communities Initiative, as it is expected to come out in April/May.  The Budget includes $150 million to this program which will provide funding for regions to do integrated regional planning that links land use, transportation and housing policy.  See the next issue of Neighborhood News for more information about this program.

Thank you for all that you do,

Jessica