NEW YORK STATE RURAL ADVOCATES

Nothing beyond technical amendments that leaps out. We must wait to see how the mortgage settlement money will be used in the general fund to further affordable housing

The NYS Rural Advocates hold their annual legislative meeting on March 3-4 in Albany.  The meeting and event will take place at the Holiday Inn Express Downtown Albany on Broadway on Monday March 3. Meetings and visits are scheduled for Tuesday, March 4. Email rural advocates at gmail for more information.

Yes, New York does have affordable housing problems to be addressed, and what happens in the City affects us all. The Mayor is building his housing department which is poised to produce more affordable units

The NYS Association of Realtors released home sales figures and it was reported that home sales are sizzling. Maybe not, for many rural counties with declining values and declining sales.

 The Governor released his proposed NYS Budget with a significant commitment to affordable housing for the  2014-15 FY.  However, “flat funding” was proposed for Preservation with The Rural Preservation Program (RPC) funded at $3,539,000 or $59,000 per group using Mortgage Insurance Fund (MIF).  Funding for the Coalition and additional funding for RPC will be subject to negotiation between the Governor and the Legislature.  The Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPC) is funded at $8,479,000.  These are the same levels of funding proposed by Governor Cuomo for the current year.  The Rural Rental Assistance program, which supports many RD Section 515 multi family rental housing units, is funded from the Mortgage Insurance Fund again this year at $20,400,000 with an additional $ 612,000 for Rental Assistance proposed in the Aid to Localities budget.  These amounts should be sufficient to cover the program’s needs.

 The New York State Housing Trust Fund (HTF) is provided an increase. $44,200,000 is proposed in bonded capital and an additional $2,500,000 from the MIF.  This year the Governor proposed to provide some administrative funds to the Housing Trust Fund Corp for administration.  We support this recognition of the challenges of program administration and will encourage a set aside for small projects. 

The Affordable Housing Corporation (AHC) is funded at $25 Million. We encourage allocating an additional $25 Million from the general fund allocation for housing from the recent JPMorgan Chase settlement

The New York Main Street program is funded at $4.2 Million.   Rural Advocates would like to see a new base line established for NY Main Street at $12 million

Access to Home is proposed at $1 million,   RESTORE is proposed at $1.4 Million.   Housing Development Fund $8,227,000 and Homes for Working Families $ 1,750,000 both from bonded capital funds. The Rural/Urban Community Investment Fund is proposed to be funded at $6,750,000 from the Mortgage Insurance Fund.  The split in this program is 60/40 Urban to Rural so the rural side of the program should see about $2.7 million.

Last but certainly not least, Homeless Housing and Assistance Program (HHAP) is proposed to be funded at 63,000,000 or more than double its usual funding level.

Part of the JP Morgan Chase settlement funds will be dedicated to affordable housing. Quoting from the Times Union, “An administration source said that under the deal, $81.5 million will go to the general fund specifically for housing programs; Schneiderman’s office will control the disbursement of the other half, through competitive requests for proposal using Office of General Services guidelines” Read the story here

Funds will be used for homeowner protection, mortgage relief incentive funds, homeowner loans and land banks. Exciting news that should make a difference.

The Housing Assistance Council has compiled annual obligations for USDA, FY 13 here. In NY, 147 Single Family Housing 502 Direct Loans were made, while 2281 guaranteed loans for single family homeownership were made. There were only 4 multi family 515 loans and 2 Housing Preservation Grants awarded. Two MFH revitalization grants were made. 3869 vouchers for rental housing under the 521 rental assistance program were under contract for just over 18.5 Million Dollars with another 1.2 Million in MFH Tenant Vouchers.

Tables showing funding levels here for USDA programs with funding levels clearly not a priority, but better than hoped

HUD Programs did a little better with HOME and CDBG at levels higher than the Presidents ask

The State legislature has announced their joint budget hearing schedule.   Housing Hearings are scheduled for Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 9:30 am in Hearing Room B. Please call A. Clinton Freeman’s office, 518.455-5491,  to get on the schedule. Forty copies of your testimony are requested at the door. Slots are kept to 10 minutes