Affordable Housing Podcast

The impact of affordable housing on children's health

Substantial investment in affordable housing constitutes economic stimulus that would create not only housing but jobs. In California alone, there are more than 32,000 shovel ready affordable homes that could be started this year, leading to the creation of an estimated 37,000 badly needed jobs. Matt Schwartz, President of the California Housing Partnership Corporation, explains the provisions in the stimulus package that would be most beneficial for affordable housing and asks all advocates to contact their representatives and senators as soon as possible to ask that these funding measures be included.

Affordable Housing in the Economic Stimulus package

While an increasing number of families face foreclosure, Santa Clara County's Blue Ribbon Commission to End Homelessness is doing all it can to provide coordinated services to get people into transitional and permanent housing. Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage describes how they've made significant progress is getting access to free transportation for homeless community members, lowering the turnaround time for getting food stamps, and providing job counseling and assistance. Visit destinationhome.ning.com to learn more.

Destination: Home - Efforts to End Homelessness

In an effort to end America's affordable housing crisis, the National Low Income Housing Coalition has set an ambitious goal: to build, rehabilitate and preserve 1.5 million affordable rental units. Its president, Sheila Crowley, shares the history of the affordable housing crisis in America, her perspective on the progress made in addressing the problem, and ways in which her organization plans to help the incoming Obama administration develop housing trust fund regulations and protect Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as initial sources of funding.

Strategies for ending affordable housing crisis

The subprime and foreclosure crises are clues to the deep-rooted housing crisis that has plagued our nation for decades. In this episode of the Affordable Housing Podcast, Andre Shashaty, founder and editor for 15 years of Affordable Housing Finance, shares the advice given to the Obama administration about housing and HUD, the federal department of Housing and Urban Development. Shashaty concludes that HUD needs to be made a much higher priority and be overhauled in order to address fundamental issues. He addresses the Low Income Tax Credit program and the need for more rental and affordable housing in the U.S.

Andre Shashaty, Founder and 15 year editor, Affordable Housing Finance

With proper guidance and assistance, many homeowners can avoid foreclosure even when all signs point to losing their homes. Ken Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America, supports a network of more than 240 affordable housing and community development organizations serving over 4,000 communities. In this podcast episode, he addresses the state of the housing crisis in the U.S. and what's being done, with the help of $4 million in grants from HUD, to help existing and prospective homeowners understand the mine fields and navigate their way through to successful home ownership.

Help for Homeowners Fearing Foreclosure

One of the major policy tools to address the affordable housing crisis is inclusionary housing, also called inclusionary zoning. These ordinances require or encourage market rate developers to include a percentage of homes in their projects - often 10-20% - that will be affordable to low and moderate income households.On this episode of the Affordable Housing podcast, Joanne speaks with Dianne J. Spauling, Executive Director of the NonProfit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH), about the history of inclusionary housing, what works and what doesn't, and how it is helping to increase the supply of affordable housing in California.

Dianne Spaulding, Executive Director Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California

Prior to the current foreclosure crisis, countless working Californians were not earning enough money to afford decent housing. While Proposition 1C created bonds to fund affordable housing, that money will run out. Lynne Jacobs, Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, discusses efforts to secure a permanent source of funding on this episode of the Affordable Housing podcast. Once a permanent funding source is in place, housing advocates won't have to return to the voters every few years to make their case. In conversation with host Joanne Greene, Jacobs also describes the successful programs currently funded through Proposition 1C and administered by the State.

Foreclosure Impact and Permanent Funding with Lynne Jacobs, Dir., CA Housing & Community Develop.