Use surplus for affordable housing, group
says
By NCR STAFF
A religious coalition formed last year to deal with the
nations housing crisis has petitioned President Clinton and other
political leaders, asking them to assign a projected $5 billion surplus in the
nations federal housing budget to creating more affordable housing.
A letter drafted by leaders of the coalition, titled the Religious
Leaders National Call for Action on Housing, has been signed by more than
425 religious leaders and faith-based organizations around the country. Signers
include Cardinal Francis George of Chicago and Bishop Joseph Fiorenza,
president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and 35 other Catholic
bishops, along with 81 representatives of Catholic religious orders.
The $5 billion derives from overpayments to the Federal Housing
Administrations mutual insurance fund by families who financed their
houses with government-insured loans.
In a telephone interview, Divine Providence Sr. Bernie Galvin said
the letter, hand-delivered to leaders in Washington Sept. 28, had been timed to
influence top-level negotiation underway among government leaders.
Representative Rick Lazio, R-N.Y., chairman of the House subcommittee on
housing, is among advocates of returning excess funds to borrowers who paid the
premiums.
We dont hear the candidates speaking out on this on
the campaign trail, Galvin said. We hear nothing out of the White
House. What we are trying to do is to get them to break the silence.
Galvin is coordinator of the coalition and founder and director of
Religious Witness with Homeless People, a San Francisco-based advocacy
group.
The coalitions letter argues that the national housing
shortage has become both chronic and increasingly acute in recent
years, and that the tragedy of homeless families now permeates the
national landscape.
Among its requests, the letter asks that the $5 billion surplus be
used to triple affordable housing construction next year and to assist children
with housing-related health problems.
Over 4 million children suffer from stunted growth, anemia,
asthma and significantly poorer overall health than children who are adequately
housed, the letter said.
The coalition was formed last year. Its first effort -- a letter
to President Clinton supporting federal budget increases for housing subsidies
-- prompted thanks from Andrew Cuomo, secretary of the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development. Cuomo wrote the coalition in February to say
that its support had a significant impact on the budget debate.
The coalitions co-sponsors are Religious Witness with
Homeless People and Housing America. Housing America has offices in San
Francisco and St. Louis.
Catholic bishops who signed the letter are as theologically
diverse as Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver and Bishop Thomas J.
Gumbleton of Detroit.
Other signers include leaders of 22 national umbrella groups along
with 34 rabbis, 27 Episcopal bishops, 25 Lutheran bishops, 17 United Methodist
bishops, 44 Protestant leaders, 13 Buddhist leaders, 9 Islamic imams or leaders
of Islamic groups, and one Hindu leader.
National Catholic Reporter, October 13,
2000
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