Volume 3, Issue 1

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MARCH

2013

#HOMEMATTERS

Volume 3, Issue 1

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ACHANGE’S MISSION:

To collectively promote quality

affordable housing and community

economic development in Arkansas.

IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE

3 Time for ACHANGE!

4 Chairman’s Corner

5 Save the Date– CDW 2013!

6 -7 FY13 Budget Charts

8 State Consumer Relief Info

9 National News

10 February Meeting Highlights

11 Introducing the 2013 Board!

12 Contact Info

2013 ACHANGE MEMBERS’ MEETING DATES

April 9, 2013

June 11, 2013

August 13, 2013

October 8, 2013

December 10, 2013

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TIME FOR ACHANGE!

Sequestration.

We’ve all heard the word quite a bit in the news lately. Everyone is

concerned about how budget cuts will affect them. Community

Economic Development agencies are no different.

What would the proposed cuts do to affordable housing agencies in

Arkansas? ACHANGE member organizations, like the people they

serve, would have to face decreasing budgets with no decrease in needed services.

So what can you do for now?

You wait.

Some answers were provided in March, but I expect that those won’t be the last questions asked

over the next few months and years.

Through ACHANGE’s involvement with national organizations like NACEDA and NLIHC,

we were able to reach out to decision-makers to make them aware of your concerns over how

sequestration would affect your agencies. While we were having conversations in Arkansas,

similar conversations were taking place all over the country.

State and national associations are working for their members—taking the small steps that will

lead to greater gains for us all. That’s why it’s time for

ACHANGE.

Debra Banks, Program Manager

Many organizations. One voice.

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CHAIRMAN’S CORNER

HOME MATTERS

Home does matter doesn’t it?

This morning, I got to have a follow-up appointment with a young

mom who lost her husband a couple of years ago. She had suffered

the huge impact of going from someone who provided for the fami-

ly to someone without any income. I had the privilege of telling her

that she was mortgage ready. She has worked hard to provide for

her family, and now she is going to buy a home for her two little

boys.

Two weeks ago, I met with a middle aged woman who had to move

back in with her elderly mother after losing her job a couple of years ago. She was emotionally

drained. She told me that home mattered. She told me that “Home is Independence”. I

was able to tell her she could buy a home. She is buying a home, fittingly, on Independence

Street.

Last week, I got to attend the 35th anniversary of NeighborWorks. Happy Anniversary to a

wonderful organization and a great partner to ACHANGE! It was lovely to be at the Newseum

and look out over the balcony at the US Capitol. But, I can’t say that I enjoyed it more than

telling these two ladies that they are going to get a home. Home does Matter.

Because home matters, what the organizations of ACHANGE do everyday matters. It truly is

what you do every day that makes this nation great.

Karen

Tweet with #sharehomeis and tell everyone what

home means to you.

Karen

Karen Phillips

ACHANGE Board Chair

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June 10, 2013

Community Development

Service Awards

June

11,

2013

Public Policy Symposium—

”Keynote Speaker: TBA

NeighborWorks© Training!!

June 11-12, 2013

HO109—Foreclosure Basics

June 13-14, 2013

HO248—Program Compliance &

Reporting for HUD-Approved

Counseling Agencies!

COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT

WEEK!

FOR MORE INFORMATION,

VISIT

www.achange.org

Or call

501-766-3941

SAVE THE DATE!

JUNE 10-14, 2013

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Consumer Relief Map as of December 2012

“How much has been distributed in Arkansas since March 2012?)

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NATIONAL NEWS

House Targets Tight Section 8 Reform

Concerned over HUD’s ability to administer the Section 8 housing voucher program have

prompted the House Financial Services Committee to put the program center stage in a move

to revamp several housing programs outlined in the panel’s Views & Estimates on Matters to be

Set Forth in the Con current resolution on the Budget for FY 2014.

According to the panel’s report, the House will push reform of the voucher assistance program,

the project-based Section 8 program, and public housing with the goal of enforcing work rules

and time limits on voucher availability and public housing tenancy.

That approach likely will collide with the Democratic-controlled Senate and House Democrats

whose Section 8 reform goals include Section 8 expansion in addition to conversion of public

housing units into Section 8 units. The conversion concept has bipartisan backing -- it would

attract private investment in public housing and make it a for-profit venture backed with project

-based Section 8 subsidies.

But that’s where the comity ends. House Republicans want to gradually reduce the voucher

program to include continued assistance to disabled and elderly voucher holders who make up

about 2.5 million of the 5.4 million persons receiving the subsidy.

Considering the size of Section 8 and limited revenues available to finance it, the committee

says it will direct HUD to be selective by providing subsidies “to the neediest individuals to the

greatest extent possible before making new or expanded commitments to others.”

House lawmakers are now considering the administration’s FY 2013 request for Section 8,

$160 million more than the FY 2012 appropriation of $18.9 billion. The budget report says,

“growth of this program is on an unsustainable trajectory, and absent substantial reform, will

consume an ever-increasing percentage of HUD’s entire budget.”

The report excoriates HUD for failing to create a program detailing how Section 8 monies are

spent, as well as failing to track long-term performance outcomes.

“The committee believes that the public is better served not by expanding Section 8 but by re-

forming the program so that public housing authorities can serve more people within existing

funding levels,” the report says. Section 8 recipients who are neither elderly nor disabled

should be encouraged to move toward self-sufficiency in order to make room for new appli-

cants, the report concludes.

Information provided from the Housing Affairs Letter, a publication of CD Publications.

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February 2013, Meeting Highlights

The February meeting was a time of “Aloha”. Aloha can be used a form of greeting or a way of

saying farewell. It was the perfect word for this gathering.

Farewell to board members Frances Newsome and Cathy Carlock. Both ladies served the

board of directors well and were honored with tokens of esteem.

ACHANGE welcomed five new members to the organization, New members include:

Credit Counseling of Arkansas

City of North Little Rock/

Community Development/Fair Housing Department

Membership Chair Larry Bennett welcomes (from l-r)

Barbara Erby Wonder Lowe Scott Grummer

Third Party Consulting Lowe’s Business Consulting City of Conway

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2013 Board of Directors

Following a nomination period, review by the Executive Committee and

voting, seven new board members were elected. Following are the

names of the new board members.

Chairman (term expires 02/15)

Karen Phillips, Crawford-Sebastian County CDC, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

First Vice-Chairman (term expires 02/14)

Susan Forte, HouseAboutIt, North Little Rock, Arkansas

Second Vice- Chairman (term expires (02/15)

Pat Atkinson, Universal Housing Development Corporation, Russellville, Arkansas

Treasurer (term expires 02/15)

LaVerne Paige, Pulaski County Special Services, Little Rock, Arkansas

Secretary (term expires 02/15)

Vickey Stratton, Northwest Arkansas Regional Housing Authority, Harrison, Arkansas

At-Large Open Positions

(term expires 02/14)

Martie North, Bank of the Ozarks, Little Rock, Arkansas

(terms expire 02/15)

Darryl Swinton, Better Community Developers, Inc., Little Rock, Arkansas

Andre Bernard, City of Little Rock

Tommy Sproles, Arvest Bank, Little Rock, Arkansas

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ACHANGE Executive Committee

Board Chairman—Karen Phillips

1st Vice Chairman—Susan Forte

2nd Vice Chairman—Pat Atkinson

Secretary— Vickey Stratton

Treasurer—LaVerne Paige

At-Large Board Member—Darryl Swinton

Associate At-Large Board Members—Martie North

Andre Bernard

Tommy Sproles

Program Manager—Debra Banks

Committee Chairs

Education and Training Committee Chairman—Roma Isom

Finance Committee Chairman—Hillis Schild

Membership & Marketing Committee Chairman—Larry Bennett

Public Policy Committee Chairman—Michael Jackson

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401 Main Street, Suite 206

North Little Rock, AR 72114

501-766-3941 Fax: 501-244-9670

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