"This report is a call to action for government at every level to rethink its approach to affordable housing and begin asking, 'why not?' All of us need to raise the level of common sense to make sure we don't create man-made obstacles that close doors on the very people who should be our neighbors," stated U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Alphonso Jackson this week as he released a new HUD report, "Why Not In Our Community? Removing Barriers to Affordable Housing." The new report results from a Departmental initiative that seeks to help state and local governments identify regulatory barriers to affordable housing and assists community and interest groups and the general public in understanding that well-designed, attractive affordable housing can be an economic and social asset to a community.

Regulatory barriers are those public statutes, ordinances, regulations, fees, processes and procedures that significantly restrict the development without providing a commensurate health or safety benefit. The new report is the successor to HUD's 1991 report "Not in My Backyard," and points to complex environmental regulations that can significantly increase the length and cost of home building review and approval processes, as well as "smart growth" principles that may limit affordable housing production by restricting available land that could otherwise be developed. The report also finds that impact fees may not reflect the true infrastructure costs of a development and can artificially inflate the cost of housing, while slow and burdensome permitting and approval systems remain serious impediments to affordable housing development, especially infill development in cities. Finally, the report points out that obsolete building and rehabilitation codes may not reflect modern building materials or methods for cost-effective rehabilitation.

The new report is part of the Departmental effort to spark a national dialogue on the issue of barrier reduction, first launched by HUD's America's Affordable Communities Initiative in 2003. HUD is now reviewing all the federal regulations in the Department's program areas to determine if there are any unnecessary, duplicative or obsolete barriers. For the first time in the Department's history, all proposed regulations now must be reviewed for their potential impact on affordable housing before taking effect.

Barrier reduction and development opportunity are also being recognized by Governors undertaking state 10-Year Plans. Most recently, Governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii and Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts have addressed such barriers as components of their state strategies to end chronic homelessness (see e-news archives).

With the addition last week of two West Coast mayors, there are now 47 mayoral signatories from across the country who have committed together to share best practices, data, and innovations in the effort to end chronic homelessness. Renton, Washington Mayor Kathy Koelker-Wheeler and Long Beach, California Mayor Beverly O'Neill are the latest to add their names to the mayors' Covenant of Partnership to End Chronic Homelessness. Mayor Koelker-Wheeler is pictured here.

The original signing of the Covenant by mayors from Anchorage to Key West took place at a meeting of the Hunger and Homelessness Task Force during the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington in January. The Task Force met under the leadership of its co-chairs Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell and Cedar Rapids Mayor Paul Pate, because of the growing level of interest among mayors in the 10- year planning effort.

Mayors who spoke during the Task Force meeting about their experience in leading a 10-year planning effort in their community, including Gastonia, NC Mayor Jennifer Stultz, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, demonstrate that the problem of chronic homelessness is not contained in large urban areas but exists across America, and solutions are at hand when communities join this partnering effort. Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum was among those attending the meeting who indicated that they had originally been skeptical about the value of the planning process but were now ready to join the effort. Minneapolis Mayor Rybak noted that the federal initiative had 're-energized' mayors in their local efforts, creating what Mayor Newsom affirmed as "changed expectations."

Holding his hand near his head, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom stated, "I have set an expectation right up here, which is the worst thing you can do as a mayor. But we want to stretch to what we believe is possible." With that statement, Mayor Newsom reported progress this week in advancing goals of the City's 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. San Francisco is one of over 175 cities and counties that has moved forward to create a plan in partnership with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. "Changing Direction," the City's Plan, was developed under the leadership of 10- Year Planning Council Chair Angela Alioto.

According to the City's report, San Francisco's homeless population has dropped more than 25% in two years. Mayor Newsom points to his policies of cutting cash assistance and moving homeless people into supportive housing as the reason. A January 26 one night count found 6,248 homeless people living on the streets or in jails, shelters, rehabilitation centers or other emergency facilities. This figure represents a 28% drop compared to October 2002, when the last such count was conducted. The largest decrease was found in the street population. 2,655 people were found, a 41% decrease from the 4,535 people counted in 2002.

The City credits the Mayor's Care Not Cash program with the decrease. Care Not Cash began in May 2004, decreasing cash payments to homeless people from $410 a month to $59 a month, and providing either a shelter bed or permanent housing instead. There has been a 72 % drop in the number of people on the program, which has housed 690 people since last spring. Additionally, the Department of Public Health's Direct Access to Housing program put 190 homeless people into supportive housing. These initiatives are coupled with aggressive outreach and engagement which is now amplified by the Mayor's new volunteer Project Homeless Connect program. Mayor Newsom is shown here with 10-Year Plan leader Angela Alioto.

San Francisco has also launched a new web site to report on its initiatives and recruit support. www.projecthomelessconnect.com is intended to help those interested in learning more about the City's initiatives and to connect homeless people in the city to the services and assistance they need to get off the streets. An additional initiative being launched in the City focuses on a key mainstream resource often underutilized by homeless people: the food stamp program. The new initiative will partner the St. Anthony Foundation and the City's Department of Human Services to provide "Food Stamps in a Day'' for homeless people. According to the Mayor's office, "Food Stamps in a Day'' is designed to work in conjunction with the "Food Stamp Restaurant Program'' implemented in 2004 which permits food stamp recipients to purchase prepared meals at restaurants with food stamps. Mayor Newsom and San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano also plan to introduce a resolution exempting poor adults from the state imposed three- month limit on food stamps to ensure that recipients have access to food throughout the year.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was the site last week of the unveiling of a 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness created by the Leadership Council to End Homelessness on Cape Cod and the Islands, an area including Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, invited to join state and local officials at Barnstable Town Hall for the event, gathered with State Senator Robert O'Leary, State Representative Shirley Gomes, Barnstable County Commissioner Mary LeClair, Lower Outer Cape Community Coalition official Mary Lou Petitt, and Community Action Committee of Cape Cod and the Islands, Inc. former Executive Director Cheryl Bartlett. Interagency Council on Homelessness Region I Coordinator John O'Brien also participated in the event. Director Mangano is pictured here addressing the Cape Cod partners at the unveiling.

The Cape plan, which emphasizes prevention, discharge planning, coordination of services, and housing development, also noted the unprecedented financial support from Barnstable County that has added to resources in the area. In 2004, almost $500,000 in county resources supported the 10-Year Plan process for the Leadership Council, development of Pilot House (a low demand facility on local airport grounds that served over 130 individuals barred from other programs), a street outreach worker for Hyannis, prevention services, and a new county position of Housing Development Specialist at the Cape Cod Commission.

Director Mangano applauded the Cape's leveraging of resources, urging the Leadership Council also to recognize that plans should continue to evolve: "We've come to realize across the country that new ideas are as important as new resources. Just investing new resources in the status quo will not get the job done. The private sector business community has stepped up all over the country to partner in planning processes. The Chamber of Commerce, philanthropic giving, downtown business - their involvement creates more of a business plan to get the job done. And a comprehensive cost benefit analysis that aggregates costs in all systems, rather than simply comparing costs of shelter beds to housing, will provide a foundation for further planning."

WITH THIS ISSUE, the e-newsletter continues its focus on elements of the Title V federal surplus property and opportunities to secure resources for homeless programs under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Following are properties listed in the most recent Federal Register notice of suitable and available land and buildings.

The February 11 listing of suitable and available property contains a listing of Federal buildings and other real property that HUD reviewed in 2004 for suitability for use to assist homeless people. The properties were reviewed using information provided to HUD by Federal landholding agencies regarding unutilized and underutilized buildings and real property controlled by such agencies or by GSA regarding its inventory of excess or surplus Federal property. Properties listed are held by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Energy, General Services Administration, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Land and buildings listed as suitable and available are in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Title V provides that state and local governments, as well as nonprofit organizations, are eligible to apply for land and buildings that have been determined by the federal government to be "suitable and available" for eligible uses to benefit homeless people. More than two dozen agencies of the federal government are included as "landholding" agencies that may have property.

THIS WEEK'S e-news focuses on the prepared remarks of United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson for the Winter Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC.

"Since President Bush launched a nationwide effort to end chronic homelessness, more than 200 cities, counties, and states have joined with the Administration to combat homelessness. More cities are signing on every month. All but four states have established State Interagency Homelessness Councils."

"I appreciate our close collaboration with the nation's mayors. You're doing innovative work to meet the homelessness challenge, and this Administration will support you in any way that we can."

"We're doing that first and foremost with dollars; HUD's homeless assistance totals nearly $5 billion since President Bush took office. This commitment will continue in fiscal year 2006, as we have once again proposed a record level of homeless assistance funding."

"We're also supporting your work by ensuring that homeless individuals have access to services through HUD's mainstream housing assistance programs. We're coordinating better than ever before the many federal agencies that work with you in serving the homeless population. And in addition to our focus on ending chronic homelessness, we're making permanent housing a more viable option."