[Fmhc] FMCHP Bridge--newsletter

[Michael Carbone]

*The FMCHP Bridge*
*    March
2008
                   Volume 1 Edition 1*
**
**
*Minnesota and North Dakota Budgets Present Challeges for the FMCHP*
**

            Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's budget, released on March 7,
proposes deep cuts in social services and health care as a means to deal
with the state's growing deficit. Minnesota's deficit is projected to be
nearly $1 billion. At the same time, ND is anticipating a $1 billion
surplus. As a result, the FMCHP is challenged with helping to protect
already scarce resources for our Minnesota service providers while being
challenged to be creative in finding ways to tap into North Dakota's surplus
to improve services to the homeless.



            The Pawlenty budget contains these key components:



   - $341 million in spending cuts, focused heavily on Health & Human
   Services and Higher Education.
   - Spending $250 million from the state's budget reserve.
   - Redirecting $250 million in Health Care Access Fund and $92 million
   in federal TANF welfare-to-work dollars.



Cutting budgets of programs that help people in poverty during times of
economic downturn will have a compounding effect. As programs that help the
homeless receive less in state funding, more and more people will need these
services because of the state's declining economy. Times of economic
downturn are times to expand programs to deal with homelessness and poverty,
not cut them. The FMCHP must work with other advocacy groups to encourage
our legislators to reprioritize Minnesota's budget.



            Meanwhile, North Dakota's anticipated surplus presents a
different challenge for the coalition. The surplus will undoubtedly result
in some sort of tax relief, which is good for consumers and for economic
development, but some of the surplus should be directed to improving
services for the homeless and for the state's lowest income earners .



            North Dakota governor John Hoeven has proposed $200 million in
property tax relief and $100 million in increased education expenditures.
Both of these are good things. Lower property taxes facilitate home
ownership, and education raises incomes. But that still leaves about $700
million in projected surplus. In a state the size of North Dakota that is
large enough to be directed to a variety of worthwhile uses, certainly
economic development will be one of them, but services for the homeless and
the poor should also be a priority.



            The FMCHP is challenged to work with the ND Coalition for the
Homeless and others to present creative solutions to the plights of the
homeless and extremely poor, such as the ND Housing Trust Fund, to the
legislature.



            For more information on Governor Pawlenty's budget proposal
visit the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Budget Project
Weblog.<http://minnesotabudgetbites.org/>





*Jessica Arett Named FMCHP Voter Engagement Intern*
* *

            University of Minnesota student, Jessica Arett, has been named
the FMCHP's voter engagement intern. Jessica is an undergraduate student
majoring in Political Science and History. She brings a wealth of experience
to the position.



            She is currently an intern for Minnesota State Senator Keith
Langseth. In the summer of 2007, Jessica interned for US Senator Byron
Dorgan of North Dakota. She has done grass roots organizing for Clean Water
Action and conducted interviews for the Minnesota Department of Health while
employed at the Minnesota Center for Survey Research. Jessica is Campus
Co-chair of the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, and in that
capacity has lobbied the Minnesota legislature in support of The Housing
Solutions Act and the runaway and Homeless Youth Act. She is a member of the
University Senate Social Concerns Committee.



            In her position as Voter Engagement Intern with the FMCHP she
will be responsible for voter registration and education of homeless and
very low income people in Moorhead, Minnesota. In Fargo, North Dakota she
will be responsible for voter education of homeless and very low income
people. North Dakota is the only state in the union that does not have voter
registration. She will do this through outreach to the area's homeless
shelters, Community Action agencies, and other service providers who work
with the homeless and the poor.



            Jessica will also organize candidate and issue forums where
candidates and people facing homelessness can come face to face and discuss
housing and poverty issues. She will collaborate with the People Escaping
Poverty Project, the Minnesota Coalition for Homeless Persons and others.


            Jessica's position is funded by a grant from the Higher
Education Consortium for Urban Affairs <http://www.hecua.org/>. She begins
on May 30 and continues until August 15.

*Is a Housing Trust Fund in North Dakota's Future?*


            Several years ago a small group began work on a housing trust
fund for the state of North Dakota. Those efforts fizzled, but the idea
seems to be ripe for the 2009 legislative session. The FMCHP is partnering
with the ND Coalition for the Homeless to establish a work group to develop
a legislative proposal that would establish a housing trust fund for the
state. Thirty-nine states currently have housing trust funds.



            On February 21, 2008 Mary Brooks of the Center for
Change<http://www.communitychange.org/>,
Jeannie Messall of the NDCH <http://ndhomelesscoalition.org/default.htm>,
and FMCHP executive director Michael Carbone presented "Creating a Housing
Trust Fund" at the ND Housing Finance Agency's 17th annual conference. The
session was well-attended and well-received, with nearly 20 people joining
the work group.



            Housing Trust Fund is a bit of a misnomer. A trust fund
ordinarily sets aside money so that interest on the money can be dedicated
to a specific purpose. In the case of a housing trust fund, there is not
necessarily a fund that is set aside, rather there is a dedicated funding
stream established to address housing needs. In many states housing trust
funds are funded by deed and title transfer fees, contractor's license fees,
document recording fees and a variety of other fees.



            North Dakota, being the only state in the union to have a state
owned bank, has the option of funding the housing trust fund through a
dedicated throw off from the Bank of North Dakota.



            Housing trust funds are desirable because the funds are
non-budgetary; they are not funded by the whim of the governor's budget and
the legislature's approval. This helps to cure budget uncertainty on the
part of those programs that would receive funding from the trust fund. In
addition, there is typically a great deal of flexibility in how the funds
can be used.



            If a housing trust fund is to be included in Governor Hoeven's
budget and pass the 2009 legislative session, it must have the broad support
of a wide variety of housing advocates. As a result, a wide variety of
housing issues should be addressed by the fund. These could include
homelessness in the state's urban areas and Indian Reservations, workforce
housing in the oil producing areas of the state, maintenance and repair of
the state's deteriorating Public Housing, development of infrastructure to
support low income housing and supportive services for the chronically
homeless. Some state housing trust funds include incentives for the
development of city or county housing trust funds.



            There are a variety of agencies who commonly administer a
housing trust fund, but most often it is a state's housing finance agency.
This would likely be the case in North Dakota.



            In addition to Michael Carbone, area people who have joined the
workgroup include Lisa Rotvold, Beyond Shelter Inc.; Lynn Fundingsland,
Fargo Housing and Redevelopment Authority; Keith Gilleshammer, Centre, Inc.
and Octavio Gomez, People Escaping Poverty Project.



*Reflections From the Director*

**

Recently I was listening to the Joel Heitkamp show on KFGO. Judge Webb was
his guest, and they were discussing the juvenile drug court that Judge Webb
presides over. The court is designed to rehabilitate young offenders and to
help them avoid incarceration. Apparently, the court has had some success.
It takes a youth about 9 to 12 months to complete the program.



            Knowing that we have an alarming number of homeless youth in our
community and that many of them have chemical dependency problems, I though
it was worth a call to the program to ask Judge Webb is he had had any
homeless youth in his program, how homeless is addressed in the program, and
what results he has had.



            Judge Webb's response was a little disheartening. He said that
they had had homeless and precariously housed youth in his program. These
youth have presented a challenge to the court in that one of the primary
activities of the court is to track the movements and activities of the
youth. This is particularly difficult with a youth on the move. As a result,
homeless and precariously housed youth have not done well in Judge Webb's
court—and these are the young people who need this type of intervention the
most.



            I suggested to Judge Webb that the FMCHP would be willing to
engage his court on how we, as service providers, can help homeless youth
successfully complete his program. This also seems to be an issue for the
Homeless Youth Work Group.



            And so begins a new conversation that will hopefully lead to new
solutions.



*Please forward this newsletter*
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