The prospects weren't good for passage of H.R. 1461 (affordable housing bill) when 35 conservative members of the House of Representatives sent a letter last April to Tom DeLay announcing their opposition. When House leadership agreed to include wording that would prohibit funding for any organization that conducted voter registration drives or was
affiliated with any organization that did so the Washington Post announced the end of the deadlock.
Not so fast! Word about the new provisions leaked out (like a sieve), including mention of it on C-Span by Steny Hoyer (D-MD)and coalitions began forming in opposition. The measure is nothing more nor less than another attempt by conservative Republicans to suppress the vote; especially the votes of low income Americans. What a folly! We listen to pundits in praise of the Purple Finger voting in Baghdad, and all the while the Republicans are actively seeking to suppress voting right here in the Good Old U.S.A. Sources, links, and a brief history below:---->
The situation as it stands now:
From
NLinStPaul's Diary NLinStPaul's Diary Repugs for Affordable Housing? There's a Catch.
"The Bill HR 1461 is scheduled to come up for a vote Thursday or Friday of next week. Under normal House rules the anti-voter registration language could be taken out. It is not clear if House leadership will prevent that and force an up or down vote on the entire package."
How We Got Here: Affordable housing is an issue in all 50 states, and all the more so in the Gulf States after the wreckage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Star Tribune sums it up:
"Born in part out of a need to help rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the House bill would create a new fund that would tap up to 5 percent of the after-tax profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies, which operate under a special federal charter.
But it wouldn't be only Gulf states that could reap the benefit.
Every state would share in the new funding..." Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune story
"Housing Bill contains a catch"
Sounds good so far, a special charter organization to help finance affordable housing for working class Americans--what could go wrong? Politics! Especially all those pesky low income voters who don't think the Republican Party is thinking of their best interests, according to 35 members of the House Republican Study Committee.
The Republican Study Commmittee members sent a letter to Dennis Hastert in April, 2005 that included the following two objections to the bill:
The bill would "work against the free market principles that have made our nation's housing market one of the most accessible in the world."
"Furthermore, the money from this fund could be used to finance third party advocacy groups that have agendas far beyond simply increasing affordable housing for low income Americans--agendas that are antagonistic to the free market principles that we value." source
Gee, could those "antagonistic" ideas be something like living wages, not outsourcing American jobs, helping single parents find health care and day care services for their children, assisting families with incomes so low that both parents are obliged to each work two jobs just to hang on an inch above the poverty line? The Washington Post story included a little history:
The bill, sponsored by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio) and Rep. Richard H. Baker (R-La.), has been stalled since May because of the proposed affordable-housing fund. The stalemate appeared to have been broken two weeks ago, when the bill's sponsors agreed to add a provision that would ban funds from going to groups that in the past year had engaged in voter-registration or get-out-the-vote efforts or that affiliated with groups that did.
Washington Post
The language from the Republican Study Committee went in and the opposition from the RSC members went out.
Now the bill has "new" opponents, supporters of affordable housing who see in the restrictions a vast and debilitating attack on progressive organizations that want to help people find affordable housing. Consider the implications of this paragraph from a letter sent to Hastert by a coalition of 62 groups, on October 19, 2005:
The restrictions, part of the bill's Affordable Housing Fund provision, prohibit nonprofits that engage in any voting related activities in the 12 months prior from applying for funds. Likewise, non-profit organizations that receive the funds are prohibited from engaging in these activities. This includes an organization's use of any private funds, even those specifically awarded for civic engagement activities. The bill states that not only are agencies that engage in the democratic process ineligible, any organization that "affiliates" with an organization who fails to meet the criteria are excluded as well.
It would make something as simple as placing voter registration forms in a rental office or providing transportation to the polls for people who are elderly or disabled off-limits. The provisions would only apply to non-profit applicants to the fund. For-profit applicants are exempt from these rules.
National Low Income Housing Coalition (emphasis added)
Signatories and organizations that sent a protest letter to Dennis Hastert October 19, 2005
Now we have a Catch-22!
"Since passage of the National Voter Registration Act in 1993, nonprofits across the United States have been required to provide voter registration services to receive housing and other social service money from the states." Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
If enacted as currently written non-profit agencies would have to comply with the NVRA of 1993, but if they did so they would be ineligible for funding. Note that none of these egregious provisions apply to for-profit developers.
Somewhere out there in the dark are thousands of little small minded Republicans fearful that there are hundreds upon hundreds of those working people who mow their lawns, serve their food, manufacture their goods, and tend their children who MIGHT ACTUALLY WANT TO VOTE. And, who cannot be counted upon to vote against their own best interests.
If you want to support the efforts of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, or if you just think that one more Republican attempt at vote suppression is just one more too many--please contact your representative before Wednesday and let their office know that you are opposed to HR 1461 IF the restrictive language remains in the bill.