The California Housing Consortium (CHC) has announced that LifeSTEPS will be its 2012 Non-Profit Sector inductee into the California Housing Hall of Fame. The official induction will take place on May 24, 2012 at the Hall of Fame luncheon during the CHC Policy Forum event to be held in Santa Monica.

LifeSTEPS is being recognized as “…an organization involved in the development, financing, management or advocacy of affordable housing. (The) organization should have demonstrated skill in creating and maintaining key public-private-nonprofit partnerships that over the course of many years has resulted in commendable developments/communities.”

LifeSTEPS has provided a compendium of social services to the residents of affordable housing communities throughout California since 1996. The mission of LifeSTEPS is provide effective educational and supportive services to maximize the strengths of individuals and build resilient communities. Through these services the lives of low-income people are changed.

In addition to the case management, adult education and after school programs operated by LifeSTEPS, it’s client assistance safety net program has caught many people in crisis before they fell into homelessness. Recipients of client assistance are required to enter LifeSTEPS’ financial management program, and be engaged in 6-months of intensive case management. The result has been that 87% of those receiving this assistance have remained in their current home for 12-months or longer after receiving assistance. 92% of the people taking the financial management programs called it “life-changing”.

“We’re feel privileged and humbled to be inducted into the California Housing Hall of Fame,” said LifeSTEPS Executive Director, Beth Southorn. “It is a testament to the strength of our partnerships with affordable housing developers, and to our staff – who work tirelessly to help make the lives of affordable housing residents better.”

Examples of the way people have made significant changes through LifeSTEPS can be found here.

LifeSTEPS will be one of five inductees, each coming from different arenas of the affordable housing industry, which include the Public Sector, Private Sector, and the Philanthropic Sector.

For more information on the California Housing Consortium 2012 Policy Forum & California Housing Hall of Fame Awards, click here.

Please join us in gathering support for SB 1220 (DeSaulnier), the Housing Opportunity and Market Stabilization Act of 2012. This bill imposes a $75 fee per real estate document recorded to support a statewide housing trust fund, which can be used for the development, acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable homes. We anticipate that SB 1220 will be heard in the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee on April 24. 

Housing in California is being threatened and that will definitely lead to more homelessness!  For this reason, LifeSTEPS will be taking on a more active role to ensure the voice of our residents are heard.  I know how hard we all worked to get here and I also know that without our support, many lives will lose out by not having enough affordable homes to live in.

California’s redevelopment agencies, which used to generate roughly $1 billion per year for affordable homes, have been eliminated. And federal funding continues to be threatened. California desperately needs a permanent, ongoing source or sources of funding dedicated to affordable housing development.

SB 1220 creates the HOMeS Trust Fund that will support the development, acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of homes affordable to low- and moderate-income households, including emergency shelters, transitional and permanent rental housing, foreclosure mitigation, and homeownership opportunities by imposing a modest $75 fee on the recordation of real estate transactions. This will generate an average of $700 million per year for the HOMeS Trust Fund.

Please send your support letters now, and ask your colleagues in housing and other organizations, friends, and neighbors to send letters in support of the bill as well. It is especially helpful to have letters from real estate professionals and others who work in the real estate and building industry!

Please send these letters as soon as possible to Mark Stivers – mark.stivers@sen.ca.gov – to be included in the list of supporters!  Thank you for your quick action and support on this important bill.

Thank you all for your support as we continue to impact individuals and communities throughout California.

The Natomas Art Project came roaring into spring on Saturday, March 3, as 15 youth from Sacramento area affordable housing communities came together to create a moveable mural. Sponsored by LifeSTEPS, the Pacific Crest Trail Association, Pacific Housing and Tri Counties Bank, the theme of the mural depicts the project participant’s vision of nature, and how it can be transformed.

Held at the Terracina Gold Apartments (USA Properties) in Natomas, artist Daphne Burgess directed the 15 youth participants. Working as a team, the participants began laying paint on canvas at 10am and had completed the project by that afternoon.

The mural will be unveiled at a City of Sacramento office near downtown, and will travel around the Sacramento area for the next year. More details about the opening reception will be forthcoming in the near future.

To capture the spirit of the teens involved, one budding artist said: “Wow…this sure beats sitting at home playing video games. This is real!”

California State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and President pro Tem of the Senate Darrell Steinberg, along with principal co-author Assemblymember Toni Atkins, introduced the Housing Opportunity and Market Stabilization (HOMeS) Act with the goal of creating a permanent funding source for affordable homes in California. Funded through a $75 document recording fee on real-estate transactions, this bill would produce between $400 million and $1 billion per year for housing that is affordable to working families, people experiencing homelessness, seniors on fixed incomes, and others needing a safe and affordable home.

The HOMeS Act (SB 1220) will provide the funding needed to build affordable homes, put construction workers back on the job, and boost California’s economy by creating millions of dollars in new economic activity.

The HOMeS Act is co-sponsored by Housing California and the California Housing Consortium. Housing California is dedicating significant staff to promoting the HOMeS Act in the Capitol; however, this bill will not be successful based solely on work in the Capitol building. SB 1220 requires a 2/3rds vote to pass and passage of the bill will only come from creating coalitions on the local level, building support for affordable homes, and altering the political calculus in Sacramento.

Housing California is anticipating significant opposition from the California Association of Realtors, so Housing California recommends reaching out to local Realtors, business associations, unions, and other organizations to build support for the HOMeS Act.

More information about this important legislation will be posted here as it becomes available.

One of the most heartbreaking aspects of homelessness is the effect it has on children. According to America’s Youngest Outcasts 2010, a groundbreaking report from the National Center on Family Homelessness, child homelessness increased 38% from 2007 to 2010.

In their monthly Affordable Housing Podcast, Eden Housing presents an interview with Dr. Ellen Bassuk, founder and president of NCFH. In this interview she discusses some of the highlights from this report, including trends in family and child homelessness across America and Federal policy priorities for 2012. Click here to listen to the podcast.