Support the #HoUSed Campaign Priorities in the Spending Package

Take Action: Urge Your Senators and Representatives Congressional leaders are working to advance a comprehensive infrastructure and economic recovery package that must include significant investments in affordable housing for America’s lowest-income and most marginalized renters. Key decisions about the package – including how much to invest in affordable housing – are being made right now! We need your help to ensure that any infrastructure and economic recovery package includes the HoUSed campaign’s top priorities: expanding rental assistance to every eligible household, providing at least $70 billion to repair and preserve public housing, and investing at least $45 billion in the national Housing Trust Fund. We also need your help to build congressional support for two major #HoUSed campaign bills – “Housing is Infrastructure Act” (H.R. 4497) and the “Ending Homelessness Act” (H.R. 4496). Together, these bills from House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA) would ensure everyone has a safe, decent, affordable, and accessible place to call home and should be included in the spending bill. Background Now is the time to ensure that any infrastructure and economic recovery package includes the highest allocation possible for housing investments for America’s lowest-income and most marginalized households. Congressional leaders are expected to release in the coming days a budget resolution outlining the topline spending amounts for an infrastructure package and economic recovery package, as well as allocations for housing investments. Once the budget resolution is approved by Congress, each committee – including the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee – will draft legislation to divvy up its allocation among various programs. House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA) has introduced two major bills to advance the #HoUSed campaign’s policy agenda – through the infrastructure and economic recovery package and beyond. Chair Waters’s “Housing is Infrastructure Act” would provide $600 billion in housing investments in any infrastructure package. The bill provides robust funding for HoUSed campaign’s top priorities, including $200 billion for rental assistance, $75 billion to repair and preserve public housing, and $45 billion to build homes affordable to people with the lowest incomes through the national Housing Trust Fund.Chair Waters’s “Ending Homelessness Act” would create a universal rental assistance program – a key pillar of the #HoUSed campaign’s legislative agenda. Funding for rental assistance would be mandatory and phased in over ten years to ensure every eligible household receives a housing voucher. If enacted, the bill would help ensure everyone has a safe, decent, affordable, and accessible place to call home. Take Action It is critical that Congress hears from you! Contact your senators and representatives and demand that any infrastructure and economic recovery package include the HoUSed campaign’s top priorities: a major expansion of rental assistance to every eligible household, at least $70 billion to repair and preserve public housing, and at least $45 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build homes for those most in need. Urge your members of Congress to cosponsor Chair Waters’s “Housing is Infrastructure Act” (H.R. 4497) and “Ending Homelessness Act” (H.R. 4496). Together these bills would help ensure everyone has a safe, decent, affordable, and accessible place to call home. Learn how to contact your members of Congress at: https://www.govtrack.us/ Find out how to contact your member of Congress Thank you for your advocacy! ***** Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition email, July 28, 2021.

 CELEBRATION OF THE AMERICAN WITH DISABILITIES ACT

July 27, 2021

Maryland Commission on Civil Rights Statement Celebrating The Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act During this month of Americans with Disabilities awareness, the Board of the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights celebrates all persons with visible and invisible disabilities. Since its enactment on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, and its state-based equivalent statutory protections have provided protections for disability access and inclusion, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, in public accommodation, in public services, in transportation, and in telecommunications. Former President George H. W. Bush called the Act “a new birth of freedom” for Americans who identify as having a disability. This landmark civil rights law has changed society from benevolence towards disability to acceptance. Yet copious work remains. Maryland protects people with disabilities both in Title 20, State Government Article, and in Sections 7-701 to 7-710, Human Services Title. While these laws provide protections, they must be enforced and awareness must continue to be raised to promote equitable access and acceptance of persons with disabilities. The recent litigation in Baltimore City, Maryland, asserting a lack of curb ramps and sidewalk maintenance in violation of federal accessibility requirements shows the ongoing need for diligence in promoting compliance with existing laws. According to the 2018 Disability Status Report, the most recent available, the prevalence of Marylanders with a disability was 11.2% overall, increasing from 5.2% in children between the ages of 5 to 15 to 43.8 percent for persons ages 75 and over. One area in which persons with disabilities experience discrimination includes seeking and obtaining accessible and equitable housing. On July 28, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights will be hosting an event titled “Fair Housing: Know Your Rights” – a workshop to provide information on the laws under the Fair Housing Act, which provides protections that exist for all Marylanders. This event will include an emphasis on disabilities as it relates to housing. You can register for this free event here. Finally, the Commission looks forward to working the Maryland Commission on Disabilities, an advisory body, as well as with the Maryland Department of Disabilities to promote equitable housing and employment for Marylanders with disabilities.

Victim of Discrimination? Training & Partnerships

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Source: Maryland Commission on Civil Rights release, July 27, 2021.

 National HoUSed Campaign Call ABOUT EVICTION DATABASE

You Are Invited to Participate in a NLIHC National Call! View this email in your browser

Join Monday’s (July 26) national HoUSed campaign call from 2:30-4:00 pm ET. Per Olstad from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is invited to share a new ERA digital toolkit and soon-to-be released ERA program locator from CFPB. Madeline Youngren and Sarah Abdelhad, from the Legal Services Corporation, will talk about the recently launched Eviction Laws Database. We will discuss the findings of two new NLIHC research publications, The Road Ahead for Low-Income Renters and Direct-to-Tenant Payment Implementation: Increasing Flexibility and Equity in Emergency Rental Assistance Programs. We will also get the latest from NLIHC’s ERASE project; discuss how to advance the HoUSed priorities through the infrastructure package on Capitol Hill; hear updates from the field, and more.  The Agenda for Monday's Call Welcome and Updates Diane Yentel, NLIHC New ERA Digital Toolkit and Program Locator Per Olstad, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (invited) Eviction Laws Database Madeline Youngren and Sarah Abdelhadi, Legal Services Corporation New NLIHC Reports: The Road Ahead for Low-Income Renters and Direct-to-Tenant Payment Implementation Dan Threet and Emma Foley, NLIHC Field Updates Amanda Korber, Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia Bob Palmer, Housing Action Illinois End Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions (ERASE) Project Sarah Gallagher, NLIHC Advancing Long-Term Housing Solutions in Infrastructure Spending Bill: Updates and Next Steps Sarah Saadian, NLIHC Next Steps Register Here

The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes. Copyright © 2021 National Low Income Housing Coalition, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive updates and emails from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Our mailing address is: National Low Income Housing Coalition 1000 Vermont Avenue, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005 ***** Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition email, July 23, 2021

 

MCCR's July & August Public Trainings

July 12, 2021

Register today and join MCCR for our free virtual trainings!

Sexual Harassment Prevention in Maryland-Basics Tuesday, July 27, 2021 10:00am to 1:00pm Register at mccr.events/SHPreventionJuly2021​ This introductory course for will provide information on sexual harassment definitions, legal protections, theories and scenarios. Fair Housing: Know Your Rights Wednesday, July 28, 2021 10am to 11:30am Register at mccr.events/FairHousingJuly2021 Please join us for this informative workshop from the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights about the laws under the Fair Housing Act which provide protections that exist for all Marylanders. One of our most fundamental rights is to live peaceably where we choose - where everyone has equal access to neighborhoods of opportunity. Fair housing is the right of all people to buy, sell, or rent residential property, and to live where they wish without discriminatory criteria. Having chosen a place to live, we are guaranteed the right to reside there peacefully, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, marital status, source of income, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. There will be emphasis on current issues such as disability and sexual harassment as it pertains to housing.

Employment Discrimination Basics Thursday, July 29, 2021 10:00am to 1:00pm Register at mccr.events/EmploymentJuly2021 Employment Discrimination Basics Monday, August 9, 2021 10:00am to 1:00pm Register at mccr.events/EmploymentAug2021 Introductory class providing the definition of discrimination, theories of discrimination and best practices. Sexual Harassment Prevention in Maryland-Basics Wednesday, August 11, 2021 10:00am to 1:00pm Register at mccr.events/SHPreventionAug2021 This introductory course for will provide information on sexual harassment definitions, legal protections, theories and scenarios.

Victim of Discrimination? Training & Partnerships

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