Affordable Housing Bill Endangered by Poisonous Amendment

This past July, I asked Homeless Report readers to call to your congresspeople. H.R. 1461, a bill that sets up a new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, needed your attention.

The bill included (and still includes) a requirement that these Government-Sponsored Enterprises put 5 percent of their after-tax profits into an Affordable Housing Fund to support housing for extremely and very low-income families. That provision made the bill’s future uncertain.

Thankfully, your efforts paid off. The bill will be brought to the House floor the week of October 24, 2005. Congratulations!??? Well, not so fast…

A poisonous amendment has been attached to H.R. 1461.

Nearly a $1 billion annually for affordable housing production and preservation is threatened by language that would forbid nonprofit and local government recipients of Affordable Housing Fund grants from engaging in voter registration efforts.

This terrible amendment not only sends the wrong message to low-income service providers regarding voter registration, it also flies in the face Minnesota’s current regulations dictating what state-funded agencies must do.

Agencies that contract with the State of Minnesota are required to conduct non-partisan voter registration. As Chip Halbach, Executive Director of the Minnesota Housing Partnership, notes, “The Minnesota Legislature rightfully encourages broad participation in the democratic process. That is why agencies that contract with the state are required to make voter registration materials available at their work sites. Congress should not undercut our state’s commitment to citizen participation.”

And Marcia Avner, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Policy Director, recently said of the amendment, “It is outrageous to constrain nonprofits’ efforts to register voters. Nonprofits are vehicles through which people connect with the life of their community, including elections. Nonprofits have the right and the obligation to do nonpartisan voter mobilization, encouraging citizens to be their own best voice. Efforts by Congress to curb this right in any way are dangerous for participatory democracy.”

I agree. Low-income communities are the least likely to vote. Their concerns are also often low priorities for policymakers. These two facts are definitely connected. However, non-partisan voter registration can change this. Participation leads to accountability.

Just think for a moment what this amendment could have done had it been around just a couple years ago.

Remember the success of 2004, when thousands of people experiencing homelessness turned out to vote? And what about the new Minnesota legislation that allows agency staff to “vouch” for their clients on Election Day?

Let’s not silence non-profits, and by extension many low-income households, when it comes to voter mobilization. The Minnesota Congressional Delegation should unite with colleagues to do away with this amendment.