Election
update: campaign 2004
Democratic presidential
hopefuls' positions on housing
by Winton Pitcoff
In an effort to highlight
the past and present housing commitment of the candidates vying for
the Democratic presidential nomination, Affordable Housing Finance
profiled each candidate over several months. This
series, which began in April, served to shed light on how the candidates
for president have addressed housing issues in the past, and to call
on them to give the issue of affordable housing the attention that
it deserves during this campaign.
Governor
Howard Dean
Former Vermont Governor Howard
Dean has emerged as the candidate who's working the hardest to pull
the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to the left. He
is also the only one making speeches that touch on housing issues.
In 11 years as governor,
five as lieutenant governor, and four as a state representative, the
former physician has made his name as a "common-sense moderate"
with progressive leanings on social issues.
As governor, Dean championed
the Vermont Housing and
Conservation Board, helping to rededicate the state's property transfer
tax to fund the board's work. As lieutenant governor, he convened annual
statewide housing conferences. The Committee on Temporary Shelter, a
major service provider for the homeless in Burlington, honored Dean
with an award for his work on housing and homelessness issues.
"Dean was good for housing
in Vermont," said Erhard Mahnke, executive director of the Vermont
Affordable Housing Coalition. "You could always count on his
funding requests for housing to be reasonable."
"He understands the
need for affordable housing, and the ways to produce it," Mahnke
added.
Dean is the only candidate
using campaign speeches to discuss housing issues in depth and to say
how he would change federal housing programs. "I know the Community
Development Block Grant program," he said in a speech to the National
Conference of Democratic Mayors. "We've used it to create jobs,
to build housing. It's wonderful discretionary money that we can invest
that we would never be able to come up with out of our budgets. I will
double the CDBG program from $4.6 billion to $9.2."
In that speech, Dean talked
about how he'd like to change the way public housing is built and maintained.
Referring to the Housing and Conservation Trust Fund in Vermont, he
suggested that the government should provide bridge financing for local
developers of public housing projects, rather than determining where
and how the projects should be built.
Dean also touted local land
trusts as a solution to preserving affordable housing permanently. "We
will not put money into units that will go to market rate after 20 years,"
he said. "We learned the hard way, when I first came into office,
that those programs are great until the 19th year, then everybody runs
around wondering what they're going to do for all the dispossessed families
a year from now. It's an impossible situation."
"If you want to revitalize
the cities, you can't have the federal government do it. You can have
us supply the money, but you can't have us do it - it's up to you,"
Dean concluded. "You can't revitalize the city if every time Congress
moves to do anything, it's an unfunded mandate. We have got to start
to rely on local people to determine their own needs."
In response to some questions
on his stance on affordable housing issues, Dean's campaign replied,
"Governor Dean is still working with his policy team to finalize
his positions on affordable housing."
Senator John Edwards
Senator
John Edwards is considered a strong presidential contender despite
being a relative newcomer to politics. Before being elected to the Senate
from North Carolina in 1998, he had held no prior political office.
Edwards talks a great deal about "the real America" while
campaigning but, like the other candidates, he rarely discusses how
hard it is for "real Americans" to find affordable housing.
Edwards' Web
site makes no mention of affordable housing, and his campaign staff
did not respond to several requests for information about the senator's
housing platform.
His legislative record shows
that Edwards sponsored a "Rural Rental Housing Act" to provide
funding through the Department of Agriculture for rural rental housing
assistance to very low income families in communities lacking affordable
rental housing. The legislation was never brought to a vote.
In testimony in support of
the housing act, Edwards said, "There is nothing more important
to a good life in America than good housing. And there is no problem
in rural America larger than the shortage of affordable housing. For
working families in rural America today, the shortage of affordable
housing is becoming a crisis."
To address the problem, Edwards
took a fiscally conservative approach, saying, "We cannot simply
throw money at the problem and expect the situation to improve."
He repeated the standard wisdom that the federal government must work
in partnership with state and local governments, private financial institutions,
private philanthropic institutions, and the private and nonprofit sectors.
Other than this bill, however,
Edwards has had little direct involvement with housing issues in the
Senate. When the Financial Services Modernization Act was passed in
1999, Edwards sat on the Banking Committee and was a strong supporter
of the bill. He has not been a supporter of the National Affordable
Housing Trust legislation.
Few contributors to Edwards'
campaign were from the housing industry-only Bank of America made it
into the top 20. The real estate industry as a whole (PACs and individuals
working in the industry) ranked number four on his list of industry
givers in the 2002 cycle.
When the occasion warrants,
Edwards' rhetoric does seem to support the issue. "I think it is
critical that [we elected officials] do everything in our power to provide
affordable housing," he remarked at the dedication of a Habitat
for Humanity house in Chapel Hill, N.C.
"I would say that he's
well intentioned," says Constance Stancil, executive director of
the North Carolina Low Income Housing Coalition, "but recently
he has shown little interest in or awareness of the major housing shortage
faced by North Carolinians."
Representative
Richard Gephardt
Initially elected to Congress
in 1976, Dick
Gephardt of Missouri first ran for president in 1988. He joins the
crowded field of Democratic candidates vying for the party's nomination
next year with a promise to "fight for America's working families."
That fight may or may not
include advocating for affordable housing for those families, though.
Despite the fact that he was the House Democratic leader for years,
Gephardt's campaign
Web site makes no mention of housing, and his campaign staff did
not respond to requests for details about the positions he is taking
on affordable housing in his run for president.
His campaign staff did provide
a synopsis of Gephardt's congressional work on housing, however. It
said he "has been a supporter of maintaining and enhancing the
availability of affordable housing." The statement cited his work
on Community Reinvestment Act legislation and his co-sponsorship of
the National Housing Trust Fund as evidence of that support.
In 2000, Gephardt opposed
Republican cuts to Department of Housing and Urban Development appropriations,
offering this statement: "The budget cuts proposed by Congress
would move America in the wrong direction. Despite our unprecedented
prosperity, there are significant unmet needs in our nation's communities.
We should be expanding, not cutting, programs that meet these vital
housing, economic development, and safety needs."
An alderman for the city
of St. Louis prior to his election to Congress, Gephardt remains connected
to the city. His home district has long faced low-income housing issues,
most notably some of the highest rates of childhood lead poisoning in
the nation, steadily increasing homelessness and a troubled public housing
authority.
None of Gephardt's top 20
individual givers for the 2002 campaign cycle is from the housing industry,
although the real estate industry as a whole was the No. 4 industry
contributor, with building trade unions coming in at No. 18, and general
contractors at No. 20.
Senator
Bob Graham
"Senator
Bob Graham believes that all Americans deserve safe and adequate
housing," wrote Graham's campaign staff in response to a series
of questions from Affordable Housing Finance. "Having served as
a U.S. senator and as governor of a high-growth state, he feels that
the provision of affordable housing should be a shared responsibility
of the federal government and state and local governments."
Graham was first elected
to the Senate from Florida in 1986, and was re-elected twice, in 1992
and 1998. Prior to 1986, he served in the Florida House of Representatives
and the state Senate.
Graham was instrumental in
saving the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) in 1989, when, as a
member of the Senate Banking Committee, he helped to draft the reforms
that led to the program's extension. The primary changes were in granting
states more autonomy in allocating credits and monitoring the program.
That was not the first time
that Graham had been in front of affordable housing issues, said Mark
Hendrickson, a financial consultant for affordable housing developers
in Florida. When he became Florida's governor, the state did not even
have a housing finance agency, according to Hendrickson. In his first
year, Graham was successful in establishing one.
"He understands the
affordable housing crisis," said Hendrickson. "He knows the
LIHTC program backwards and forwards." Graham listens to advocates,
added Hendrickson, and responded favorably as governor to the need for
affordable housing funding.
In response to a query about
what changes, if any, he would make to the LIHTC program, Graham's campaign
staff responded: "Sen. Graham believes that the first step Congress
can take to improve the LIHTC is to clarify the costs that can be included
in calculating the credit. The IRS created confusion within the program
with guidance it issued in 2000 that is contrary to common industry
practice, and eliminates many reasonable, legitimate and necessary costs
from the tax credit. This has caused uncertainty among investors as
to whether the credits, for which they have paid, will be realized.
Moreover, these guidelines could adversely affect the ability of states
to target affordable housing to those who need it the most. Sen. Graham
has introduced legislation that would fix this problem (S. 1119)."
His campaign cites examples
of Graham's work on housing issues in the Senate:
- "During National
Homeownership Week in 2000, Sen. Graham was an original co-sponsor
of Senate Resolution 319, which created The Houses The Senate Built
program. The Houses The Senate Built program partners senators and
their staffs with local Habitat for Humanity affiliates, community
volunteers and sponsors in order to build homes for low-income families
throughout the country.
- "During the 105th
Congress, Sen. Graham introduced legislation to allow married couples
to exclude from taxable income up to $500,000 ($250,000 for a single
taxpayer) of gain on the sale of a home. This legislation was enacted
as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. Furthermore, the Armed
Forces Tax Fairness Act, passed by the Senate on March 27, 2003, includes
a clarification of Sen. Graham's legislation, making it easier for
members of the armed services to qualify for this exemption."
Sen.
Graham's Web site includes no information about his positions on
affordable housing issues. The real estate industry has consistently
been among the senator's top supporters in campaign financing.
Senator
John Kerry
Of the nine declared candidates
for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator
Kerry has probably been the most actively involved in affordable
housing issues at the national level.
Last year, he introduced
the bill to establish a National Housing Trust Fund with excess revenues
from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Ginnie Mae to fund
the construction of affordable housing and provide homeownership opportunities
for low-income households. So far, no equivalent bill has been introduced
in the Senate this session.
Since he was first elected
to the Senate in 1988, Kerry has supported and co-sponsored numerous
other pieces of legislation relating to the support of renewal communities,
Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and YouthBuild.
This year, Kerry introduced
a bill to include consideration of whether a project has high-speed
Internet infrastructure in the criteria for granting a development low-income
housing tax credits.
According to campaign records,
much of Kerry's support has come from the securities/investment and
real estate industries, which were the number two and three contributors
to his last campaign. Commercial banks, the insurance industry, and
general contractors were also in the top 20. Top 10 contributors (PACs
or employees) included FleetBoston Financial and CitiGroup, Inc.
Kerry's campaign
Web site gives housing minor attention. The "Urban Renewal"
section of the site says, "Senator Kerry has worked to be a leader
in the preservation of federal support for housing and homelessness
initiatives. He has fought for funding to revitalize our nation's decaying
housing projects. He has also opposed Republican efforts to gut public
housing and rental assistance programs."
His Senate
Web site does include a section entitled "Building
Community & Ensuring Affordable Housing," which raises
the issue of the lack of affordable rental housing for poor families
in the United States. "Recent changes in our economy have squeezed
many working families out of tight housing markets across the country,"
reads the section. "In order to assist working families, Kerry
believes that the federal government should continue to play a critical
role in the production and retention of affordable housing. Since being
elected to the Senate, he has been an outspoken champion of retaining
and expanding federal programs to develop and preserve low-income housing
such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), the HOME Investment
Partnerships, the low-income housing tax credit and the Sec. 8 program."
Despite numerous e-mail and
telephone contacts with Kerry's campaign staff, no response was offered
to a series of questions related to the senator's past work on affordable
housing or the housing agenda he would propose as president.
Representative
Dennis Kucinich
Representative
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio is probably the only candidate for president
who could be remembered more for an election that he lost than for one
that he won.
In his first and only term
as mayor of Cleveland in the late 1970s, Kucinich refused to sell the
city's municipally owned electric system to a private competitor supported
by local banks. The banks reciprocated by cutting off credit to the
city and declaring Cleveland in default. Kucinich finished his two-year
term and then lost a re-election bid. Twenty years later, the Cleveland
City Council honored him for "having the courage and foresight
to refuse to sell the city's municipal electric system."
Kucinich returned to public
office in 1984, when he was elected to the Ohio Senate. In 1996, he
was elected to Congress, where he is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive
Caucus.
"Dennis has always been
helpful on housing issues—as mayor of Cleveland and since,"
says Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness
and Housing in Ohio. "He has taken a particular interest in homeless
issues, and has talked about how his family experienced homelessness
when he was a kid. He has also helped us on preserving Sec. 8 housing,
successfully badgering HUD when some homeless organizations lost their
funding in the Continuum of Care process, and numerous other issues.
Lately he has been organizing homelessness summits in Cleveland to help
develop plans to better address the issues … He regularly sides
with the most strident advocates on those issues."
Though the biography on Kucinich's
campaign Web site
proclaims him to be a "local and national advocate for the homeless,"
no mention is made of housing or homelessness in the 'Issues' section
of the site. In a number of speeches posted on the site, he does make
reference to "a right to decent housing," but does not elaborate.
Kucinich co-sponsored housing
trust fund act
Kucinich's Congressional
Web site does list housing as an issue area, with an extensive page
listing the Congressman's support for housing and homelessness issues.
He co-sponsored the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act, the
Housing Preservation Matching Grant Act of 2001, the Community Development
Block Grant Renewal Act, the First-Time Homeowner Affordability Act,
and the Renter's Relief Act (which would provide a refundable tax credit
for the amount above 30% of a renter's income that goes toward housing).
He also signed on to numerous
letters showing support for programs such as YouthBuild, the Public
Housing Drug Elimination Program, and the Department of Housing and
Urban Development's lead-safe housing grant initiative.
Building trade unions ranked
third on the list of industry contributors to Kucinich's campaign in
the last election cycle. The real estate industry ranked eighth, and
the National Association of Realtors was a major contributor as well.
Kucinich's campaign did not
reply to inquiries for this story.
Senator
Joseph Lieberman
First elected to the Senate
in 1988, Senator Lieberman
has been supportive of affordable housing issues, though not a particularly
outspoken champion of them. As attorney general of Connecticut from
1983 to 1989, and state senator for 10 years prior to that, Lieberman's
record on housing was similarly supportive, if not particularly distinguished.
Lieberman's most significant
effort in housing was a bill he co-authored in 2000 to increase low-income
housing tax credit allocations from $1.25 to $1.75 per person and to
increase state limits on private activity bonds to $75 per resident,
indexed to inflation. Although this bill did not pass, major portions
of it were incorporated in the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000.
He has also contributed to legislation regarding IDAs and to bills to
strengthen federal homeless programs.
Neither Lieberman's official
Senate Web page nor his campaign
Web site make any mention of housing issues, and during his vice-presidential
campaign in 2000, affordable housing was noticeably absent from the
debate.
Industry-related campaign
contributions to Lieberman in the last election cycle included CitiGroup
(the top contributor to his campaign), Hartford Financial Services (fourth),
The Richman Group (seventh) and Starwood Capital Group (13th). The real
estate industry was the third highest industry contributor to his campaign.
Lieberman's committee assignments
have not included housing, pointed out Jeffrey Freiser, executive director
of the Connecticut Housing Coalition. Despite not focusing on the issues,
though, "Sen. Lieberman has been a reliable supporter of affordable
housing," said Freiser, pointing out that he was an early endorser
of the National Housing Trust Fund in the 107th Congress.
Clarine Nardi Riddle succeeded
Lieberman as Connecticut's attorney general in 1989, and later went
on to serve as vice president for government affairs and general counsel
for the National Multi
Housing Council. She left NMHC in February to become chief of staff
for Lieberman, "her long-time friend and mentor," according
to a press release from NMHC. In an online discussion for CNN during
the 2000 election, Riddle said that Lieberman was "a person who
has, first and foremost, been a public servant in the truest and fullest
sense of the term. He is a person who has dedicated his life to serving
the public in every capacity he has been in."
Despite numerous e-mail and
telephone contacts with Sen. Lieberman's campaign staff, no response
was offered to a series of questions related to the senator's past work
on affordable housing or the housing agenda he would propose as president.
One campaign staffer indicated that it is too early in the campaign
to expect that the candidate would have positions on such issues.
Carol Moseley
Braun
Carol
Moseley Braun, a former senator from Illinois, is vying for the
Democratic nomination on a platform advocating social justice and "safe,
healthy communities." Having already been the first female senator
from Illinois, first female African-American senator and first African-American
Democratic senator, Moseley Braun has said that she is ready to be the
first female president and first African-American president.
Moseley Braun was a county executive officer, state representative and
assistant U.S. attorney prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate in
1992. She failed to win re-election in 1998, and was appointed ambassador
to New Zealand in 1999. Currently, she teaches law and political science
at Morris Brown College and DePaul University, and runs a business law
practice and business consultancy in Chicago.
Although Moseley Braun served
on the housing subcommittee of the Senate Banking Committee, she failed
to distinguish herself on housing issues. She did not sponsor any legislation
relating to affordable housing, nor did she co-sponsor any major housing
bills.
During her run for the Senate, the finance, insurance and real estate
sector provided the largest amount of support for her campaign.
Moseley
Braun's campaign Web site makes no mention of housing issues, though
it does indicate that while she was assistant U.S. attorney, "her
work in housing, health policy and environmental law won her the Attorney
General's Special Achievement award." She has not focused on housing
in any major speeches during the campaign. Repeated attempts to contact
her campaign for this profile to pose some questions on housing issues
received no response.
The Reverend
Al Sharpton
The
Reverend Al Sharpton is one of the harshest critics of the Bush
administration, particularly among candidates for the Democratic nomination
for president. He has spoken out loudly and often against the administration's
policies on poverty, taxes and the war in Iraq, among other issues.
Sharpton has been in the
public eye most often when he has organized against police brutality.
He also made headlines in 2001, participating in civil disobedience
in Vieques, Puerto Rico, against the U.S. Navy bombing range on that
island. Much of his work has focused on organizing in African-American
communities, particularly around encouraging people to vote.
Sharpton founded the National
Action Network, a civil rights organization that seeks economic justice
and political empowerment for the disenfranchised. He ran unsuccessfully
in the 1992 and 1994 New York Democratic primaries for the U.S. Senate.
While he references affordable
housing issues from time to time when he speaks about economic injustice
and the lack of federal action to alleviate poverty, he has not directly
addressed housing issues in his work or speeches.
Sharpton's campaign office
did not respond to a request for an interview, or to a set of questions
sent for the candidate to answer. His Web site makes no mention of affordable
housing issues, and his campaign has not raised sufficient funds for
a breakdown of industry support to have been released.
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