Member Update
CEDAM News & Views: June 29,
2007 | |
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| State Policy &
Politics... |
Continued Support Requested
for MHCDF
CEDAM reminds its members that it remains
crucial that we contact our state legislators and ask them to
support Michigan's Housing and
Community Development Fund! Our key message to our
legislators is that community development creates
economic benefit for Michigan and that our state must
invest in its people and places for the economy to improve. A
sample legislative
letter is available for your use. Please let us know when you make contact
with your legislators, or if you need assistance in doing
so.
Michigan Now Stories Available
On-line for Listening
 Michigan Now is a radio
program that explores our state through the stories of
Michigan people in their own words. Michigan NOW reflects the
diversity of Michigan life as discovered in cities and towns,
in settings rural, urban and in between. The focus of
these reports is land use-how we use our precious
resources to ensure our prosperity. CEDAM has been a partner
in the production of these educational pieces, and we invite
our members to sample some of the stories available in the story
archives.
Marketing
Michigan
Many e-newsletters are now being produced to
market Michigan and to highlight the positive features of our
state and our communities. Sites such as Michigan Life Michigan
Times, Model D, and Rapid Growth have come
on-line to showcase the transformations taking place across
the state. In several instances, CEDAM's members have been
featured in these e-publications. Visit any of these sites to
sign up for the period
e-newsletters.
Legislative Tracking Service Available
On-line
 Visit CEDAM's Public Policy Portal for current legislative
information affecting our industry. |
| National Outlook... |
|
Number of Households with Severe Housing
Affordability Issues Increased by Over Three Million since
2001
Affordability remains the
nation's largest housing challenge, according to The State of the Nation's
Housing 2007, an annual report by the Harvard University
Joint Center for Housing Studies and supported by the National
Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and several other
organizations.
The number of American households spending more than half
their incomes on housing is rising rapidly, and one of every
seven households is severely housing cost-burdened, which
means it pays more than half its income for housing, according
to the report. In 2005, the number of severely cost-burdened
households jumped by 1.2 million to 17 million.
Though National Mortgage
Delinquencies Decrease Slightly, Situation Remains
Critical in Michigan |
The delinquency rate for mortgage
loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties stood at 4.84
percent of all loans outstanding in the first quarter of 2007
on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis, down 11 basis points from
the fourth quarter of 2006, and up 43 basis points from one
year ago, according to MBA's National Delinquency
Survey.
The news, however, is not so good for Michigan. While
Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan account for 8.7 percent of the
mortgage loans in the country, they also account for
19.9 percent of the nation's loans in foreclosure and 15.0% of
all of the foreclosures started in the country during the
first quarter. The level of foreclosures and foreclosure
starts for those three states exceed what occurred in Texas
during the oil bust of the mid-1980s, and Ohio is the highest
ever seen in the MBA survey for a large state.
Please read further to see how CDCs and CEDAM are
responding to the situation in
Michigan. |
| Members & Partners
Spotlight... |
| CEDAM Members
Take On Foreclosure
Prevention |
Many of CEDAM's member CDCs are working in their
areas to help Michigan families prevent and/or avoid
foreclosure. Three of these groups are the Benzie Housing
Council (BHC) in Benzie County, the NCCS Center for Nonprofit
Housing (CNH) in Newaygo County and Lighthouse Community
Development (LCD) in Oakland County.
· The program at BHC is a three-part monetary
foreclosure rescue system based upon the needs of the family,
and includes a credit repair counseling system to help the
family learn dependable financial strategies. Contact: John O'Neill.
· CNH's program involves intensive
foreclosure counseling, interactive financial training
sessions for 10th and 11th graders, and an annual picnic that
builds community while providing information to families who
are just getting started and might be unaware of resources
available to them. Contact: Lindsay Hager.
· In Oakland County, LCD has a
program comprised of a combination of personal financial
management classes and individual financial counseling,
negotiations with mortgage providers for loan payment options
that are better for the client, and emergency monetary
assistance for applicants who are in need and meet desired
criteria. Also, LCD outreach includes the United Way social
service hotline 2-1-1. Contact: John Petrilla.
Look for detailed information on each of these
CDCs and their programs in CEDAM's forthcoming Summer
Newsletter.
CEDAM is working with a number
of partners to look at the effects statewide of the rise in
foreclosures and whether funds can be leveraged to assist with
rescue and prevention efforts. Please contact Angie Gaabo for more information.
Changes to consumer laws to regulate mortgage brokers
and reduce predatory lending practices are being
considered by Michigan legislators, and CEDAM will be tracking
these for our members. |
| Resources, Trainings, &
Events... |
| Emerging Nonprofit Leaders
Sought |
|
Emerging Leaders is a
program of the Michigan Nonprofit Association that seeks to
enhance and strengthen the leadership of the nonprofit sector
through information, support, enrichment, and celebration.
This training opportunity for program-level staff is currently
accepting applications through July 23, 2007. Contact Mitzy Sharp Futro for more
information.
Highlighted
Upcoming Trainings and Opportunities
Cityscape Detroit is
presenting an upcoming training entitled Brownfield
Redevelopment: Process, Policy, and Incentives, on July
24 from 4pm to 6:30pm. Cost to attend is
$20.
LISC's Organizational Development Initiative 2007 Webcast
Series has two trainings coming up in July: Board Self-Assessment
on July 11 and Partnerships
Personified on July 25. Both are from 2pm to 3:30pm.
Information on how to participate in either may be accessed at
the above links.
For information on other upcoming
training opportunities, don't forget to visit MITTAC - the Michigan Training and Technical
Assistance Collaborative.
CEDAM's Career Corner is also frequently updated
with job openings in the Community Economic Development
industry. New positions are added often!
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Compliments of CEDAM
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