PRESERVING PUBLIC HOUSING: ISSUES AND OPTIONS
Session I: Residents' Rights and Participation
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
9:00- 11:00 a.m.
Panelists:
• Rhae Parkes, Partner, EJP Consulting Group, LLC
• David Rammler, Staff Attorney and Director of Government Relations, National Housing Law Project
• Jennifer Turnham, Senior Associate, Social and Economic Policy, Abt Associates, Inc.
• Margery Austin Turner, Vice President for Research, The Urban Institute (moderator)
This is the first in a series of forums on issues raised by Obama Administration's proposed Preservation, Enhancement and Transformation of Rental Assistance Act (PETRA).
PETRA would institute new rules governing key rights of tenants in developments converted under the plan, including rights to organize and participate in development management, and the right to choose housing in a different location. Panelists will discuss the role of organizing and other resident rights in the management and preservation of public housing, and how PETRA would strengthen, weaken, or simply change the rights of residents.
This proposed legislation calls for converting public and some other subsidized housing to a new type of Section 8 rental assistance, leveraging public funding to access private capital to meet public housing preservation needs, and expanding housing choices for assisted housing residents. The proposal has far-reaching implications for the future of public housing – and ithas been met with both praise and criticism from stakeholders.
The forums will focus on three sets of critical policy issues raised by PETRA: residents' rights and participation, the financing of public housing preservation, and housing choice and mobility. In each session, a panel of expert practitioners and scholars will discuss these issues in light of their experience in the field and the evidence from relevant bodies of research, as well as the options for addressing concerns expressed by tenants, housing authorities, and others.
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