Cohen, Boston Globe. Carson, Washington Times. In , Rosie ran for San Antonio city council, but in the days before single-member districts, she lost. Her mother had emigrated to the United States from Mexico at a young age. Guzman and Castro separated when the boys were 8, and Castro took on most of the parenting chores at that point.
The brothers each ran for student senate while at Stanford. As might be expected, they won seats when they tied for the most votes in the race. The brothers graduated from Stanford in and went together to Harvard Law School. He won the District 7 race and served two two-year terms as councilman.
In , the brothers founded their own law firm. An early success with a civil case made them comfortable enough to be able to continue their political careers, with Joaquin having been elected to the Texas Legislature in At 35, he was the youngest mayor of a Top U.
He focused on education during his tenure, establishing a program to give college guidance to San Antonio high school students and championing a sales-tax increase to fund a pre-kindergarten school program. Castro also helped push through an ordinance banning discrimination against members of the LGBT community.
He was re-elected twice, in and , by huge margins. In , Castro, who was already starting to receive national recognition, got some time in the spotlight. He was chosen to give the keynote address at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, not coincidentally the same platform Obama used to make himself known to the American public in Cameras would focus on the little girl, who while watching herself on convention hall monitors, would flip her hair.
Castro declined, wanting to stay in San Antonio for the time being. Now, assuming he wins Senate confirmation, Castro will follow in the footsteps of another San Antonio mayor. Cisneros is a family friend of Castro, whose mother attended school with Cisneros.
Castro is already being talked about as a possible Democratic vice-presidential candidate in He has taken classes, and can now understand the language fairly well. Main Menu. Two years later, the Housing Act of was enacted to help eradicate slums and promote redevelopment in urban areas. Throughout the s, FHA focused on broadening its mission. In September , a new Housing Act allowed funds for elderly housing. Robert C. Martin Luther King, Jr. The decade ended with the establishment of the Government National Mortgage Association Ginnie Mae , which expanded availability of mortgage funds for moderate-income families.
The government, using mortgage-backed securities, guaranteed these funds. The Pruitt-Igoe housing buildings in St. Louis, a controversial public housing project that suffered numerous problems since opening in , were demolished in The following year, President Richard Nixon declared a moratorium on housing and community development assistance. In , the Housing and Community Development Act was signed. This new law provided for community development block grants and offered help for urban homesteading.
Help for the elderly and handicapped continued under the Housing and Community Act of , which set up Community Development Block Grants for these groups. Section 8, which gave low-income residents a wider range of housing choices, began to operate, using tenant-based certificates. This helped to expand alternative mortgages and assisted first-time homebuyers. Mortgage rates continued to climb, however, and even those from Federal Housing Authority -insured mortgages peaked at This was an increase of 8.
In February , the Housing and Community Development Act provided for the sale of public housing to resident management corporations.
This was done to help alleviate homelessness by increasing opportunities for low-income housing. In the s, HUD concentrated its efforts on revitalizing public housing. The Housing Opportunity Program Extension Act, signed in March , gave public housing authorities tools to screen out and evict potentially dangerous residents, due to substance abuse or criminal behavior.
In October , new government laws were established to allow local housing authorities to open up more public housing to the middle class. At the same time, HUD opened its first Enforcement Center, which was charged with taking action against HUD-assisted multifamily property owners and other HUD fund recipients who violated laws and regulations. Congress continued to enact public housing reforms, reducing segregation by race and income, encouraging and rewarding work, bringing more working families into public housing and increasing the availability of subsidized housing for very poor families.
HUD has had a long history of scandal and controversy. During the s, HUD became embroiled in accusations of playing favorites with developers and housing officials who had political connections with the Reagan administration. One example involved a housing project in Durham, North Carolina, that was given the go-ahead even though some HUD staffers had found hazardous waste near the site. The mayor of Durham at that time was a friend of HUD secretary, Samuel Pierce, who was called before Congress to testify in regards to the many claims of improper dealings by his department.
Pierce refused to testify by citing the Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself. HUD continued to be the focus of problems during the s.
Henry Cisneros, who was a rising star in the Democratic Party when he was appointed to lead HUD, found himself investigated by the FBI for failing to disclose payments he had made before joining the administration to keep an affair quiet. Cisneros wound up resigning from office. During the scandal, congressional Republicans tried unsuccessfully to abolish HUD. The years of the Bush administration have also witnessed troubles with HUD, especially involving former secretary Alphonso Jackson see Controversies.
Founded in to revive a housing industry leveled by the Great Depression, FHA sought to stimulate homeownership by providing mortgage insurance and regulating interest rates. Over time, the agency has contributed to a dramatic increase in the number of homeowners across a diverse income-scale.
Early programs especially increased the market for single-family homes, while special housing initiatives for veterans in the post-WWII era—and for the elderly, disabled and lower-income buyers in the subsequent decade—expanded untapped or difficult market areas.
The agency was incorporated into HUD when the latter became a cabinet-level agency in Office of Public and Indian Housing: PIH manages a large number of programs that provide funding through grants that are designed to help residents of affordable housing become more self-sufficient and economic independent. PIH also works with public housing authorities across the country to help them improve their management and service delivery efforts.
The office also is in charge of programs designed to improve housing conditions for Native American families. Office of Community Planning and Development: CPD is responsible for distributing different kinds of grants throughout the country to help low-income communities finance growth and development. CPD also supports efforts to alleviate homelessness through numerous grant programs.
Like its parent, HUD, the Office of Community Planning and Development has been the subject of controversy over the misuse of federal funds involving political appointees of President George W.
As the primary regulator of the two GSEs, the OFHEO is responsible for supervising their operations and ensuring their stability, capitalization, and compliance with legal requirements and standards. Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity : FHEO seeks to prevent discrimination in housing on the basis of race, sex, family status and other grounds. One of the largest federal civil rights agencies, FHEO administers federal laws and makes policy regarding equal access to housing.
The office administers funding, processes discrimination complaints, and oversees enforcement and compliance with federal laws. Ginnie Mae provides guarantees for mortgage-backed securities MBS , most of which are federally insured loans issued by the Federal Housing Administration and other federal housing offices.
In effect, the agency buys mortgages from lending institutions and pools them into government-backed securities, which it sells to investors, guaranteeing timely repayment on both the principal and the interest. Ginnie Mae operations have directly affected low- and moderate-income potential homeowners. By providing a safety net for lenders and investors, GNMA securities ensure a steady flow of capital to the secondary mortgage market and create accessible terms for many people who might not otherwise be serviced by traditional lenders.
This has changed somewhat in recent years, with private-sector companies taking an increasing share of the secondary mortgage market and offering competitive mortgage deals, including in the sub-prime market. Administration develops and implements policies and procedures associated with human capital management and the administrative management of the department. Board of Contract Appeals provides due process through dispositions of all matters brought before the board.
The board presides over on-the-record hearings, motion practice and settlement hearings. Enforcement Center deals with troubled housing projects. When owners fail to bring properties up to standard, the center takes appropriate enforcement action.
First Preston Management, Inc. Golden Feather Realty Services, Inc. Harrington, Moran, Barksdale, Inc. In addition to spending money on contractors, HUD allocates millions of dollars each year in federal grants to support a variety of housing goals. HUD provides financial assistance to about 3, Public and Indian housing authorities that provide public housing and services to 1.
Based on the principles of architectural reconfiguration, integration of services and resident contributions, the funds go to replacing and rehabilitating neighborhood homes, providing job training and encouraging neighboring businesses to hire public housing residents.
They also are used for joint ventures on private multifamily housing financing for Section 8 rentals, wiring selected units for computers and Internet communications, and developing mixed-income housing with rental and homeownership choices in public housing neighborhoods. It also links public housing to work and stresses self-sufficiency, including graduation to conventional rental housing and homeownership. HUD's homeless efforts began on a national level with the Stewart B.
Eligible recipients are state and local government units, public housing agencies and Indian tribes. To receive the funds each recipient must provide supportive services at least equal in value to the rental assistance. Supportive services would address mental illness, substance abuse and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS and related diseases.
Supportive Housing - Supportive Housing grants go to state and local governments, Indian tribes and nonprofit organizations to provide short-term transitional housing and services to deinstitutionalized homeless individuals, families with children, individuals with mental disabilities and others, including AIDS victims.
States may receive funds for long-term housing projects for homeless handicapped persons. HUD provides grants for acquisition, rehabilitation, new construction and annual payments for operating costs and supportive services.
HUD also provides technical assistance. Participants must match the acquisition, rehabilitation or new construction costs and provide a percentage of the operating costs. Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation SRO - Public and Indian housing agencies and private nonprofit organizations compete for Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation grants based on local needs and their ability to provide single-room occupancy SRO housing for homeless persons.
Emergency Shelter Grants - Emergency Shelter Grants are distributed to states, entitlement cities and counties and territories on a formula basis, and to Indian tribes.
The funds may be used to renovate, rehabilitate or convert buildings to be used as shelters for homeless persons. The funds also may be used to operate emergency shelters, provide essential services to homeless individuals and to prevent homelessness.
Eligible activities include construction, acquisition, renovation and operation of facilities; rental assistance and short-term housing payments; supportive services; technical assistance, and other housing-related activities.
Governments and nonprofit organizations also may compete for 10 percent of the funds to develop model programs. It provides funds to participating jurisdictions to increase the supply and affordability of housing and homeownership for low-income families.
HOME funds are distributed on a formula basis , similar to the Community Development Block Grant CDBG program, and are administered locally through community development departments or housing finance agencies. Participating jurisdictions include states, large cities and urban counties, consortia, Indian tribes and territories. Participating jurisdictions must provide a 25 percent match for housing activities funded by HOME. Federal Fair Housing statutes prohibit housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, families with children, and disabilities.
In addition to investigating and resolving housing discrimination complaints under the Fair Housing Laws, FHEO conducts compliance reviews of HUD funds recipients, ensures equal employment opportunity and affirmative action within HUD and ensures that HUD programs provide equal opportunity.
Under its Fair Housing Assistance Program FHAP , FHEO assists state and local governments in becoming certified -- having "substantially equivalent" fair housing laws -- and processing complaints with technical assistance and training grants. The department runs a number of different programs , focused on three main areas: direct rental housing assistance, public housing construction, and community development programs.
HUD has a number of programs that provide rental assistance to different populations, often in the form of vouchers. This assistance benefits a significant number of Americans. Finally, HUD helps provide communities with funds for public programs and redevelopment beyond just housing.
Community Development Block Grants and Social Service Block Grants help fund anti-poverty, community building, and local infrastructure projects across the country, with funding going to 1, city, county, and state governments. HUD also operates the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, an agency charged with enforcing federal laws against housing discrimination. HUD operates all across the country , including in both urban and rural areas, but mostly works by providing state and local agencies with grant money, and overseeing how they use those funds.
HUD operates 10 regional offices across the country, which are run by Regional Administrators. Despite the enactment of the Fair Housing Act, housing discrimination has been a persistent issue, according to many housing advocates. A Government Accountability Act study found that anti-discrimination laws are inconsistently enforced, especially across cities and municipalities, and the National Fair Housing Alliance suggests millions of instances of discrimination happen every year.
Conservatives argue that HUD has made the problems it was meant to solve worse, due to politically motivated policy, weak lending standards, and oversight. To better enforce these standards, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule, introduced in , asks cities to do more to protect the non-discrimination policies enshrined in the Fair Housing Act. In brief, the rule requires any jurisdictions that receive federal money for housing to document barriers to integration and create plans to overcome them.
But perhaps the biggest issue facing the organization is the lack of affordable housing.
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