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| National CAPACD E-Newsletter February 2008 |
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Contents:
1) Congress Introduces Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008
2) Chinese American Service League Receives HUD Certification!
3) National CAPACD's Executive Director Joins National Low Income Housing Coalition Board of Directors
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1) Congress Introduces Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008
This
month, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced the Foreclosure Prevention
Act of 2008, which is designed to mitigate the effects of the current
mortgage crisis. This legislation is geared towards helping those
people who live in their homes and hold subprime or non-traditional
mortgages, like interest-only loans. Advocates say that this bill
will help 600,000 households avoid foreclosure in the next two years.
The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 provides $200 million of
additional funding to increase pre-foreclosure counseling. This
funding can be used to do outreach to families at risk of foreclosure,
and could assist as many as 500,000 additional families to connect with
their mortgage servicer or lender to explore options that will keep
them in their homes. The Act will also amend the Truth-in-Lending
Act and improve the loan disclosures given to homebuyers not only when
they apply for a home purchase loan, but also when they refinance their
home. Many AAPI CBOs do not have the resources to outreach to
people at risk of foreclosure, and the Foreclosure Prevention Act
provides funding that can allow AAPI CBOs to conduct that necessary
outreach.
National CAPACD will continue to work with national partners and
intermediaries to ensure that the needs of AAPI communities are met in
discussing the continuing foreclosure crisis.
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2) Chinese American Service League Receives HUD Certification!
National CAPACD member organization, Chinese
American Service League (CASL), based in Chicago, recently became a
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – approved
housing counseling agency. CASL is one of a handful of AAPI
serving community-based organizations that have received HUD
certification. HUD certification demonstrates that CASL meets
certain industry standards and federal guidelines, and has increasingly
become the benchmark for participation in various other public/private
housing programs. Additionally, HUD makes funding available for
select HUD-approved agencies. Once a year, HUD publishes a
Housing Counseling Notice of Funding Availability for HUD-approved
agencies that wish to compete for available grant funds.
CASL, founded in 1978, is the largest and most comprehensive social
service agency in the Midwest dedicated to serving the needs of Chinese
Americans. Each year, CASL reaches over 18,000 clients with their
child education and development program, employment services,
counseling and social service, health, elderly services and a variety
of other programs. CASL has been a National CAPACD member since
1999 and is a participant in our ACTION program.
Congratulations, CASL!
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3) National CAPACD's Executive Director Joins National Low Income Housing Coalition Board of Directors
We are excited to announce that Lisa Hasegawa, our
Executive Director, has recently joined the National Low Income Housing
Coalition's (NLIHC) Board of Directors! NLIHC is dedicated solely
to ending America's affordable housing crisis by informing public
opinion, increasing capacity of low income housing advocates,
increasing federal policy makers' knowledge, preserving existing
federally assisted housing and resources and expanding federal
investment in low-income housing.
Lisa joins a diverse group of leaders dedicated to improving the lives
of low-income people through affordable housing opportunities.
Other Board Members include Rey Ocañas from Wachovia, Lydia Tom
from Enterprise Foundation, and Dushaw Hockett from Center for
Community Change. Lisa will work to bridge the AAPI community's
interest to the national dialogue around low-income housing
issues.
Congratulations, Lisa!
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