Many thanks to Rafie Podolsky of the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut (LARCC) for this excellent summary of the housing elements in Governor Malloy’s budget:
Notes on Governor Malloy’s Housing Budget
T-RAP: The program appears to be abolished.
Security Deposit Guarantee Program: The program is made more restrictive in the following ways:
~ The look-back period (ability to apply for a second deposit without regard to claims made against the prior deposit) is increased from 18 months to 5 years.
~ An application based on homelessness due to imminent eviction will require that the writ have been served, rather than that the notice to quit have been served.
~ Landlord claims will require receipts rather than estimates, and a claim will not be paid if the tenant vacated because substandard conditions made the premises uninhabitable, as determined by a government agency (it is not clear how DSS would know this).
~ A co-pay (which can be waived by the Commissioner) will be required of SDGP applicants with incomes above 150% of poverty, not to exceed 10% of one month’s rent.
The budget projects a savings of $457,610 in 2011-12 and $499,210 in 2012-13. The implication is that the fund allocation for SDGP will be reduced by those amounts, which represent about one-third of current services (rather than maintaining funding for current services and using the projected savings to serve more households); but the budget does not spell out how the Housing/Homeless Services line in the budget will be subdivided.
Housing/Homeless Services: “A portion of programs or services” will be eliminated in the DSS Housing/Homeless Services account, but there is no specificity as to which ones. SDGP, RAP, rent bank, emergency shelters, and many other programs are part of this account. The funding for the account as a whole is projected to rise from $50.2 million in 2010-11 to $52.5 million in 2011-12 and $57.0 million in 2012-13, but these increases are not sufficient to cover the anticipated cost of maintaining current service levels (which would require $59.7 million by 2012-13).
Safety Net Services: The budget reduces funding for Safety Net Services by 10%.
Supportive housing: The DECD capital budget includes $30 million in 2011-12 for supportive housing initiatives. The DSS budget includes funds for 150 new supportive housing RAP certificates. The DMHAS budget includes funds for supportive services for those units.
DECD appropriated programs: The DECD budget appears to hold steady in regard to funds for fair housing ($308,750), public housing PILOT ($2,204,000), non-profit housing tax abatement ($1,704,890), elderly/congregate housing RAP ($2,389,796), and elderly housing residential service coordinators/elderly rental registry ($1,098,171).
DECD capital expenditures: The DECD capital budget proposes $50 million per year ($100 million in the biennium) for DECD housing development and rehabilitation programs. This is a big increase from recent past years. The budget does not allocate any additional funding to DECD’s Housing Trust Fund.
DECD as “central portal”: DECD will host a common website for all “economic development entities,” including housing inquiries to CHFA. DECD will be “a central portal to all of the state’s economic development programs,” including DECD and CHFA housing financing.
Revised 2-16-11