“Welcome to Citiwire.net! Housing is one of those knotty issues that never seem to get ‘solved.’ But this week Neal Peirce reports on a bipartisan group’s recommendations that, while they won’t ease every housing problem, could go a long way toward improving conditions in the U.S. … Guest columnist David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance offers a look at a little-noticed national trend: Republican legislatures using state law to abrogate local government powers, such as barring locally passed ‘living wage’ ordinances. In other words, if you think it’s only YOUR state legislature doing this, think again.” -- Mary Newsom
Neal Peirce
For Release Sunday, May 19, 2013
© 2013 Washington Post Writers Group
WASHINGTON – Is there a shadow of a chance that bipartisan, middle-ground common sense could be applied to solve pressing issues of America’s housing future?
A housing commission formed by the Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center has a plan, formed over 16 months of debate and released in March. The center will now “take it on the road” for intensive discussions across the country.
The need is indisputable. Precious little has been done to revamp America’s housing finance policy in the 4 1/2 years since rampant speculation and malleable regulations triggered the Great Recession.
The Treasury Department did take over the failing housing-finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But few think that’s a good long-term solution. For the most part, the $10 trillion U.S. mortgage market has been left to float unguided.
It’s a dangerous course, writ in multibillions. With federal resources short, the country owes itself a robust debate about the exorbitant costs (now close to $100 billion yearly) of the home mortgage tax deduction. Concurrently, it needs to figure out how the United States meets the housing needs of a fast-aging population and does far more to assure affordable shelter for imperiled low-income and minority Americans.
The Bipartisan Policy Center assembled impressive leadership for its housing commission – on the Democratic side, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell; on the Republican side, former senator and HUD Secretary Mel Martinez of Florida and former Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond of Missouri.
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David Morris
For Release Thursday, May 9, 2013
Citiwire.net
In 1996, Democratic President Bill Clinton famously declared, “The era of big government is over.” He deregulated the telecommunications and financial industries; pushed a free trade agreement that severely restricted the federal government’s authority to protect domestic jobs and businesses; and abandoned the 75-year-old federal commitment to the poor.
Now, 17 years later, I fully expect some Republican governors to declare, “The era of small government is over.” Again and again, Republican governors and legislatures are pre-empting and abolishing the authority of communities to protect their residents’ health and welfare.
Earlier this year Wisconsin passed a law eliminating the authority of cities, villages and counties to require public employees to live inside city limits.
A few weeks ago Kansas enacted a law prohibiting cities, counties and local government units from requiring private firms that contract with them to pay more than the state minimum wage or to require other benefits and leave policies.
The Florida House recently voted to pre-empt local governments from enacting “living wage” and “sick time” ordinances. It would overrule counties, like Miami-Dade and Broward, which require companies they contract with to pay wages higher than the federal minimum wage.
According to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 19 states severely restrict or abolish the right of local governments to build their telecommunications networks. Cities began building their networks after years of begging private phone and cable companies to upgrade inadequate infrastructure, moderate price increases and improve customer service. When cities proved successful competitors, telecommunications firms went to state legislatures to abolish the practice. Last year North Carolina became the latest state to bar communities from making their own decisions on these matters.
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