AL MANSELL President 800.874.6500 Fax 312.329.5962
September 8, 2005 The Honorable Alphonso R. Jackson Secretary The Department of Housing and Urban Development 451 Seventh Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20410 Dear Mr. Secretary: With millions of people left stranded by Hurricane Katrina, REALTORS® are rallying to help meet one of victims’ most urgent needs—the need for temporary housing. The over one million members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, and its affiliate the Institute of Real Estate Management, have been working to raise monies to help victims of this terrible tragedy (we have raised over $2,324,657 thus far). NAR has also assisted in the development of the internet portal hurricanehousing.net. This website allows those with available housing resources post this information, and allows those with housing needs as a result of Katrina access this information. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has a unique opportunity to help in this effort to provide housing. We have heard that the Department is currently inspecting its inventory of foreclosed homes in the region to see if they will provide suitable accommodations. We strongly support these efforts, and encourage HUD to prepare these homes as quickly as possible. However, many more residents of the region have been transported to other areas of the country, and are still in need of housing. Our members own and manage Section 8 properties across the country, some of which have vacant units. While HUD is working to make those units available to existing Section 8 voucher holders from the affected areas, these units should also be used to house ANY displaced resident that is in need. We urge HUD to waive all program requirements for the immediate future. Most important are the requirements related to initial inspections and income verifications. These requirements are time consuming and may be impossible to meet under these conditions. A temporary waiver of program requirements would avoid programmatic delays and provide housing immediately to those in need. In addition, for those residents who had been receiving project-based assistance, HUD should immediately convert that subsidy to a portable voucher so that it may be used wherever the resident has been relocated.
REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark which may be used only by real estate professionals who are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics.
The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and the Institute of Real Estate Management are working to identify available housing and stand ready to work with the Department to meet the needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Al Mansell President NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
Tony Smith President Institute of Real Estate Management