[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12055-S12056]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NEIGHBORHOOD REINVESTMENT CORPORATION

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, decent, and affordable housing in 
healthy neighborhoods for all Americans remains a national goal and a 
serious challenge. One federal initiative that is an exemplar of good 
housing policy and a wise investment is the Neighborhood Reinvestment 
Corporation. Chartered by Congress in 1978 as a public, non-profit 
corporation, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation's purpose is to 
increase affordable housing and home ownership opportunities while 
revitalizing low and moderate income neighborhoods that are in decline. 
That purpose is carried out in partnership with 174 neighborhood based, 
non-profit organizations in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and 
Puerto Rico. These organizations bring together neighborhood residents, 
local governments, and the business community to garner diverse 
resources to carry out neighborhood resident-generated housing and 
community development plans.
  At least one measure of the effectiveness of the Neighborhood 
Reinvestment Corporation and its network of local partners is the kind 
of return gained on the investment. The federal appropriation to the 
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation for fiscal year 1998 was 
$60,000,000 which leveraged another $500,000,000 in resources for 
housing and community development.
  The Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation is one of three components 
of an innovative model of federal-local and public-private 
partnerships. NeighborWorks' is the network of local non-
profit organizations that carry out the development work in 
neighborhoods. The Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation provides 
grants and technical assistance to the NeighborWorks' member 
organizations, and conducts extensive training for neighborhood 
residents and local organization staff. The third component is 
Neighborhood Housing Services of America, a national non-profit 
secondary market that provides financial services to the 
NeighborWorks' network.
  Neighborhood reinvestment requires holistic thinking and action in 
multiple directions, but basic to neighborhood stability is housing. 
Preserving the aging housing stock in urban neighborhoods and 
maintaining housing affordability are key objectives of the 
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation and the NeighborWorks' 
network. Helping low and moderate income homeowners obtain financing 
and qualified contractors to rehabilitate their houses is a staple 
activity of NeighborWorks' member organizations. 
Rehabilitating existing homes on behalf of low and moderate income 
first-time home buyers adds new stakeholders to neighborhoods. 
Increasing the supply of affordable rental housing helps to further 
meet the housing needs of neighborhood residents.
  Many of the NeighborWorks' member organizations are mutual 
housing associations, innovative experiments in an alternative form of 
home ownership that is proving to be very successful. Mutual housing is 
permanent housing that assures long term affordability and tenure for 
low and moderate income people in a housing system over which the 
residents have considerable control. Mutual housing development and 
units are owned by mutual housing associations. Residents do not 
directly buy or sell their units, but are represented on the 
association board of directors. As members of the association and based 
on their occupancy agreements, the residents in mutual housing are 
considered in most states to have a personal property ownership 
interest in the property. Affordability, protection from displacement, 
democratic participation in the management of the housing, and a 
resident stake in the sustained health of the neighborhood are all 
attributes of mutual housing living. Exploring diverse forms of 
housing, such as mutual housing associations, can help point the way to 
improving housing affordability for low income people.
  A key feature of the success of the Neighborhood Reinvestment 
Corporation and NeighborWorks' partnership is the training 
developed and conducted by the Neighborhood Reinvestment Training 
Institute. Residents, local organization board members, and local 
organization staff participate in extensive training in leadership 
development, engagement of residents in neighborhood organizations, 
conflict resolution, coalition building, organization management, 
resource development, and much more. This high quality training is 
replicated in many parts of the country and the lessons learned put to 
work in local communities.

[[Page S12056]]

  We are seeing results in communities across the country. In my state 
of Massachusetts, the Twin Cities Community Development Corporation 
serves the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster. Terri Murray, the Twin 
Cities CDC Executive Director, says that ``top down'' neighborhood 
revitalization does not succeed and the training is invaluable to 
building strong resident led organizations. The turnaround they are 
experiencing in declining neighborhoods like the Cleghorn section of 
Fitchburg is attributed to a combination of the dedication of 
neighborhood residents, the marshaling of increased municipal services, 
and the leveraging of private and public grants and loans including 
federal HOME funds. Becoming a member of NeighborWorks' and 
thus a beneficiary of Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation resources 
has served to strengthen the capacity of the Twin Cities Community 
Development Corporation, supporting its housing rehabilitation, home 
ownership, and small business/micro-enterprise development programs.
  The Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation enjoys bipartisan support 
in the Senate. Along with its partners, the NeighborWorks' 
network, and Neighborhood Housing Services of America, the Neighborhood 
Reinvestment Corporation is to be commended for its fine work.

                          ____________________