[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 151 (Tuesday, October 11, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING REBECCA FLANAGAN FOR HER SERVICE TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 
                     HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

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                         HON. RAUL M. GRIJALVA

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 11, 2011

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Rebecca Flanagan for her 
public service.
  Rebecca Flanagan was selected on March 24, 2002, as Director for the 
Field Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 
(HUD) in Phoenix, Arizona and for the last 2 years has taken on the 
responsibility of the Tucson Office jurisdiction, as well. Rebecca is 
the senior management official for the close to 100 staff. She ensures 
that HUD's current and prospective customers gain the necessary access 
to the whole range of HUD services. She provides communities with 
technical expertise and continues to foster and develop public/private 
partnerships, and sustains her involvement within various community 
organizations.
  Rebecca represents the Department throughout the State of Arizona to 
ensure effective and coordinated customer service and public relations.
  Rebecca began her career 34 years ago with HUD as an Equal 
Opportunity Specialist in Denver, Colorado. She was hired to outreach 
to the Hispanic community to ensure their inclusion and access to HUD's 
programs business opportunities, and employment.
  Rebecca transferred to Los Angeles and worked in the Community 
Planning and Development Division for the Los Angeles Office of HUD for 
10 years, developing and sharing her expertise in community development 
with both large (ex. Los Angeles County) and small (ex. Santa Paula) 
communities within the greater L.A. area.
  In 1990, Rebecca moved with her two high school aged sons to Phoenix 
after being selected as the Deputy Manager for the Phoenix HUD office. 
During her tenure, she was able to develop a number of key local 
policies including, the use of ``cash on hand'' by FHA borrowers to 
qualify using a down payment that was saved at home and not in a bank. 
It was very clear that in order to provide FHA insurance to the local 
underserved market of Hispanic and immigrant populations in Phoenix, 
that a policy like this was needed to allow these creditworthy 
borrowers to provide so-called ``mattress money'' as well as ensure 
that the prospective borrower was providing his/her own money. Another 
party to the transaction, namely the real estate agent or homebuilder, 
could not give the money. Given the policy's success in Phoenix, it has 
been adopted nationally by HUD.
  During the last few years she developed a number of important 
partnerships for the Office including a HUD/DES partnership in which 
for the first time, the Arizona Department of Economic Security and HUD 
are jointly focused on their mutual clients living in public and 
assisted housing striving to become self-sufficient. Rebecca continues 
this focus through her involvement with Maricopa Workforce Connections 
Board, which oversees the one-stop career centers within the County.
  In addition, Rebecca has involved the Phoenix HUD Office staff and 
resources in a wide range of community activities such as Job Fairs, 
Minority Appraiser Training, Adopt-a-School Programs, Summer Youth 
Programs, Homeownership education and fairs, and Faith-based 
conferences, all in support of HUD's mission and initiatives.
  Rebecca is especially proud of her past community development efforts 
in the local Wilson neighborhood, located just east of Downtown 
Phoenix. After being the Principal for the Day she heeded the request 
from the school to ``be a role model and help provide housing for the 
neighborhood''. Rebecca created a coalition of school and neighborhood 
representatives, stakeholder businesses and agencies to assist in 
meeting the unmet needs of the Wilson students and their families. 
Rebecca was instrumental in getting the first 4 homes built in the 
Wilson area in over 40 years. Rebecca proudly mentored a young girl 
through high school, and tutored another young student in reading.
  Rebecca was influential in bringing together Arizona leaders in 
business, industry, banks and non-profits, for a ``peer to peer'' 
meeting with the Mayor of San Jose and their leaders. The Arizona group 
flew to San Jose in the first ever endeavor by HUD's Phoenix Office, in 
gathering a prestigious assemblage of housing experts for a roundtable 
forum discussion of affordable housing. The meeting enlightened 
attendees about San Jose's strides and actual accomplishments to 
incorporate their best practices here in Arizona. Soon, other groups 
branched out to address the issue of affordable housing by formulizing 
meetings and conferences, dialogs, summits, and other ongoing efforts 
to continue to assess the need for affordable housing within our 
communities.
  Rebecca earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in Sociology, 
from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). She is married 
to Ray Lechuga, a local businessman, the proud mother of two (2) grown 
sons, Andres and Daniel Benites, and the proudest of all Nanas to 
Erin's and Andres' real live angels, Raven, Willow and Ivy and Jennifer 
and Daniel's angel Diego.

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