Affordable housing programs may get add-ons - by Alaska Senator Kim Elton

I attest, as a member of the Senate's budget committee, that numbers can be so numbing that caffeine is the fuel that gets you through budget hearings. But making numbers add up in many family's budgets can be downright terrifying. Caffeine won't help.
birdhouse rental Here's some of the really scary family numbers:

if you rent in Juneau, your family income better be in the neighborhood of better than $20 an hour;
if you rent in Anchorage, your family income better be close to $18; and
if you rent in Bethel, add up the family paychecks and see if they get to $22.50.

Three minimum wage earners are needed per household to get into a fair market rent, two-bedroom apartment. Have a job that pays $2.50 or $3.50 more an hour than minimum wage? Plan on working 62.5 hours a week to afford a fair market rate apartment. Even if you've got a better job, keeping a roof over your head can be so tenuous that any family setback makes the roof go away. Don't get sick, don't get laid off.
Think you're doing better than okay, dreaming of owning your own home? Even that's more difficult for Alaskans. Home ownership dreams must contend with these numbers:

the price of a house in Juneau soared 83 percent in the last 10 years while income increased 43 percent;
in Anchorage, home prices skyrocketed 100 percent but incomes only 38 percent; and
Fairbanks home prices bumped up 90 percent while incomes lagged behind at 52 percent growth.

     Then, if you realize your dream, you have to heat the home. If you heat with oil, keep that thermostat real low as the cost of a barrel of crude hovers around $110.
     Affordable housing has become a political buzz word but getting to the goal is tough. Municipal leaders are experimenting with cluster housing and other affordable home initiatives. Non-profits work with a variety of foundations, banks and government agencies to expand the stock for lower income working families. The state has a broad base of rental and home ownership programs (see links at end of newsletter to get a comprehensive list of programs and contact numbers).
     The Senate majority also is working with a coalition of folks to expand options for Alaskans looking for a home or trying to stay in a home. In the hopper are bills to make homes and rental units more energy efficient, therefore more affordable, to expand loan programs that help build the workforce, and to emulate 30 other states that have housing trust programs so folks without a home can get into a home (the average age of a homeless person in Alaska is nine years old).
     The proposed energy efficiency legislation by Sen. Lyman Hoffman, co-sponsored by a bi-partisan group of senators, lets Alaskans tune up homes to cut energy costs. It makes homes a lot house more affordable if the mortgage is not competing as stressfully with the tank of oil.
     The two-pronged energy efficiency approach expands an existing weatherization program to Alaskans with family incomes up to 100 percent of the median income and increases the pool of money available. The second component is a rebate program of between $2,500 and $5,000 to encourage home energy efficient improvements. This bill passed the Senate today 18-1 and is on its way to the house.
     The proposed expansion of the loan program for teachers and health workers is a workforce issue to attract people with these critical skills. The existing loan portfolio outperforms most other state home loan programs and has attracted, and kept, these needed professionals.
     The housing trust legislation creates a partnership between the state, the Alaska Mental Health Trust, and private foundations. The goal is to get Alaskans into housing because a safe home is the basic foundation for a family and a job.
     These three pieces of legislation build upon existing programs for renters and homebuyers that run from first-time home loan programs to veterans' loans and from senior and disabled rental housing to rental housing choice vouchers.
     The goal of existing programs and the proposed legislation is to make numbers add up for Alaskans trying to rent, to buy, and to stay in homes. If these numbers can add up, it helps families, neighborhoods, and communities.

Links to programs:
http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us/loans/loans.cfm
http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us/energy/energy.cfm
http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us/rental/rental.cfm

Our fault--Last week the Anchorage Daily News 'Ear' column reported Joyce Anderson, the head of the legislativeethics office, was not trying to purify Room 604 when she got her newspaper too close to a candle and it caught fire in the Baranof Hotel. Turns out it is our fault. Our office gave her the office copy of the Juneau Empire at the end of the day. That's what happens when the ethics guru takes something for free from a legislative office.

Still not over it--An Alaska representative for unsuccessful AGIA bidder Sinopac spoke this week about the Chinese company's interest in exporting Alaska natural gas to Asia's largest energy consumer. He pointed out the three big producers do a great deal of business with China and argued the three would be keen to sell their gas to the fast-growing market. In listing the three big companies, he mentioned: "Exxon Valdez is one of the biggest chemical producers in China." We didn't know that. We still think of Exxon Valdez as one of the biggest creators of slippery black beaches. To his credit, the spokesman later corrected himself and noted it was ExxonMobil working in China.

Slow down, you move too fast--Today is hump day for the 90-day legislative session. Halfway done. Thursday, the Senate minority said the majority wasn't moving fast enough on important business and there isn't much time left. Today they slowed down the education funding bill by not allowing a vote on the Senate floor.

Now I get it--One of the legislature's computer network gurus finally explained the archiving function of the email inbox in a way I understand. He said if you check your mailbox at home you get some junk mail, some bills, and some photos of the grandkids. He said you throw out the junk mail and respond to the bills. But you don't take the photos and put them back into your home mailbox--you archive them. That makes sense since I now have 637 items in my inbox and some are four years old. I'm going to have to come in some weekend and archive my 'photos'.

Hemi humor--An Alaskan in the capitol this week had a bumper sticker on his motorized wheelchair. Next to the Dodge logo it said: "Yeah, its got a hemi."

Probably not true--This is a short version of a story that showed up on the Anchorage Daily News blog. Reporter Windy Finkleberg of Vogue Magazine tracked down Gov. Palin at her home in Wasilla, then asked, "what about Juneau?" The governor replied, "I saw the movie and found it an affront to family values."