House Journal: Page 1851: Thursday, May 3, 2001
May 3, 2001
Brent Siegrist
Speaker of the House
State Capitol Building
L O C A L
Dear Speaker Siegrist:
I hereby transmit House File 694, an act relating to housing by creating a housing
trust fund and a housing trust commission.
I am unable to approve House File 694. House File 694 as it has been passed by the
general assembly would delay progress in developing and promoting a comprehensive
housing strategy for Iowa.
In August of 1999 the Governor's Housing Task Force was convened to develop a
comprehensive housing strategy for Iowa. This strategy was to provide a clear and
unified direction on the use and purpose of housing resources and federal resources
administered by state government. The fifty-six member task force, representing state
and local policy makers, private sector developers, housing program administrators,
non-profits and others released their final report in December of 2000.
The top two recommendations of the Housing Task Force were:
Creation of a housing trust fund to consolidate all state-funded housing
programs into one structure and provide a dedicated funding stream to
maximize leveraging of private and governmental financing for housing
programs.
Consolidation of the administration of all state-funded housing programs
within one entity.
House File 694 fails to implement either of these recommendations. The bill
creates a housing trust fund but provides no funding. Without a dedicated funding
stream the trust fund has no purpose. Additionally, the bill creates a housing trust
commission to make recommendations regarding the implementation of the
consolidation of all housing programs in 2003. There is already agreement that
consolidating housing programs under one entity would provide for the most effective
and efficient use of state housing resources. This action creates an unnecessary layer
of bureaucracy and further delays implementation of a comprehensive housing
strategy.
I have received numerous communications from housing advocates expressing their
disappointment and lack of support for House File 694. The housing needs of our urban
and rural communities are well documented and the time for study is over. It is time
to take action and implement the Housing Task Force recommendations.
For the above reasons, I hereby respectfully disapprove House File 694.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Vilsack
Governor
© 2001 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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Last update: Fri May 4 13:35:00 CDT 2001
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