WHEREAS, Children represented almost 30% of the 4,316 people who stayed in emergency and domestic violence shelters between July 1, 1994 and June 30, 1995; and

WHEREAS, The Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) helps over 1,000 households each year with rent or mortgage assistance to prevent homelessness or establish a permanent residence; and

WHEREAS, A family earning the minimum wage would have to pay 75% of its income for the average-priced ($581 a month) two-bedroom apartment; and

WHEREAS, The current AFDC benefit for a mother and child is $449 per month and only one quarter of the households receiving AFDC live in subsidized housing; and

WHEREAS, Waiting lists for public housing and Section 8 tenant-based certificates often are closed to new applicants, making households wait for years before a unit becomes available and that in FY '96 for the first time, a federal budget did not include any additional Section 8 certificates; and

WHEREAS, One of the fastest growing groups of renter households are those with incomes below the poverty level--from 22,800 households in 1988 to 33,100 in 1992; and

WHEREAS, The median age of Rhode Island's rental stock is 60 years and in 1990, 3,800 housing units in the state had severe physical problems; and

WHEREAS, The frail elderly, persons with developmental and functional disabilities and others need specialized housing and programs and physical adaptations suited to their unique needs; and

WHEREAS, Almost 1,100 children eligible to enter kindergarten in the fall of 1997 are lead poisoned and that living in substandard housing is a primary risk factor for lead poisoning in children; and

WHEREAS, The average income of households receiving Rhode Island Housing mortgages is less than $30,000 and the lowest-income buyers receive extra assistance such as interest-rate buydowns deferred-payment second mortgages and closing cost loans and grants; and

WHEREAS, The construction and rehabilitation of affordable single family homes and rental properties for low-income Rhode Islanders brings millions of dollars in federal funds and private investment into the state, creates jobs and stimulates other sectors of the economy through the purchase of goods and services; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this senate of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby proclaims April 23, 1996 to be "Affordable Housing Day in Rhode Island"; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the secretary of state be and he hereby is authorized and directed to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Statewide Housing Action Coalition.