January 18, 2018
By Jennifer Bihm
Assistant Editor
Last Thursday, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it awarded a record $2 billion to homeless assistance programs across the nation.
The money, awarded by the department amid budget cuts, has been divided among 7,300 local homeless assistance programs under HUD’s Continuum of Care program, which grants support to local programs serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
“HUD stands with our local partners who are working each and every day to house and serve our most vulnerable neighbors,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said. “We know how to end homelessness and it starts with embracing a housing-first approach that relies upon proven strategies that offer permanent housing solutions to those who may otherwise be living in our shelters and on our streets.”
Los Angeles County — which has the nation's second-highest number of homeless people of any region at more than 55,000 — received about $122 million.
Almost 109.4 million dollars was granted to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which manages homeless services and programs in the county, LAHSA Communications Director Tom Waldman confirmed. Long Beach will received about $8.19 million, Pasadena just over $3.25 million and Glendale slightly above $2.41 million.
California received the largest share of any state, with nearly $382.6 million for 900 programs, according to recent news reports. Here in Los Angeles, homelessness closely rivaled New York City for having one of the largest homeless populations in the country. Los Angeles County's 55,188 number of homeless people in 2017 was slightly behind New York City's 76,501, according to the 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress by HUD.
HUD Continuum of Care grant funding supports a broad array of interventions designed to assist individuals and families experiencing homelessness, particularly those living in places not meant for habitation, located in sheltering programs, or at imminent risk of becoming homeless, according to the organization’s officials. Each year, HUD serves more than a million people through emergency shelter, transitional, and permanent housing programs, they said via their website hud.gov.
Recently, HUD reported homelessness crept up in the U.S., especially among individuals experiencing long-term chronic homelessness. HUD's 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found that 553,742 persons experienced homelessness on a single night in 2017, an increase of .7 percent since last year. Homelessness among families with children declined 5.4 percent nationwide since 2016, local communities report the number of persons experiencing long-term chronic homelessness and Veterans increased. HUD's 2017 homeless estimate points to a significant increase in the number of reported persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness, particularly in California and other high-cost rental markets experiencing a significant shortage of affordable housing.
January 11, 2018
LAWT News Service
California State Board of Equalization (BOE) Member Jerome E. Horton issued this statement about Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget for 2018-19:
“California desperately needs state tax reform, including on-the-job training, tax credits for businesses, lowering the personal income tax on poor and middle income families, and more targeted tax-exempt bond financing that encourages investment in education, prison reform, affordable housing, and a clean environment.
“These state bonds will provide a tax-exempt interest deduction in exchange for an investment in closing the economic, housing, education, wealth, and criminal justice disparities in California, and offset the loss from the capped state and local tax deduction.
“Ultimately, promoting on-the-job training, slowing housing inflation, increasing the disposable income and spending by our citizens, will stimulate the State’s economy, growth, and additional state tax revenue.
“The California Legislature should also repeal Proposition 209 that eliminated affirmative action, increase state employee salaries by 5% as a way of stimulating the economy as well as employment of women and minorities at the executive levels of government. To offset the costs, the Legislature can redirect existing unproductive tax credits and/or toll the above mentioned tax credits for one year, pending performance.”
Board of Equalization Member Jerome Horton has over 37 years of public and tax policy experience, serving as a member of the Inglewood City Council, State Legislature, California Medical Commission, California Cultural Endowment and Workforce Investment Board and as the 1st African American elected to the California State Board of Equalization.
January 11, 2018
By Jennifer Bihm
Assistant Editor
California State Assemblymember Autumn Burke said she is “honored” to have been named chair of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee January 4, as she announced that in the new position she would “battle President Trump’s new tax plan”
“My colleagues and I will get to work on offsetting the damage done by the President and Congressional Republicans,” said Burke.
“We will be looking at various options to ensure that all Californians would be able to obtain some tax relief and in doing so, provide a real, sustainable solution. I am honored to serve as Chair of the Revenue and Taxation committee. I appreciate Speaker Rendon’s trust and support to lead this committee at such a critical time for our state.”
Under the new plan, Californians will no longer be able to deduct property taxes paid to their local governments and income taxes paid to the state, there is also a $500,000 limit on mortgage deductions. On a positive note, Trump’s plan lowers the tax rate for individuals and families and reduces the number of tax brackets from seven to only three (12, 25 and 35 percent). It increases the standard deduction and it increases the Child Tax Credit. It also limits the maximum tax rate for small businesses here.
But, said Burke, those positives won’t amount to much for California’s middle class.
“The new federal tax code cuts corporate taxes from 35% to 21%,” Burke said in a statement released to the Sentinel.
“This results in billions of dollars flooding into Corporate coffers. And if you are lucky enough to have multi-millionaire parents, then you get a $10 million dollar tax break on your inheritance. So basically if you own a corporation or have insanely rich parents, you are going to be doing very well.
“For everyone else, you get a few hundred dollars a year in tax relief, if you are lucky. That’s the help the President is giving the middle class. And the price we pay, and our children will pay for this is a $1.46 trillion deficit for our federal government according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Like with climate change, the Congressional Republicans tell us not to listen to the experts, trust them that everything will work out just fine. But they are putting our economy, our families, our jobs, and the financial security of the nation in jeopardy.”
“There’s no question this tax legislation would change homeownership as we’ve known it, eliminating long-enjoyed financial benefits,” wrote George Skelton of the Capitol Journal.
“We all remember the argument that motivated our first leap from renter to homeowner: At least we can deduct the mortgage interest and property tax. The problem with the $500,000 limit on mortgage deductions is that in many areas of California, housing prices far exceed that amount…”
December 28, 2017
City News Service
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Wednesday that it has assessed $1.6 million in back wages and liquidated damages for Southland garment industry workers since the start of 2017.
Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act were found in 94 percent of 129 Wage and Hour Division investigations of garment factories in the region, resulting in payments due to 1,377 employees during the year, according to the Labor Department. The department also assessed an additional $36,000 in civil penalties associated with the investigations.
Many of the investigations disclosed employees who were paid well below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, with some receiving as little as $4.27 per hour. Investigators also found employers often failed to pay employees overtime at time-and-a-half of their regular rates of pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a week, as required by the FLSA.
Department officials continue to meet with retailers to encourage them to avoid non-compliant manufacturers and to buy only from suppliers that comply with federal labor laws, the agency said.
"In addition to our outreach efforts in this industry, we continue our investigations in Southern California to ensure local garment employees receive their rightfully earned pay," said Ruben Rosalez, Wage and Hour Division regional administrator. "Unfortunately, we continue to find wage violations at nine out of every 10 facilities we investigate."
"Manufacturers that fail to pay their employees minimum wage and overtime have a negative impact on the garment industry by unfairly undercutting their competition," he said.