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Six ways Alabama should use ARPA funds to build a better, more inclusive future
The Alabama Legislature’s 2022 regular session, which began Tuesday, will be unusual in one important way. For the first time in many years, Alabama has more than enough revenue to maintain its bare-bones public services. That means instead of scrambling to avoid cuts, the legislative focus can be on strengthening investments in our state’s future. [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama Housing Trust Fund can help thousands find a place to call home
Alabama lacks more than 73,000 homes for households with incomes below the federal poverty line ($26,500 for a family of four). That means many seniors, students, veterans and people with low or fixed incomes in Alabama can’t afford a safe place to call home. And the pandemic only made the housing crisis worse. Between Sept. [...]
Blog
Arise keeps up advocacy to prevent evictions
Emergency rental assistance programs are falling short in Alabama even as tens of thousands of renters remain at risk of eviction. The Alabama Housing Finance Authority (AHFA) has received more than 70,000 applications for federal rental assistance. But fewer than 4,000 households had been helped as of Oct. 31. The AHFA has distributed only about [...]
Blog
Recovering from Alabama’s costly mistake on COVID-19 recovery funds
This post originally appeared on the Economic Policy Institute's blog. When the Alabama Legislature gathered for a special session in September, it made a shortsighted and costly mistake. Lawmakers chose to allocate $400 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money ‒ about 20% of Alabama’s federal COVID-19 relief funds ‒ to help finance a [...]
Letters & Testimony
Alabama Arise testimony on distribution of federal rental assistance funds
[caption id="attachment_711" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Affordable housing advocates rally outside the Alabama State House in Montgomery in 2015.[/caption] Arise’s Dev Wakeley testified Wednesday before the Legislative Oversight Committee of the Alabama Housing Finance Authority (AHFA). He discussed Arise’s concerns about the slow distribution of federal rental assistance authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act. He also [...]
Blog
Alabama Arise keeps listening. Here’s what we heard in 2021!
Listening is a core value of Alabama Arise. We deeply value the input we get from our members, our allies and most importantly, those directly affected by the work we do together. We depend on what we hear to help guide our issue work and our strategies. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continued to challenge us [...]
Blog
Thousands in Alabama at risk of homelessness after Supreme Court overturns eviction moratorium
Tens of thousands of Alabamians are at risk of losing their homes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium on Aug. 27. This moratorium — the latest in a series at the state and federal level — would have allowed renters harmed by the COVID-19 recession more time to apply for and receive federal rental assistance funds through local agencies.
Blog
Alabama Arise’s administrative advocacy: Big wins in the policy margins
Unlike legislative advocacy, administrative advocacy is an aspect of Alabama Arise’s work we don’t talk about often. Yet that’s where some of our biggest policy wins happen. State agencies and leaders can accomplish some important policy changes via rule changes. Sometimes legislators pass policies with good intentions, but administrative barriers and red tape stop them [...]
Fact Sheet
Rental assistance resources to prevent evictions in Alabama
[caption id="attachment_711" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Affordable housing advocates rally outside the Alabama State House in Montgomery in 2015.[/caption] Are you facing eviction, or is a renter at your property unable to pay rent? Evictions in Alabama are resuming now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the federal eviction moratorium. If you are facing eviction because [...]
News Releases
42 Alabama groups urge Ivey to drive transformative change with federal COVID-19 relief funds
Alabama should build a more equitable and inclusive future by using federal COVID-19 relief money for transformational investments in public health and economic opportunity, according to a letter that 42 churches and organizations across the state sent to Gov. Kay Ivey this week. Alabama Arise is among the groups that co-signed the letter. The American [...]