MHDC

This morning at the Missouri Housing and Development Commission meeting, Peter Kinder failed to even find a second for his motion to eliminate the prevailing wage requirements for the rebuilding of low-income residential housing in Joplin.

Terry Nelson of the Carpenters' District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity had this to say after Kinder's motion failed:

We were glad to see the MHDC reject the proposal to slash middle class wages -- taking money away from Joplin’s families will not help Joplin recover, and an overwhelming majority of the Commission sees that.

In his latest failed attack on working families, Kinder proposed gutting wage requirements that protect communities and workers from unscrupulous contractors low-balling bids on taxpayer-funded construction projects by setting wage rates to the local or prevailing standard.

Gary Elliot of the Eastern Missouri Laborers' District Council also commended the MHDC's decision to protect Joplin and her workers:

Rebuilding Joplin is more than a structural investment. I applaud the MHDC’s decision to maintain prevailing wage requirements for affordable housing projects in Missouri.  Strong wages create strong communities, especially in a place like Joplin that has already been through so much.

Unfortunately, there are other Republicans in the legislature who have proposed legislation which would also suspend the prevailing wage in places deemed disaster area just as Kinder's failed proposal would have, though bipartisan coalitions have defeated such measures in the past.

In a unanimous vote, the Missouri Housing Development Commission passed a $122 million plan to combat homelessness in Missouri. State Treasurer Clint Zweifel championed the plan and said that it will provide long-term housing for homeless Missourians. 

We are going to embark on the creation of sustainable long-term housing that begins the process of eliminating homelessness for 24,000 Missourians, of which 5,000 are veterans and 16,000 are school-age children with an average age of eight.

The passage follows praise and an endorsement of the plan from the St. Louis Post Dispatch Editorial Board in today’s paper.

Missouri has about 24,000 homeless people. Mr. Zweifel's modest proposal will barely make a dent in that number. But it's a start. Leveraging state and private dollars to put a roof over the heads of our state's neediest citizens is precisely the role the MHDC should be playing.

Lt. Governor Peter Kinder says the Missouri Housing Development Commission's plan to provide tax breaks for homebuyers is a "half-baked proposal" that amounts to "welfare."

Rich AuBuchon, Kinder's Chief of Staff, says the entire program is a "waste of money."

Kinder spokesman Gary McElyea echoed comments from AFP's Carl Bearden, who said the program "robbed the poor and gave to other poor" and was just "symbolism, feel good politics."

Back on the Planet Earth, Republicans generally refrain from describing reduced tax burdens as "welfare" or "wastes of money." 

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and his Deputy weren't interested in supporting property tax breaks for new homeowners at this morning's MHDC meeting, but they did find time to tweet about far more important matters.

As of 12:45pm, Kinder has not found the time to tweet an explanation for why he cast the sole vote against the program for Missouri families.

Heeding State Treasurer Clint Zweifel's demands for higher standards at the Missouri Housing Development Commission, the MHDC adopted a package of comprehensive ethics reforms today. As detailed by the Associated Press, the new ethics package "requires housing commissioners and agency staff to disclose conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from decision-making, forces developers seeking state assistance to disclose the project’s owner and development team and makes enforcement easier."

Strangely, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder asked the MHDC to delay the vote, admitting that he had not even read the proposal before him. Kinder said he was "not sure they [the new rules] are completely the way we want them." Fortunately, the Commission ignored his request and, with Kinder abstaining, unanimously voted to approve the package.

Today, Treasurer Clint Zweifel called for a series of reforms to remove conflicts of interest for members of the Missouri Housing Development Commission.

Zweifel plans to present his full proposed ethics policies to a commission subcommittee on July 7. Zweifel said a strengthened standards of conduct policy would include meaningful and enforceable rules, including

• Commissioners and staff should have no personal financial relationships with anyone receiving benefits from MHDC. If that were the case, the commissioner or staff member should notify the entire commission in public meeting prior to any discussion and then recuse himself or herself from any vote at a minimum.
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