Four questions for Sister Lillian Murphy

Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Sister Lillian Murphy is the CEO of Denver-based Mercy Housing, one of the nation's largest affordable housing developers, owners and managers. The nonprofit group has an annual budget of about $100 million, a 34,000-home portfolio, and has developed housing worth $1.8 billion across the country. Murphy, who joined Mercy Housing 21 years ago, last month was honored as the 2008 Leader of the Year during Affordable Housing Week in Colorado. She met recently with the Rocky at Parkside Apartments, the first affordable rental property at Stapleton.

Do you think we have an affordable housing crisis in the Denver area and Colorado?

I think we have an affordable housing crisis all over the country. Certainly, Denver has its own share of that crisis. And it is transportation, the cost of gas, health care, and all the other things that make it a burden for working families to make ends meet. Wages have not risen as much as rental costs.

Were you disappointed that Housing Works for Colorado pulled the plug on its proposal for a constitutional amendment that would create an investment fund for affordable housing?

I did support it. We work in cities in 41 states across the country and the places where we have the most success is where they have permanent funding in place. That is not the case in Colorado.

What do you say to the idea to create a new tax on housing is not the way to go, considering how battered the home market is?

We have to look at the community as a whole. We have obligations as human beings to provide safe and clean affordable housing. The market takes care of the vast majority of the people. It's a very efficient market for 75 percent or so of the adult population. What we need to do is take care of the other 25 percent of the population.

What keeps you awake at night?

A lot of new projects are financed by housing tax credits and the biggest buyers were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They're out of the market because of ripple effects from the subprime mortgage debacle. That means 50 percent of the market is gone. And HUD won't just give Mercy Housing $100 million. If they did, we would guarantee that we would use the money wisely and have permanent, well-run affordable housing projects.