Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Section 8 Housing Battle Waged Locally & Nationally
From here to hell, the battle over the Section 8 Housing Program that serves nearly 2 million people across the nation, is taking it's toll on the blind, elderly, disabled and low-income families it was meant to serve, but now threatens with homelessness.
THE SECTION 8 HOUSING BATTLE IS WAGED ACROSS THE NATION
CATHOLIC CHARITIES JOINS BATTLE TO SAVE SECTION 8!
On a local level, advocates have stepped up to the plate to defend the Section 8 renters of Alameda, CA, and pressure local officials in an effort to save 274 families from becoming homeless. See letter June 25, 2004 from local advocates.
On a national level, Catholic Charities have just stepped up to the plate to defend the renters of the Section 8 program. See Press Release>> Across the nation, news stories continue to expose how down and dirty the Republican Party treats the blind, disabled and elderly in the name of Compassionate Conservatism.
The shocking stories telling of the plight of the poorest of the poor and weakest of the weak being tossed out of their housing by the Republican Party's proposals to gut the Section 8 program have been gaining national attention for the sheer ruthlessness and macabre audacity of what is going on from coast to coast lately.
As the thousands of blind and disabled people are being forced into homelessness onto the streets of America by the grim policies of HUD's Alfonso Jackson and the War Monger, George W. Bush, communities around the country are astounded by the catastropy unfolding before their very eyes.
The anger brewing across the land for the mistreatment of the working class and the poor by the Bush administration is spilling over into a battle of class warfare being waged from shore to shore.
If the people ever get their hands on the War Criminals in the White House, the Gang of Bush cannot expect no mercy for the crimes against humanity that they have ruthlessly waged around the planet.
For the latest in tenant/housing news join Roll Back The Rents: Send an e-mail to; rollbacktherents-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com
^^^^^^^^^^^
June 25, 2004
URGENT
Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and Congresspersons Pelosi, Lee and Stark:
Delivered by Facsimile: 202-228-3954; 415-956-6701; 510-763-6538; 202-225-9817; 510-494-5852; 202-226-3805; 202-225-8259, 415.861.1670
The undersigned are writing on behalf of the 2391 Section 8 voucher tenants— many of whom are people with disabilities, and seniors, and all of whom are very low-income---in the City of Alameda who are facing the imminent loss of their homes due to the improper termination of their vouchers. The terminations are scheduled for July 1, 2004---barely one week from now. They are the direct result of HUD's misinterpretation of HUD appropriations acts. The Alameda Housing Authority (AHA) is one the numerous housing authorities throughout the country that has or will be affected by HUD’s illegal and insupportable interpretation and application of the laws.
The Law Center For Families, The Public Interest Law Project provide legal assistance to low-income residents of Alameda County and are working with effected tenants who will experience tremendous hardships--even homelessness--should this dire problem not be immediately corrected. The National Housing Law Project assists and supports the efforts of these organizations. Sentinel Fair Housing provides assistance with fair housing issues. Bill Simpich is a civil rights attorney, also working with effected tenants. Protection & Advocacy, Inc. (PAI) provides legal assistance to and advocates with and on behalf of people with disabilities. PAI is representing tenants with disabilities who face imminent homelessness.
There are numerous efforts that have been mounted nationally to address this voucher funding crisis. In Massachusetts concerted advocacy efforts placed pressure on HUD to release funds to address the short term funding issues. In that case, the federal representatives, local advocates and Governor Romney aggressively advocated on behalf of the voucher holders and successfully obtained HUD action.
We are aware that you have taken steps to address this problem that is having an impact on Section 8 recipients and applicants throughout California. We thank each one of you for taking these steps, but seek your additional assistance on behalf of the affected City of Alameda families. While the Alameda Housing Authority is a small housing authority, 14% of their voucher families are facing eviction. Variations of these funding problems will no doubt confront other housing authorities throughout the state. Thus, it is extremely important that you act now on behalf of the Alameda City Section 8 families so as to prevent the spread of this or similar problems.
The following is a summary of the relevant facts affecting the City of Alameda Housing Authority that we hope is helpful to you. These are the facts as we currently understand them (the picture changes on a day-to-day basis depending on events that occur due to efforts that the housing authority has taken—e.g., requesting that landlords voluntarily agree to reductions):
The Housing Authority sent out termination notices to 239 Section 8 voucher recipients that are to take effect on July 1, 2004. The Housing Authority is authorized for 1625 vouchers. As of July 1, due to the terminations, it will have 1430 vouchers in the program, far less than the authorized level. The apparent breakdown of terminated vouchers is as follows: 95 due to HUD’s use of its new allocation formula, 100 due to erroneous submission of information that the housing authority provided for May/June/and July 2003 figures, and 44 due to overleasing.
There is a potential achievable solution to each of these problems. But the housing authority has little flexibility as HUD has failed since December 2002 to fund the housing authority’s reserves.
What is needed immediately is that HUD:
1. Fund the housing authority’s reserves and approve requests to allow full use of the reserves to address the issues related to the 195 families threatened with termination due to funding formula determinations.
2. Immediately approve the housing authority’s request for a higher inflation factor; and
3. Immediately act on the housing authority’s request for correction of the May/June/July 2003 figures.
We request that you schedule a California congressional delegation meeting with Secretary Jackson to urge HUD to take these actions immediately. In addition, we urge you to raise this issue with Governor Schwarzenegger on behalf of the voucher tenants of the City of Alameda and other voucher holders and applicants in California who may also be seriously impacted by HUD’s actions with respect to the funding of housing authorities in Fiscal Year 2004.
Finally, we would like to schedule a call with your appropriate staff no later than early next week to discuss this urgent crisis in affordable housing. We have already discussed this matter with Sean McCluikie from Congress Member Stark’s office.
We look forward to working with you on this matter. Please contact me at 510.451.9261 Ext. 208 or Raquel Kuronen at the same number, extension 204 if you have questions about our recommendations. And, thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Luz Buitrago
Law Center For Families
Mike Rawson
Public Interest Law Project
Cathy Bishop
National Housing Law Project
Mona Breed
Sentinel Fair Housing
Bill Simpich
Civil Rights Attorney
Fred Nisen
Protection & Advocacy, Inc.
1 The number of affected persons is of course much higher as some voucher holders have families that in some cases are large.
^^^^^^^^^^^
Politics - U.S. Newswire Press Releases
Catholic Charities Agencies Across the Country Mobilize to Save Vital Section 8 Low-Income Housing Program
Tue Jul 6, 1:00 PM ET
To: National Desk
Contact: Shelley Borysiewicz of Catholic Charities, 703-549-1390 ext. 147 or sborysiewicz [at] catholiccharitiesusa.org
ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Catholic Charities agencies from Fall River, MA, to San Diego, CA, are mobilizing to defeat the Administration's proposals that would restructure and gut funding for a successful housing program that serves more than two million low-income families, seniors, and disabled people each year.
Across the county, local Catholic Charities are meeting with members of Congress, conducting letter writing campaigns to public officials, convening coalitions, holding press conferences, and placing opinion pieces in local newspapers in an effort to protect hundreds of thousands of low-income households who could lose their homes if Congress adopts proposed changes to the federal Housing Choice (Section 8) Voucher Program.
For 30 years, the Section 8 voucher program has enabled low- income families to afford modest apartments on the private market. For seniors and disabled persons on very low fixed incomes, Section 8 allows them to live with dignity in decent housing. Because of the Section 8 program, local property owners can continue to maintain their buildings, and neighborhoods can maintain stability.
"Despite the fact that Section 8 meets a critical, growing need for affordable housing, especially among extremely low- income families, recent federal policy changes and proposals are threatening to undermine the program," said Douglas Rice, director of housing and community development for Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA). Preserving the Section 8 program is CCUSA's top legislative priority for this session of Congress.
"Local Catholic Charities agencies confront the consequences of high housing costs every day, as thousands of families and individuals turn to them for food, shelter, or other forms of emergency assistance because they are paying more than half of their income just to keep a roof over their head. Unfortunately, many more people may soon be forced to seek the assistance of Catholic Charities and other agencies if the Administration's misguided changes are adopted," said Rice.
In February, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (news - web sites) (HUD) proposed major changes to Section 8, including a $1 billion cut in funding for 2005 and rule changes that would undermine the program. The HUD proposal also would restructure the program as a block grant, which would mean that assistance would no longer keep pace with rising housing costs. If HUD's proposals are accepted by Congress, as many as 250,000 families could lose their voucher assistance in the first year alone.
"To make matters worse, this spring HUD announced that Section 8 funding would be distributed to housing authorities according to a new, more restrictive formula. As a result, voucher assistance has already been reduced," said Rice "Fortunately, Congress has the power to prevent and reverse these changes in the coming months as it develops the fiscal 2005 budget."
Nationwide Catholic Charities are working hard to show Congress and the public just how damaging these changes are and will be to their communities and neighbors.
Last week, Catholic Charities of San Diego, CA, held a press conference with a coalition of seven other major housing and nutrition agencies to draw attention to the hardship that the community's seniors will continue to face if funding for Section 8 and senior nutrition programs is not increased. The Seniors in Crisis Coalition is also coordinating a letter writing campaign at the various agencies' nutrition sites, asking seniors to write letters to their elected officials.
At a meeting with members of Congress and staff later this month, Catholic Charities of Fall River, MA, and a coalition it formed with six other organizations aims to put a face on the Section 8 issue. A panel of Section 8 recipients -- two working families, two seniors, two people with disabilities, and a family on a waiting list to get a voucher -- will explain just how cuts to the Section 8 program will hurt them. Representatives from the Fall River and New Bedford Housing Authorities will speak about how the loss of Section 8 vouchers will affect those two cities; and a landlord, whose properties are 30 percent Section 8, will explain how program changes will adversely affect his business.
Throughout the year, Catholic Charities of Trenton, NJ, has been engaged in a comprehensive advocacy strategy around housing issues in the community, including Section 8. This month the agency will be conducting a letter writing campaign to House members in the diocese; visiting members of Congress in Washington, DC; meeting with the editorial boards of two local newspapers; and submitting op-eds to newspapers.
Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO, also has formed a coalition of community leaders, social service organizations, housing providers, and Section 8 tenants to pursue a two-pronged community response of advocacy and awareness. The "Save Section 8" coalition plans to kick off its activities at a public rally with the mayors of Kansas City and St. Joseph, MO, later this month.
"Not so long ago, the Bush administration called on local officials, charities, and faith-based organizations to band together to end homelessness in their communities. This is a bold and noble goal-yet it is a goal that can be met only by strengthening, not weakening, successful affordable housing programs like Section 8," said Rice.
This press release is available online at http://www.catholiccharitiesinfo.org.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
-0-/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
^^^^^^^^^^^
The New York Times
Playing Games With Housing
Published: June 30, 2004
Housing
Vouchers
Congress
Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have been playing a transparent game of "good cop, bad cop" since HUD set out to savage Section 8, the federal program that provides housing subsidies for the poor. Republicans in Congress say they budgeted enough money to underwrite the program, and they blame recalcitrant officials at HUD for the cutbacks — while the agency, in turn, maintains that it is doing what Congress told it to do.
Behind the game, however, both sides seem intent on squeezing money from the HUD budget to help pay for all those tax cuts for the rich, even if it means exposing thousands of poor families to the possibility of eviction.
Most of the families who receive subsidies under the 30-year-old Section 8 program live at or below the poverty level. They pay about 30 percent of their incomes toward rent and government vouchers pay the rest.
Conservative Republicans, who have long wanted to scale back the program, have usually been beaten back by their colleagues. This time around, the appropriators in Congress provided full financing for the program while quietly authorizing HUD to make cuts by administrative means. The department then announced that it would no longer pay the full cost of the vouchers, and it froze federal funds at the level of August 2003, plus an adjustment for inflation.
In addition, HUD's new policy involves retroactive cuts, which only became clear at the end of May, long after local housing authorities had committed themselves to helping new families, including many who had waited for years to get decent housing through the voucher program. Obviously, if cuts have to be made, the only sensible way to make them is to do so gradually and well in advance, so the local housing agencies can adjust to the new reality while preserving housing for their most vulnerable tenants.
Faced with unexpected shortfalls, local public housing agencies have informed landlords that they can no longer pay agreed-upon rent subsidies, making it likely that many Section 8 tenants will soon be shown the door. A recent survey from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggests that most agencies with shortfalls will go this route. The survey also shows that local authorities have revoked newly issued vouchers and have begun to withdraw from circulation the vouchers that become available when families get better jobs and move out of the subsidy program.
In addition, local agencies have begun to raise rents for the vulnerable families who can least afford to pay, something that is a sure way of destabilizing these families while driving them deeper into poverty.
The Bush administration is counting on Republicans at the state level to keep quiet in the interest of party solidarity. But given the disastrous nature of the new policies, governors, state legislators and mayors of both parties have both a moral and political obligation to speak out.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK TO ARTICLE PRINT ARTICLE
Article Last Updated: Saturday, July 03, 2004 - 3:37:43 AM PST
Section 8 tenants on Island get break
Officials juggle funding sources, find way to let 100 stay in their apartments through July
By Susan McDonough, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA -- The city has come up with a plan to keep about 100 Section 8 tenants in their apartments, at least through the end of the month.
The Alameda Housing Authority plans to funnel about $357,000 of federal money earmarked for other affordable housing projects to tenants dropped from the federal housing assistance program.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides about $1.8 billion annually to states and counties to build and repair affordable housing, finance home ownership partnerships with low-income buyers, and pay security deposits for Section 8 recipients.
Alameda receives a portion of this money through its participation in the Alameda County HOME Consortium, a collection of East Bay cities, excluding Berkeley and Oakland, organized for the purpose of administering this federal community development block grant.
Housing Authority Director Michael Pucci said Friday the redirection of HUD funds won't affect local affordable housing programs, with the exception of the Section 8 security deposit program.
The Alameda City Council approved the shift Thursday during an emotional meeting with about 20 Section 8 recipients who were angry and frustrated over a tumultuous few months when news about their housing subsidies seemed to change daily.
In early June, the Alameda Housing Authority told 238 people here they and their families would be dropped from the Section 8 program July 1. Then last week it rescinded almost half the termination notices when it found money in the budget by reducing rents, and with help from surrounding housing authorities that took about 50 voucher holders into their programs.
The City Council's unanimous deci-
sion had Pucci sending out rent checks Friday for the last of the Section 8 voucher holders facing evictions.
Still, Pucci said, it's only a reprieve.
Vice Mayor Tony Daysog has said the city owes it to Section 8 families to provide at least two to three months in which they can find alternative housing and deal with the loss of their rent subsidies.
The council knew as far back as February that changes at HUD at the federal level could potentially affect at least some Section 8 tenants locally, but it failed to warn them, Daysog said.
Pucci and other city leaders defended their decision to wait until May to announce budget cuts at the agency, saying they thought the problems could be "dealt with" without dropping people from the program.
The Housing Authority continues to seek revenue sources to continue providing rent subsidies to all 1,625 families it was originally authorized to help.
Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson, Pucci and Alameda City Manager Jim Flint have scheduled a conference call next week with HUD Assistant Secretary Steven Nesmith to appeal for millions of dollars in reserve funds that Flint said the federal agency is, "by their own regulations," supposed to replenish.
The Alameda housing authority spent almost $3 million of its reserves to pay rents for Section 8 recipients in June.
The city is also waiting to hear whether HUD will honor its readjusted funding formula, which could bring an additional $90,000 a month to the agency if approved.
"We think we can bridge the gap to make payments for all the vouchers," Pucci said.
Jeremy Prickett, an activist with the Campaign for Renters Rights, which has been organizing protests around the Alameda Section 8 cuts since the crisis developed, said tenants here won't be happy until that happens.
"There's a certain amount of relief," he said of the City Council's decision to funnel money to the Housing Authority.
"But we're not satisfied with one or three months (reprieve). We think it is the responsibility of the city to house the poor," he said.
The group is expected to march in Alameda's popular annual July 4 parade.
"We definitely plan to move through that parade ... and tell all we will hold the city accountable if even one person is put out on the street," he said.
Contact Susan McDonough at smcdonough [at] angnewspapers.com .
^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.thehill.com/daily_features/070604.aspx
Housing vouchers work, they’re needed, and they’re in trouble
By Barbara Sard July 6, 2004
Imagine a federal program designed to help low-income families keep a roof over their heads that for three decades has drawn bipartisan support for its effectiveness.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6267~2254161,00.html
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK TO ARTICLE PRINT ARTICLE
Pittsfield, MA.
Article Published: Monday, July 05, 2004 - 12:31:14 PM EST
The shame of American homelessness
No one knows for sure how many Americans are homeless. The most recent comprehensive survey, by the Urban Institute, was in 1996, when it was estimated 3.4 million people, nearly half of them children, were struggling to survive in shelters, doubled up with friends, or camped out on city streets. What's certain is that the number has grown, for shelters are packed to overflowing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(New Jersey Section 8 Tenants)
Renters take plea for subsidy to congressmen
Published in the Home News Tribune 7/02/04
By MICHELLE MASKALY
STAFF WRITER
http://www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,994218,00.html
WOODBRIDGE: A day after their Section 8 vouchers were suspended, some of the 71 affected township families and their Perth Amboy supporters yesterday organized in front of the Woodbridge Housing Authority, then boarded a bus to attend a rally at the Morristown office of a congressman who serves on the House Appropriations Committee.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(Duluth Minnesota Section 8 Tenants)
Housing voucher cuts mean struggles for low-income families
Missy Johnson
Budgeteer News
Last Updated: Friday, July 02nd, 2004 11:54:51 AM
http://www.duluth.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=177130
Missy Johnson/Budgeteer News
Section 8 voucher recipient Jimmie Grant attended the rally on Wednesday to help raise awareness of the budget cuts.
For the past 21 years, Section 8 voucher recipient Lorelei Louks has used the little extra money she has to spruce up her low-income apartment with brightly colored flowers.
However, after receiving less federal funding for the first time in 30 years, Duluth’s Housing and Redevelopment Board was forced to cut back on Section 8 voucher funding and will now require Section 8 recipients to pay an extra $46 a month of their rent.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(Tacoma, Washington Section 8 Tenants)
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/32900.html
Murray hears housing officials; Federal cuts: Issue 'is about priorities,' she says
JASON HAGEY, The News Tribune
The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington)
July 1, 2004
In a meeting with low-income housing officials Wednesday in Tacoma, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray promised to take their stories of despair, concern and frustration over cutbacks in federal housing assistance back to Washington, D.C.
"This really is about priorities in this country," said Murray, who spent about an hour listening to officials describe how recent changes in the federal Section 8 rent subsidy program have hurt poor families and how they fear future cuts could hurt even more.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Opinion/Section 8 Mess/San Francisco Bay Guardian
Click below...
http://www.sfbg.com/38/41/x_oped.html
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/070604/a0106financing.html
Nonprofits struggle to finance affordable housing
By ELIZABETH GANGA
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 6, 2004)
Local nonprofit agencies trying to build affordable housing say funding changes to the Section 8 housing voucher program are already hurting their ability to finance new projects.
Without Section 8 subsidizing the rents, the projects will generate less revenue because the non-profits generally base the rent on tenants' income. Someone with a very low income may be able to pay only $400 a month, said Rose Noonan, executive director of the Housing Action Council in Tarrytown, which helps other nonprofits structure financing for new developments.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/309805087396860.shtml
Tue, Jul 6, 2004
Low-income families find it harder to get help
By David Paulsen
Wausau Daily Herald
dpaulsen [at] wdhprint.com
About 400 low-income Wausau families on a waiting list for federal Section 8 housing assistance have little chance of obtaining the vouchers now that Wausau and other communities are freezing the program.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/070604/a0106section8.html
Section 8 changes hit hard
By ELIZABETH GANGA
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 6, 2004)
Greg Carter sees himself in five or 10 years with a college degree, a good-paying job and a stable life.
But for now, the 25-year-old, who suffers from Tourette's syndrome, doesn't have a job or a permanent place to stay. He recently moved to Westchester to be near friends and family, and he is working on managing his neurological illness, relaunching his college studies and finding part-time work. He spends his nights on one of four or five different couches at the homes of friends who let him stay a few times a week.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/33459.html
HOUSING FUNDS CLIPPED HUD TO CUT BACK ON SECTION 8 MONEY
Michelle Dynesrep2 [at] wyomingnews.com
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, WY)
July 3, 2004
CHEYENNE -- Cutbacks to the federal Section 8 low-income housing program have put a freeze on helping additional families in Laramie County.
The program subsidizes housing costs for those below an area's median income. It is administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and local agents.
While the reductions are just 2.2 percent of the $7 million annual budget, they still will create a pinch, said Mike Stanfield, executive director for Cheyenne Housing Authority.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/33295.html
Agencies still wrongly counting $600 subsidy against seniors
Susan Jaffe, Plain Dealer Reporter
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
July 3, 2004
AGING MATTERS
Some news travels very slowly in Washington. A few government agencies still don’t know the $600 subsidy that low-income seniors receive with their Medicare discount drug cards must not be used to disqualify them for other federal benefits.
Congress has earned nearly universal praise for trying to help those seniors who really need it most, even if high medicine bills can quickly consume the $600.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Alameda set to put people on the street
Chip Johnson Friday, June 18, 2004
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/18/BAGFP77LH81.DTL
Six months after Doris Allen and her autistic son were ousted from an Alameda motel to make way for its demolition, the city's housing authority sent notice that they will probably have to move again -- and soon.
She and her 7-year-old son, Michael, are among 240 Alameda families in subsidized housing who received a letter on June 4 saying they'd be cut from the city agency's list of Section 8 voucher recipients on July 1.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Click below for a large batch of the Section 8 stories happening nationwide to follow the Section 8 Disaster....
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/06/1686041_comment.php#1686046
Click below for another batch of Section 8 stories...
http://www.sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/1697432.php
Even more Section 8 stories & info...Click on link below...
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/06/1683399.php
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Send e-mail to:
rollbacktherents-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com
CATHOLIC CHARITIES JOINS BATTLE TO SAVE SECTION 8!
On a local level, advocates have stepped up to the plate to defend the Section 8 renters of Alameda, CA, and pressure local officials in an effort to save 274 families from becoming homeless. See letter June 25, 2004 from local advocates.
On a national level, Catholic Charities have just stepped up to the plate to defend the renters of the Section 8 program. See Press Release>> Across the nation, news stories continue to expose how down and dirty the Republican Party treats the blind, disabled and elderly in the name of Compassionate Conservatism.
The shocking stories telling of the plight of the poorest of the poor and weakest of the weak being tossed out of their housing by the Republican Party's proposals to gut the Section 8 program have been gaining national attention for the sheer ruthlessness and macabre audacity of what is going on from coast to coast lately.
As the thousands of blind and disabled people are being forced into homelessness onto the streets of America by the grim policies of HUD's Alfonso Jackson and the War Monger, George W. Bush, communities around the country are astounded by the catastropy unfolding before their very eyes.
The anger brewing across the land for the mistreatment of the working class and the poor by the Bush administration is spilling over into a battle of class warfare being waged from shore to shore.
If the people ever get their hands on the War Criminals in the White House, the Gang of Bush cannot expect no mercy for the crimes against humanity that they have ruthlessly waged around the planet.
For the latest in tenant/housing news join Roll Back The Rents: Send an e-mail to; rollbacktherents-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com
^^^^^^^^^^^
June 25, 2004
URGENT
Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and Congresspersons Pelosi, Lee and Stark:
Delivered by Facsimile: 202-228-3954; 415-956-6701; 510-763-6538; 202-225-9817; 510-494-5852; 202-226-3805; 202-225-8259, 415.861.1670
The undersigned are writing on behalf of the 2391 Section 8 voucher tenants— many of whom are people with disabilities, and seniors, and all of whom are very low-income---in the City of Alameda who are facing the imminent loss of their homes due to the improper termination of their vouchers. The terminations are scheduled for July 1, 2004---barely one week from now. They are the direct result of HUD's misinterpretation of HUD appropriations acts. The Alameda Housing Authority (AHA) is one the numerous housing authorities throughout the country that has or will be affected by HUD’s illegal and insupportable interpretation and application of the laws.
The Law Center For Families, The Public Interest Law Project provide legal assistance to low-income residents of Alameda County and are working with effected tenants who will experience tremendous hardships--even homelessness--should this dire problem not be immediately corrected. The National Housing Law Project assists and supports the efforts of these organizations. Sentinel Fair Housing provides assistance with fair housing issues. Bill Simpich is a civil rights attorney, also working with effected tenants. Protection & Advocacy, Inc. (PAI) provides legal assistance to and advocates with and on behalf of people with disabilities. PAI is representing tenants with disabilities who face imminent homelessness.
There are numerous efforts that have been mounted nationally to address this voucher funding crisis. In Massachusetts concerted advocacy efforts placed pressure on HUD to release funds to address the short term funding issues. In that case, the federal representatives, local advocates and Governor Romney aggressively advocated on behalf of the voucher holders and successfully obtained HUD action.
We are aware that you have taken steps to address this problem that is having an impact on Section 8 recipients and applicants throughout California. We thank each one of you for taking these steps, but seek your additional assistance on behalf of the affected City of Alameda families. While the Alameda Housing Authority is a small housing authority, 14% of their voucher families are facing eviction. Variations of these funding problems will no doubt confront other housing authorities throughout the state. Thus, it is extremely important that you act now on behalf of the Alameda City Section 8 families so as to prevent the spread of this or similar problems.
The following is a summary of the relevant facts affecting the City of Alameda Housing Authority that we hope is helpful to you. These are the facts as we currently understand them (the picture changes on a day-to-day basis depending on events that occur due to efforts that the housing authority has taken—e.g., requesting that landlords voluntarily agree to reductions):
The Housing Authority sent out termination notices to 239 Section 8 voucher recipients that are to take effect on July 1, 2004. The Housing Authority is authorized for 1625 vouchers. As of July 1, due to the terminations, it will have 1430 vouchers in the program, far less than the authorized level. The apparent breakdown of terminated vouchers is as follows: 95 due to HUD’s use of its new allocation formula, 100 due to erroneous submission of information that the housing authority provided for May/June/and July 2003 figures, and 44 due to overleasing.
There is a potential achievable solution to each of these problems. But the housing authority has little flexibility as HUD has failed since December 2002 to fund the housing authority’s reserves.
What is needed immediately is that HUD:
1. Fund the housing authority’s reserves and approve requests to allow full use of the reserves to address the issues related to the 195 families threatened with termination due to funding formula determinations.
2. Immediately approve the housing authority’s request for a higher inflation factor; and
3. Immediately act on the housing authority’s request for correction of the May/June/July 2003 figures.
We request that you schedule a California congressional delegation meeting with Secretary Jackson to urge HUD to take these actions immediately. In addition, we urge you to raise this issue with Governor Schwarzenegger on behalf of the voucher tenants of the City of Alameda and other voucher holders and applicants in California who may also be seriously impacted by HUD’s actions with respect to the funding of housing authorities in Fiscal Year 2004.
Finally, we would like to schedule a call with your appropriate staff no later than early next week to discuss this urgent crisis in affordable housing. We have already discussed this matter with Sean McCluikie from Congress Member Stark’s office.
We look forward to working with you on this matter. Please contact me at 510.451.9261 Ext. 208 or Raquel Kuronen at the same number, extension 204 if you have questions about our recommendations. And, thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Luz Buitrago
Law Center For Families
Mike Rawson
Public Interest Law Project
Cathy Bishop
National Housing Law Project
Mona Breed
Sentinel Fair Housing
Bill Simpich
Civil Rights Attorney
Fred Nisen
Protection & Advocacy, Inc.
1 The number of affected persons is of course much higher as some voucher holders have families that in some cases are large.
^^^^^^^^^^^
Politics - U.S. Newswire Press Releases
Catholic Charities Agencies Across the Country Mobilize to Save Vital Section 8 Low-Income Housing Program
Tue Jul 6, 1:00 PM ET
To: National Desk
Contact: Shelley Borysiewicz of Catholic Charities, 703-549-1390 ext. 147 or sborysiewicz [at] catholiccharitiesusa.org
ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Catholic Charities agencies from Fall River, MA, to San Diego, CA, are mobilizing to defeat the Administration's proposals that would restructure and gut funding for a successful housing program that serves more than two million low-income families, seniors, and disabled people each year.
Across the county, local Catholic Charities are meeting with members of Congress, conducting letter writing campaigns to public officials, convening coalitions, holding press conferences, and placing opinion pieces in local newspapers in an effort to protect hundreds of thousands of low-income households who could lose their homes if Congress adopts proposed changes to the federal Housing Choice (Section 8) Voucher Program.
For 30 years, the Section 8 voucher program has enabled low- income families to afford modest apartments on the private market. For seniors and disabled persons on very low fixed incomes, Section 8 allows them to live with dignity in decent housing. Because of the Section 8 program, local property owners can continue to maintain their buildings, and neighborhoods can maintain stability.
"Despite the fact that Section 8 meets a critical, growing need for affordable housing, especially among extremely low- income families, recent federal policy changes and proposals are threatening to undermine the program," said Douglas Rice, director of housing and community development for Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA). Preserving the Section 8 program is CCUSA's top legislative priority for this session of Congress.
"Local Catholic Charities agencies confront the consequences of high housing costs every day, as thousands of families and individuals turn to them for food, shelter, or other forms of emergency assistance because they are paying more than half of their income just to keep a roof over their head. Unfortunately, many more people may soon be forced to seek the assistance of Catholic Charities and other agencies if the Administration's misguided changes are adopted," said Rice.
In February, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (news - web sites) (HUD) proposed major changes to Section 8, including a $1 billion cut in funding for 2005 and rule changes that would undermine the program. The HUD proposal also would restructure the program as a block grant, which would mean that assistance would no longer keep pace with rising housing costs. If HUD's proposals are accepted by Congress, as many as 250,000 families could lose their voucher assistance in the first year alone.
"To make matters worse, this spring HUD announced that Section 8 funding would be distributed to housing authorities according to a new, more restrictive formula. As a result, voucher assistance has already been reduced," said Rice "Fortunately, Congress has the power to prevent and reverse these changes in the coming months as it develops the fiscal 2005 budget."
Nationwide Catholic Charities are working hard to show Congress and the public just how damaging these changes are and will be to their communities and neighbors.
Last week, Catholic Charities of San Diego, CA, held a press conference with a coalition of seven other major housing and nutrition agencies to draw attention to the hardship that the community's seniors will continue to face if funding for Section 8 and senior nutrition programs is not increased. The Seniors in Crisis Coalition is also coordinating a letter writing campaign at the various agencies' nutrition sites, asking seniors to write letters to their elected officials.
At a meeting with members of Congress and staff later this month, Catholic Charities of Fall River, MA, and a coalition it formed with six other organizations aims to put a face on the Section 8 issue. A panel of Section 8 recipients -- two working families, two seniors, two people with disabilities, and a family on a waiting list to get a voucher -- will explain just how cuts to the Section 8 program will hurt them. Representatives from the Fall River and New Bedford Housing Authorities will speak about how the loss of Section 8 vouchers will affect those two cities; and a landlord, whose properties are 30 percent Section 8, will explain how program changes will adversely affect his business.
Throughout the year, Catholic Charities of Trenton, NJ, has been engaged in a comprehensive advocacy strategy around housing issues in the community, including Section 8. This month the agency will be conducting a letter writing campaign to House members in the diocese; visiting members of Congress in Washington, DC; meeting with the editorial boards of two local newspapers; and submitting op-eds to newspapers.
Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO, also has formed a coalition of community leaders, social service organizations, housing providers, and Section 8 tenants to pursue a two-pronged community response of advocacy and awareness. The "Save Section 8" coalition plans to kick off its activities at a public rally with the mayors of Kansas City and St. Joseph, MO, later this month.
"Not so long ago, the Bush administration called on local officials, charities, and faith-based organizations to band together to end homelessness in their communities. This is a bold and noble goal-yet it is a goal that can be met only by strengthening, not weakening, successful affordable housing programs like Section 8," said Rice.
This press release is available online at http://www.catholiccharitiesinfo.org.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
-0-/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/
^^^^^^^^^^^
The New York Times
Playing Games With Housing
Published: June 30, 2004
Housing
Vouchers
Congress
Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have been playing a transparent game of "good cop, bad cop" since HUD set out to savage Section 8, the federal program that provides housing subsidies for the poor. Republicans in Congress say they budgeted enough money to underwrite the program, and they blame recalcitrant officials at HUD for the cutbacks — while the agency, in turn, maintains that it is doing what Congress told it to do.
Behind the game, however, both sides seem intent on squeezing money from the HUD budget to help pay for all those tax cuts for the rich, even if it means exposing thousands of poor families to the possibility of eviction.
Most of the families who receive subsidies under the 30-year-old Section 8 program live at or below the poverty level. They pay about 30 percent of their incomes toward rent and government vouchers pay the rest.
Conservative Republicans, who have long wanted to scale back the program, have usually been beaten back by their colleagues. This time around, the appropriators in Congress provided full financing for the program while quietly authorizing HUD to make cuts by administrative means. The department then announced that it would no longer pay the full cost of the vouchers, and it froze federal funds at the level of August 2003, plus an adjustment for inflation.
In addition, HUD's new policy involves retroactive cuts, which only became clear at the end of May, long after local housing authorities had committed themselves to helping new families, including many who had waited for years to get decent housing through the voucher program. Obviously, if cuts have to be made, the only sensible way to make them is to do so gradually and well in advance, so the local housing agencies can adjust to the new reality while preserving housing for their most vulnerable tenants.
Faced with unexpected shortfalls, local public housing agencies have informed landlords that they can no longer pay agreed-upon rent subsidies, making it likely that many Section 8 tenants will soon be shown the door. A recent survey from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggests that most agencies with shortfalls will go this route. The survey also shows that local authorities have revoked newly issued vouchers and have begun to withdraw from circulation the vouchers that become available when families get better jobs and move out of the subsidy program.
In addition, local agencies have begun to raise rents for the vulnerable families who can least afford to pay, something that is a sure way of destabilizing these families while driving them deeper into poverty.
The Bush administration is counting on Republicans at the state level to keep quiet in the interest of party solidarity. But given the disastrous nature of the new policies, governors, state legislators and mayors of both parties have both a moral and political obligation to speak out.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK TO ARTICLE PRINT ARTICLE
Article Last Updated: Saturday, July 03, 2004 - 3:37:43 AM PST
Section 8 tenants on Island get break
Officials juggle funding sources, find way to let 100 stay in their apartments through July
By Susan McDonough, STAFF WRITER
ALAMEDA -- The city has come up with a plan to keep about 100 Section 8 tenants in their apartments, at least through the end of the month.
The Alameda Housing Authority plans to funnel about $357,000 of federal money earmarked for other affordable housing projects to tenants dropped from the federal housing assistance program.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides about $1.8 billion annually to states and counties to build and repair affordable housing, finance home ownership partnerships with low-income buyers, and pay security deposits for Section 8 recipients.
Alameda receives a portion of this money through its participation in the Alameda County HOME Consortium, a collection of East Bay cities, excluding Berkeley and Oakland, organized for the purpose of administering this federal community development block grant.
Housing Authority Director Michael Pucci said Friday the redirection of HUD funds won't affect local affordable housing programs, with the exception of the Section 8 security deposit program.
The Alameda City Council approved the shift Thursday during an emotional meeting with about 20 Section 8 recipients who were angry and frustrated over a tumultuous few months when news about their housing subsidies seemed to change daily.
In early June, the Alameda Housing Authority told 238 people here they and their families would be dropped from the Section 8 program July 1. Then last week it rescinded almost half the termination notices when it found money in the budget by reducing rents, and with help from surrounding housing authorities that took about 50 voucher holders into their programs.
The City Council's unanimous deci-
sion had Pucci sending out rent checks Friday for the last of the Section 8 voucher holders facing evictions.
Still, Pucci said, it's only a reprieve.
Vice Mayor Tony Daysog has said the city owes it to Section 8 families to provide at least two to three months in which they can find alternative housing and deal with the loss of their rent subsidies.
The council knew as far back as February that changes at HUD at the federal level could potentially affect at least some Section 8 tenants locally, but it failed to warn them, Daysog said.
Pucci and other city leaders defended their decision to wait until May to announce budget cuts at the agency, saying they thought the problems could be "dealt with" without dropping people from the program.
The Housing Authority continues to seek revenue sources to continue providing rent subsidies to all 1,625 families it was originally authorized to help.
Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson, Pucci and Alameda City Manager Jim Flint have scheduled a conference call next week with HUD Assistant Secretary Steven Nesmith to appeal for millions of dollars in reserve funds that Flint said the federal agency is, "by their own regulations," supposed to replenish.
The Alameda housing authority spent almost $3 million of its reserves to pay rents for Section 8 recipients in June.
The city is also waiting to hear whether HUD will honor its readjusted funding formula, which could bring an additional $90,000 a month to the agency if approved.
"We think we can bridge the gap to make payments for all the vouchers," Pucci said.
Jeremy Prickett, an activist with the Campaign for Renters Rights, which has been organizing protests around the Alameda Section 8 cuts since the crisis developed, said tenants here won't be happy until that happens.
"There's a certain amount of relief," he said of the City Council's decision to funnel money to the Housing Authority.
"But we're not satisfied with one or three months (reprieve). We think it is the responsibility of the city to house the poor," he said.
The group is expected to march in Alameda's popular annual July 4 parade.
"We definitely plan to move through that parade ... and tell all we will hold the city accountable if even one person is put out on the street," he said.
Contact Susan McDonough at smcdonough [at] angnewspapers.com .
^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.thehill.com/daily_features/070604.aspx
Housing vouchers work, they’re needed, and they’re in trouble
By Barbara Sard July 6, 2004
Imagine a federal program designed to help low-income families keep a roof over their heads that for three decades has drawn bipartisan support for its effectiveness.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6267~2254161,00.html
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK TO ARTICLE PRINT ARTICLE
Pittsfield, MA.
Article Published: Monday, July 05, 2004 - 12:31:14 PM EST
The shame of American homelessness
No one knows for sure how many Americans are homeless. The most recent comprehensive survey, by the Urban Institute, was in 1996, when it was estimated 3.4 million people, nearly half of them children, were struggling to survive in shelters, doubled up with friends, or camped out on city streets. What's certain is that the number has grown, for shelters are packed to overflowing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(New Jersey Section 8 Tenants)
Renters take plea for subsidy to congressmen
Published in the Home News Tribune 7/02/04
By MICHELLE MASKALY
STAFF WRITER
http://www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,994218,00.html
WOODBRIDGE: A day after their Section 8 vouchers were suspended, some of the 71 affected township families and their Perth Amboy supporters yesterday organized in front of the Woodbridge Housing Authority, then boarded a bus to attend a rally at the Morristown office of a congressman who serves on the House Appropriations Committee.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(Duluth Minnesota Section 8 Tenants)
Housing voucher cuts mean struggles for low-income families
Missy Johnson
Budgeteer News
Last Updated: Friday, July 02nd, 2004 11:54:51 AM
http://www.duluth.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=177130
Missy Johnson/Budgeteer News
Section 8 voucher recipient Jimmie Grant attended the rally on Wednesday to help raise awareness of the budget cuts.
For the past 21 years, Section 8 voucher recipient Lorelei Louks has used the little extra money she has to spruce up her low-income apartment with brightly colored flowers.
However, after receiving less federal funding for the first time in 30 years, Duluth’s Housing and Redevelopment Board was forced to cut back on Section 8 voucher funding and will now require Section 8 recipients to pay an extra $46 a month of their rent.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(Tacoma, Washington Section 8 Tenants)
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/32900.html
Murray hears housing officials; Federal cuts: Issue 'is about priorities,' she says
JASON HAGEY, The News Tribune
The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington)
July 1, 2004
In a meeting with low-income housing officials Wednesday in Tacoma, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray promised to take their stories of despair, concern and frustration over cutbacks in federal housing assistance back to Washington, D.C.
"This really is about priorities in this country," said Murray, who spent about an hour listening to officials describe how recent changes in the federal Section 8 rent subsidy program have hurt poor families and how they fear future cuts could hurt even more.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Opinion/Section 8 Mess/San Francisco Bay Guardian
Click below...
http://www.sfbg.com/38/41/x_oped.html
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/070604/a0106financing.html
Nonprofits struggle to finance affordable housing
By ELIZABETH GANGA
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 6, 2004)
Local nonprofit agencies trying to build affordable housing say funding changes to the Section 8 housing voucher program are already hurting their ability to finance new projects.
Without Section 8 subsidizing the rents, the projects will generate less revenue because the non-profits generally base the rent on tenants' income. Someone with a very low income may be able to pay only $400 a month, said Rose Noonan, executive director of the Housing Action Council in Tarrytown, which helps other nonprofits structure financing for new developments.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/309805087396860.shtml
Tue, Jul 6, 2004
Low-income families find it harder to get help
By David Paulsen
Wausau Daily Herald
dpaulsen [at] wdhprint.com
About 400 low-income Wausau families on a waiting list for federal Section 8 housing assistance have little chance of obtaining the vouchers now that Wausau and other communities are freezing the program.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/070604/a0106section8.html
Section 8 changes hit hard
By ELIZABETH GANGA
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 6, 2004)
Greg Carter sees himself in five or 10 years with a college degree, a good-paying job and a stable life.
But for now, the 25-year-old, who suffers from Tourette's syndrome, doesn't have a job or a permanent place to stay. He recently moved to Westchester to be near friends and family, and he is working on managing his neurological illness, relaunching his college studies and finding part-time work. He spends his nights on one of four or five different couches at the homes of friends who let him stay a few times a week.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/33459.html
HOUSING FUNDS CLIPPED HUD TO CUT BACK ON SECTION 8 MONEY
Michelle Dynesrep2 [at] wyomingnews.com
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, WY)
July 3, 2004
CHEYENNE -- Cutbacks to the federal Section 8 low-income housing program have put a freeze on helping additional families in Laramie County.
The program subsidizes housing costs for those below an area's median income. It is administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and local agents.
While the reductions are just 2.2 percent of the $7 million annual budget, they still will create a pinch, said Mike Stanfield, executive director for Cheyenne Housing Authority.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/33295.html
Agencies still wrongly counting $600 subsidy against seniors
Susan Jaffe, Plain Dealer Reporter
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
July 3, 2004
AGING MATTERS
Some news travels very slowly in Washington. A few government agencies still don’t know the $600 subsidy that low-income seniors receive with their Medicare discount drug cards must not be used to disqualify them for other federal benefits.
Congress has earned nearly universal praise for trying to help those seniors who really need it most, even if high medicine bills can quickly consume the $600.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Alameda set to put people on the street
Chip Johnson Friday, June 18, 2004
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/18/BAGFP77LH81.DTL
Six months after Doris Allen and her autistic son were ousted from an Alameda motel to make way for its demolition, the city's housing authority sent notice that they will probably have to move again -- and soon.
She and her 7-year-old son, Michael, are among 240 Alameda families in subsidized housing who received a letter on June 4 saying they'd be cut from the city agency's list of Section 8 voucher recipients on July 1.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Click below for a large batch of the Section 8 stories happening nationwide to follow the Section 8 Disaster....
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/06/1686041_comment.php#1686046
Click below for another batch of Section 8 stories...
http://www.sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/1697432.php
Even more Section 8 stories & info...Click on link below...
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/06/1683399.php
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Send e-mail to:
rollbacktherents-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com
Add Your Comments
Latest Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Injustice and loss.
Tue, Nov 23, 2004 7:18AM
section 8
Wed, Jul 7, 2004 8:29PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$115.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network