On March 1st, 2007, a reduction in federal housing voucher payments will go into effect in Berkeley. It will place 750 Section 8 families at risk of major rent increases, forced relocation, or the loss of their housing vouchers in a worst case scenario. HUD decided that the Fair Market Rents were too high in the Bay Area, and decreased the value of Section 8 vouchers as a result. Meanwhile Tri Commercial Real Estate Services from Walnut Creek,reports that during 2005, rents in Alameda County rose by 0.6 percent. According to the Rental Housing Association of Northern Alameda County, rents jumped 8.5 percent in Oakland during the same period.

In an effort to speak out against the life-threatening cuts to their housing vouchers, Section 8 tenants had planned to go to a January 30th Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) meeting, but they learned in mid -anuary that the meeting had been cancelled. "We had been placed under great pressure by HUD to cancel the meeting, because we were not sure if it would be legal under current circumstances," said Ariana Cassanova, Assistant to Berkeley's Mayor. "We are going through a restructuring process and couldn't have a meeting on January 30th, because we were not sure if it would have been legal, and are waiting to hear back from HUD for assurances that our new model of governance structure for the BHA has been approved."

Out of 1,750 families in Berkeley's Section 8 program, 750 families are now at risk of losing their housing when their housing vouchers will be decreased in value starting on March 1st. These particular 750 families will face a reduction in voucher payments the next time their Section 8 contract comes up for a renewal after March 1, because their landlords presently are demanding the maximum allowable limit in voucher payments permitted in Berkeley. As a result, when the value of the vouchers decreases upon the next contract renewal, the families will have to make up the cost difference in rents, or relocate to cheaper housing, because the landlords are still demanding the same amount in monthly rent payments regardless of what the vouchers are worth.

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