Bush Declares War on Homeless, Low-Income Tenants

While the Bush Administration sends public relations staff like Phil Mangano around the country touting plans to end chronic homelessness, the President continues efforts to cut housing programs for the poor. The new Bush budget plan would reduce the vital Project Based Rental Assistance Program, which currently funds about 1.2 million project based subsidies, by $163 million. Public Housing funding would be cut by nearly $400 million.

While the budget for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program would rise by approximately one half of one percent or about $80 million. This is far less than would be needed to keep the program operating at its existing level, since increases in annual rent payments to landlords will clearly exceed that amount.

This means that despite all evidence that Section 8 housing is critical for getting families out of homelessness, the Bush Administration seeks to reduce the number of families served by the program.

In announcing his budget, Bush said it reflected his chief priority of “protecting Americans.” That term appears to only apply to American military personnel, not low-income families whose health, education, and futures are threatened by homelessness.

While the budget increases funding for homeless assistance programs by $120 million, homeless advocates recognize that this increase is greatly outweighed by cuts to affordable housing programs. According to Nan Roman, president of the National
Alliance to End Homelessness, "increasing access to affordable housing is the key component to ending homelessness nationwide. Without increases in affordable
housing, community efforts to end homelessness are doomed to failure."

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