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Over-income public housing tenants make the housing crisis worse for the poor
When a recent audit revealed that more than 25,000 over-income households presently reside in public housing, in response HUD officials cited the importance of reducing concentrated poverty in public housing with higher income renters, while not creating disincentives to self-sufficiency!
Over-income public housing tenants make the housing crisis worse for the poor
By Lynda Carson - September 28, 2015
San Francisco - As more budget cuts to HUD’s (Department of Housing and Urban Development) subsidized housing programs are looming in the near future, the feud over more than 25,000 over-income public housing households taking up space in public housing that poor people could be residing in, is far from over.
Does anyone really want to believe housing officials that are claiming that it is good to have over-income families taking up space in public housing, because it is an incentive for poor people to learn how to make lots of money, or to become self sufficient?
Do poor people really want to move into public housing because one of their public housing neighbors just may be a millionaire, which is the situation in Oxford, Nebraska?
When a recent audit revealed that more than 25,000 over-income households presently reside in public housing, in response HUD officials cited the importance of reducing concentrated poverty in public housing with higher income renters, while not creating disincentives to self-sufficiency.
Considering that the public housing program was created and financed by tax payers to provide affordable housing to eligible low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, why are housing officials really allowing more than 25,000 over-income households to reside in public housing, while there are so many homeless families living on the cold hearted streets of America?
According to public records, the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco has 20 over-income households residing in public housing units that poor families could be residing in. Meanwhile, there are 7,172 families on the waiting list wanting to reside in public housing, in San Francisco.
Despite having 20 over-income public housing households which is troublesome, San Francisco is currently privatizing all of it’s 6,431 public housing units through the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD) which is threatening to displace thousands of public housing families from their housing, and communities in San Francisco.
In a recent September 7 article in Poor Magazine by Tiny/Lisa Gray-Garcia, a fierce supporter of renter protections and low-income housing whom I first met while we were supporting just cause eviction protections in Oakland during 2000, Tiny wrote in her article that some public housing tenants are scheduled to move from their public housing units next month. During a phone call with another public housing tenant being displaced by RAD, the tenant told Tiny: “They have a date next month for the movers to come and take us somewhere, but we don’t even know where that somewhere is.”
Just try to imagine being forced from your housing, and not knowing where the public housing authority is going to place you with less than a month to go.
Click on link below for more by Tiny about RAD…
http://www.poormagazine.org/privatization-reparations-evictions-usa
Nearby according to HUD’s records, Oakland has 2,122 public housing units under management, Richmond has 715 public housing units, Contra Costa County has 1,177 public housing units, Marin County has 496 public housing units, Alameda County has 72 public housing units, and on March 13, 2014, the Berkeley Housing Authority announced that it privatized and sold off it’s 75 public housing town homes to out of state billionaires Jorge M. Perez and Stephen M. Ross of Related Companies, displacing many low-income families in the process.
Click on link below for more about RAD by Lynda Carson…
http://tinyurl.com/knu9cv9
More than 25,000 over-income public housing tenants take up public housing needed by the poor
Asides from the RAD program currently unfolding that is displacing 185,000 families from their public housing units all across the country, the problem with more than 25,000 over-income households residing in public housing where poor people are supposed to be residing, is a major problem for the poor families on the public housing waiting lists. Especially the elderly, and disabled persons who are living out on the streets despite being eligible to reside in public housing, where over-income households are residing.
According to records, in Los Angeles, there are 129 over-income families living in public housing. Meanwhile, there are 43,488 families on the waiting list who are wanting to move into those very same housing units where over-income households reside.
Additionally, California ranks as high as number 13 on the list of states with over-income public housing tenants taking up space where poor people could reside.
Due to the 505 households with an over-income who are presently residing in tax payer subsidized public housing units throughout California, it means that 505 poor families, including the elderly, and disabled persons are stuck out in the cold, even though they may be eligible for those very same housing units.
In total, there are around 25,226 overcome families residing in public housing units across the nation. This means that on any given night that there are 25,226 poor homeless families stuck out on the cold streets of America with no place to call home, because there are 25,226 over-income households residing in our nation’s public housing units.
Of the 25,226 over-income families, 13,288 (53 percent) had an income that was up to $10,000 greater than HUD’s 2014 income limits.
As an example, one family in Los Angeles had been over-income since May 2011, and the five-person household’s annual income was $204,784. As of June 2014, the family payed a flat rent of $1,091 for their public housing unit.
Another example in New Bedford, MA., reveals that during 2013 a three person household’s annual income was $212,845, but as of July 2014, the family only payed a flat rent of $525 per month for their public housing unit.
What’s wrong with this picture, poor people are asking themselves?
The 22,226 over-income households amount to a whopping 2.6% of the 1.1 million families residing in our nation’s public housing units that were originally constructed for the poor, elderly, and disabled.
All of this information became publicly available on July 21, 2015, from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in the form of an audit.
In addition to the audit revealing that 25,226 over-income families reside in public housing units across the nation, the audit also revealed that a millionaire in Nebraska, resides in an Oxford Housing Authority public housing unit.
Residing in public housing for the past 10 years, the unnamed millionaire pays $300 per month in rent, while having a total of assets of nearly $1.6 million, including real estate valued at $470,600, stock valued at $623,685, a checking account balance of $334,637, with an annual income reported of being over $65,000 last year.
Additionally, in New York City, there are 10,250 over-income families in public housing, while 302,079 families are on the waiting list who are wanting to move into public housing.
The Boston Housing Authority has 184 over-income families in public housing, with 117,663 families on the waiting list.
The Newark Housing Authority has 134 over-income families in public housing, with 15,470 families on their waiting list.
According to the OIG, of the 25,226 over-income families in public housing, 17,761 had earned more than the amount qualifying them as being over-income, for more than a year.
HUD regulations require families to meet eligibility income limits only when they are first allowed to move into a public housing unit. Beyond that, the regulations do not limit the amount of time a family may reside in public housing, and apparently there are no limits as to how much money they may earn, or how much they may have in assets, despite the fact that the public housing program originally was created to assist the poor, elderly, and disabled persons.
The OIG estimates that HUD will pay $104.4 million over the next year for public housing units that are occupied by over-income families, that otherwise could have been used to house low-income families.
Click below for full audit…
https://www.hudoig.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2015-PH-0002.pdf
When the audit was first released and created a firestorm of criticism across the nation, HUD officials defended the policy of allowing over-income families to reside in public housing, but has since retreated and is now calling for Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to remove some of the over-income households. At least the most egregious ones (wealthier ones) that may disturb the sensibilities of housing advocates who believe that public housing is meant for the poor, elderly, and disabled persons, as originally intended.
Now, in opposition to HUD’s efforts to remove some of the 25,226 over-income households from public housing comes the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA), the Public Housing Authorities Directors Association (PHADA), and the National Association of Housing Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) who are denouncing the OIG audit, and HUD’s efforts to remove over-income public housing families from their housing.
Click on the link below for their argument against removal of over-income households from public housing…
http://www.clpha.org/articledetail/?aid=701
With a shortage of 7 million affordable housing units all across the nation, more budget cuts on the way that are destroying HUD’s subsidized housing programs, and PHA executive directors fighting against a salary cap $155,000, the feud that erupted because more than 25,000 over-income households are residing in public housing, is not going to go away any time soon.
As HUD’s subsidized housing program budgets shrink as a result of sequestration and other GOP attacks, PHAs and other so-called nonprofit affordable housing developers are going to be pushing for more higher income renters in their projects to pay off the mortgage, and the high salaries of the executives, leaving even more poor, elderly, and disabled persons left out in the cold, with no place to call home.
Click on link below for the Housing Act of 1937, that makes no mention of high income renters residing in public housing, while poor people are left behind on the waiting lists…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_Act_of_1937
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
>>>>>>>
By Lynda Carson - September 28, 2015
San Francisco - As more budget cuts to HUD’s (Department of Housing and Urban Development) subsidized housing programs are looming in the near future, the feud over more than 25,000 over-income public housing households taking up space in public housing that poor people could be residing in, is far from over.
Does anyone really want to believe housing officials that are claiming that it is good to have over-income families taking up space in public housing, because it is an incentive for poor people to learn how to make lots of money, or to become self sufficient?
Do poor people really want to move into public housing because one of their public housing neighbors just may be a millionaire, which is the situation in Oxford, Nebraska?
When a recent audit revealed that more than 25,000 over-income households presently reside in public housing, in response HUD officials cited the importance of reducing concentrated poverty in public housing with higher income renters, while not creating disincentives to self-sufficiency.
Considering that the public housing program was created and financed by tax payers to provide affordable housing to eligible low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, why are housing officials really allowing more than 25,000 over-income households to reside in public housing, while there are so many homeless families living on the cold hearted streets of America?
According to public records, the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco has 20 over-income households residing in public housing units that poor families could be residing in. Meanwhile, there are 7,172 families on the waiting list wanting to reside in public housing, in San Francisco.
Despite having 20 over-income public housing households which is troublesome, San Francisco is currently privatizing all of it’s 6,431 public housing units through the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD) which is threatening to displace thousands of public housing families from their housing, and communities in San Francisco.
In a recent September 7 article in Poor Magazine by Tiny/Lisa Gray-Garcia, a fierce supporter of renter protections and low-income housing whom I first met while we were supporting just cause eviction protections in Oakland during 2000, Tiny wrote in her article that some public housing tenants are scheduled to move from their public housing units next month. During a phone call with another public housing tenant being displaced by RAD, the tenant told Tiny: “They have a date next month for the movers to come and take us somewhere, but we don’t even know where that somewhere is.”
Just try to imagine being forced from your housing, and not knowing where the public housing authority is going to place you with less than a month to go.
Click on link below for more by Tiny about RAD…
http://www.poormagazine.org/privatization-reparations-evictions-usa
Nearby according to HUD’s records, Oakland has 2,122 public housing units under management, Richmond has 715 public housing units, Contra Costa County has 1,177 public housing units, Marin County has 496 public housing units, Alameda County has 72 public housing units, and on March 13, 2014, the Berkeley Housing Authority announced that it privatized and sold off it’s 75 public housing town homes to out of state billionaires Jorge M. Perez and Stephen M. Ross of Related Companies, displacing many low-income families in the process.
Click on link below for more about RAD by Lynda Carson…
http://tinyurl.com/knu9cv9
More than 25,000 over-income public housing tenants take up public housing needed by the poor
Asides from the RAD program currently unfolding that is displacing 185,000 families from their public housing units all across the country, the problem with more than 25,000 over-income households residing in public housing where poor people are supposed to be residing, is a major problem for the poor families on the public housing waiting lists. Especially the elderly, and disabled persons who are living out on the streets despite being eligible to reside in public housing, where over-income households are residing.
According to records, in Los Angeles, there are 129 over-income families living in public housing. Meanwhile, there are 43,488 families on the waiting list who are wanting to move into those very same housing units where over-income households reside.
Additionally, California ranks as high as number 13 on the list of states with over-income public housing tenants taking up space where poor people could reside.
Due to the 505 households with an over-income who are presently residing in tax payer subsidized public housing units throughout California, it means that 505 poor families, including the elderly, and disabled persons are stuck out in the cold, even though they may be eligible for those very same housing units.
In total, there are around 25,226 overcome families residing in public housing units across the nation. This means that on any given night that there are 25,226 poor homeless families stuck out on the cold streets of America with no place to call home, because there are 25,226 over-income households residing in our nation’s public housing units.
Of the 25,226 over-income families, 13,288 (53 percent) had an income that was up to $10,000 greater than HUD’s 2014 income limits.
As an example, one family in Los Angeles had been over-income since May 2011, and the five-person household’s annual income was $204,784. As of June 2014, the family payed a flat rent of $1,091 for their public housing unit.
Another example in New Bedford, MA., reveals that during 2013 a three person household’s annual income was $212,845, but as of July 2014, the family only payed a flat rent of $525 per month for their public housing unit.
What’s wrong with this picture, poor people are asking themselves?
The 22,226 over-income households amount to a whopping 2.6% of the 1.1 million families residing in our nation’s public housing units that were originally constructed for the poor, elderly, and disabled.
All of this information became publicly available on July 21, 2015, from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in the form of an audit.
In addition to the audit revealing that 25,226 over-income families reside in public housing units across the nation, the audit also revealed that a millionaire in Nebraska, resides in an Oxford Housing Authority public housing unit.
Residing in public housing for the past 10 years, the unnamed millionaire pays $300 per month in rent, while having a total of assets of nearly $1.6 million, including real estate valued at $470,600, stock valued at $623,685, a checking account balance of $334,637, with an annual income reported of being over $65,000 last year.
Additionally, in New York City, there are 10,250 over-income families in public housing, while 302,079 families are on the waiting list who are wanting to move into public housing.
The Boston Housing Authority has 184 over-income families in public housing, with 117,663 families on the waiting list.
The Newark Housing Authority has 134 over-income families in public housing, with 15,470 families on their waiting list.
According to the OIG, of the 25,226 over-income families in public housing, 17,761 had earned more than the amount qualifying them as being over-income, for more than a year.
HUD regulations require families to meet eligibility income limits only when they are first allowed to move into a public housing unit. Beyond that, the regulations do not limit the amount of time a family may reside in public housing, and apparently there are no limits as to how much money they may earn, or how much they may have in assets, despite the fact that the public housing program originally was created to assist the poor, elderly, and disabled persons.
The OIG estimates that HUD will pay $104.4 million over the next year for public housing units that are occupied by over-income families, that otherwise could have been used to house low-income families.
Click below for full audit…
https://www.hudoig.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2015-PH-0002.pdf
When the audit was first released and created a firestorm of criticism across the nation, HUD officials defended the policy of allowing over-income families to reside in public housing, but has since retreated and is now calling for Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to remove some of the over-income households. At least the most egregious ones (wealthier ones) that may disturb the sensibilities of housing advocates who believe that public housing is meant for the poor, elderly, and disabled persons, as originally intended.
Now, in opposition to HUD’s efforts to remove some of the 25,226 over-income households from public housing comes the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA), the Public Housing Authorities Directors Association (PHADA), and the National Association of Housing Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) who are denouncing the OIG audit, and HUD’s efforts to remove over-income public housing families from their housing.
Click on the link below for their argument against removal of over-income households from public housing…
http://www.clpha.org/articledetail/?aid=701
With a shortage of 7 million affordable housing units all across the nation, more budget cuts on the way that are destroying HUD’s subsidized housing programs, and PHA executive directors fighting against a salary cap $155,000, the feud that erupted because more than 25,000 over-income households are residing in public housing, is not going to go away any time soon.
As HUD’s subsidized housing program budgets shrink as a result of sequestration and other GOP attacks, PHAs and other so-called nonprofit affordable housing developers are going to be pushing for more higher income renters in their projects to pay off the mortgage, and the high salaries of the executives, leaving even more poor, elderly, and disabled persons left out in the cold, with no place to call home.
Click on link below for the Housing Act of 1937, that makes no mention of high income renters residing in public housing, while poor people are left behind on the waiting lists…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_Act_of_1937
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
>>>>>>>
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