Let Them Eat…the Higher Cost of Housing
On May 11, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson was grilled by the Financial Services Committee over the Bush Administration’s proposal to make dramatic changes to the nation’s most successful affordable housing program—the Section 8 voucher program.
Through a bill entitled the “State and Local Housing Flexibility Act” (SLHFA), the Administration has recommended abandoning many key protections of Section 8.
The guarantee that housing vouchers target those most in need…not if HUD has its way! Recognition that housing vouchers should help low income renters move to communities with better job markets…who needs it? Making sure a housing voucher actually helps low-income renters fully cover the cost of housing…low income tenants “have a right to pay a higher cost,” says Secretary Jackson.
Really, he said just that!
Luckily, since unveiling the idea in April, there has been an overwhelming negative reaction from nearly everyone—Democrats, Republicans, landlords , the housing industry, public housing authorities and tenants.
At the May 11 Financial Services Committee meeting, Rep. Christopher Says (R-CT) noted, “we’re pushing people off a cliff.” Representative Ney (ROH) observed there were “no takers in the entire country” for the Administration’s proposed changes.
National organizations representing local housing agencies that serve over 3.2 million low-income households wrote in a joint statement that SLHFA “fails to address the most pressing problem facing our members and assisted families: Section 8 renewal funding…[and] does not adequately provide a rationale and stable allocation formula that housing agencies can count on from year to year.”
The reaction is similar in Minnesota. Congressman Ramstad (R-MN 3rd District) has agreed to circulate a “Dear Colleague” letter expressing concern about SLHFA and explaining the real issue with Section 8—it’s reacting to private housing market gone wild. Governor Pawlenty has expressed concern that the proposed changes could severely impact its work to end long-term homelessness. And a broad coalition of advocacy organizations, under the banner Minnesota Federal Housing Action Coalition (MNFAC), is organizing to defeat SLFHA.
With such intense and broad-based opposition, it’s worth asking if HUD is genuinely interested in its mission to “increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination.”
Secretary Jackson’s public statements on poverty and low-income tenants should concern us. On May 11, 2005, he dared to say, “I am aware of the games people play. In many cases people have the ability to pay more for their rent.” Last year he commented that poverty is “a state of mind.”
It’s no wonder there is near uniform opposition to SLFHA.
For more information on federal housing policy visit the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
