Are You ‘Too Poor’ for Section 8?
The Bush Administration has proposed devastating changes to the “Section 8″ Housing Choice Voucher Program. Named the State and Local Housing Flexibility Act (or SLHFA), this bill would abandon key protections in the nation’s most effective housing assistance program, including targeting help to those most in need.
The Housing Choice Voucher Program currently provides approximately 30,000 low-income households in Minnesota with vouchers to help pay for housing that they find in the private market. Federal rules ensure that 75% of households newly admitted to the voucher program each year have incomes at or below 30%
of the area median, which is $21,714 for a family of four in Minnesota.
The President’s budget calls for sharp cuts in funding for housing programs in years after 2006 and the reductions could cause the number of families with vouchers to drop by 370,000 nationally by 2010.
If this funding were distributed among the various housing assistance programs in the same proportion as the Administration proposes to distribute funding among these programs in 2006, the funding level for the voucher program would fall about $2.9 billion short of the amount needed to cover the vouchers funded this year.
Advocates fear the Administration is trying to force local housing authorities to accept the “reforms” in SLHFA so they can weather the impending funding reductions.
Among the reforms proposed are:
- Shifting Targeting to Higher Income Families. SLHFA allows 90% of vouchers to go to households with incomes up to 60% of area median ($43,428 for a family of four in Minnesota). The bill represents a mismatch between known housing needs and use of federal resources.
- Rent Flexibility and Reform Provisions Go Beyond What is Necessary. In both the public housing and voucher programs, the bill would allow rents to no longer be tied to incomes, which currently keeps rents affordable to low income people. The bill would allow housing authorities to establish their own rent policies, which may or may not be affordable to people with low-income households.
- Creation of Time Limits. SLHFA would allow housing authorities to impose time limits on Section 8 voucher holders after five years of assistance. There is no basis in research or policy to impose time limits.
To rephrase, the Bush Administration proposes reforming Section 8 by abandoning its purpose—to assist low-income households in securing affordable housing. Congress should reject SLHFA! Please call your Congressperson and ask them to do the same.
For more information contact Michael Dahl.
