HUD cutting funding to Section 8 program
Thursday, December 09, 2004
By RHODA A. PICKETT
The Mobile (AL) Register
The Mobile Housing Board must find a way to
cover more than $625,000 of a HUD-imposed funding shortfall
in its fiscal year 2005 Section 8 operating budget, as the
fate of residents who rely on the program remains unresolved.
Housing Board Executive Director Stevens Gregory told board
members during the regular monthly meeting Wednesday that the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has placed a
cap on the operating subsidy it is allocating to the nation's
public housing authorities for fiscal year 2005. The Section
8 program allows low-income residents to use a voucher to
rent housing from private owners.
The Mobile authority's cap was set at $384.38 per unit cost
per month, the amount that HUD will pay the authority to
assist Section 8 tenants for fiscal year 2004. The cap for
fiscal year 2005 has not been determined, said Kathy Belcher,
the Housing Board's director of rental housing division, told
board members.
The Housing Board's deficit was created because the Housing
Board is making up the difference in the total of the fair
market rent and the amount paid by HUD and the tenant.
The Section 8 budget has two parts -- administrative and
operating. The administrative part deals with staff salaries
and other related costs. Gregory reassured board members that
there was enough to cover the $2.2 million administrative
budget.
Board members unanimously approved the changes to the
administrative part of the local authority's fiscal year 2005
Section 8 budget.
Board Vice President Don Langham made a motion to table the
vote on the Section 8 operating budget until local of ficials
get more information from HUD. The rental subsidies are paid
from the Section 8 operating budget.
Housing Board officials said they plan to ask the Mobile City
Council to approve a transfer of funds from the HOME program
to cover the shortfall in the operating budget.
Steve Kohrman, the Housing Board's community development
coordinator, said that HOME funds can be used to assist
low-income residents with housing needs.
HUD officials at the Washington, D.C.-based federal agency,
will continue discussing options with public housing staffers
across the nation during a Webcast today, Belcher said.
HUD made the decision in May and set it retroactive to
January, putting the authority "$400,000 in the
hole" with the operating budget, Belcher said. The
Housing Board had reserve funds to cover the unexpected
shortfall, but those funds have been depleted, Gregory said.
In the meantime, Gregory said, the Mobile authority will have
to either reduce the number of people on the program, lower
the amount of subsidy
paid to the landlords or require Section 8 residents have a
higher income.
"We could end up serving different clients, but the
people who desperately need it (the program) will not be
served," Gregory said. "This is an issue we are
dealing with nationwide."
The budget dilemma cast a serious mood over a meeting that up
to that point had been lighthearted. The four board members
present had re-elected Clarence Ball and Don Langham to each
man's 12th consecutive one-year term as chairman and
vice-chairman, respectively, of the board.