MASSACHUSETTS: Boston Mayor says Bush budget
may worsen homelessness
Asserts proposal cuts key funding
The Boston Globe
By Madison Park, Globe Correspondent
March 10, 2005
Lashing out against the Bush administration's budget proposal, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that housing assistance cuts could drive up homelessness in Boston.
Speaking at the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter, Menino said that under the budget proposal the city would lose funding for hundreds of vouchers for federally subsidized housing, potentially forcing low-income families onto the streets.
''We need resources. We need Section 8 certificates for affordable units," Menino said, referring to the federal housing voucher program. ''People in government can't end homelessness by signing documents. You need to give a check for services."
The city estimates that 299 people are on the streets this winter, an increase from 230 last year. According to a December estimate, there are 5,819 homeless people in Boston, including those on the streets and in transitional homes and shelters.
Local officials and housing advocates said budget cuts mean fewer subsidies for affordable housing units, which they say will increase the homeless population.
''What happens when there is no rental assistance?" said Lyndia Downie, president of the Pine Street Inn, referring to federal cuts.
''At some point, we'll be running out of room. People will get literally stalled in the shelters. By hitting and cutting rental assistance, it increases homelessness."
The Boston Housing Authority provides 11,284 vouchers to low-income families. Funding for Section 8 has been cut by $5.7 million in 2005, which is the cost of covering 461 vouchers in Boston. If next year's federal budget is approved, the BHA could lose an additional $2.9 million.
''It's obvious that this administration in Washington has little interest in funding public housing or Section 8 programs," said Lydia Agro, the spokeswoman for the BHA. ''The potential impacts at the Boston Housing Authority can be dire."
Officials said the safety net for society's neediest could be pulled back, affecting people like Loretta Carey, who spent four years sleeping on sidewalks and in hallways, shelters, and abandoned cars. Carey, 52, now lives in a Section 8 apartment in Jamaica Plain.
''I used to steal food out of stores and go to friends' houses to eat," said Carey.
Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey this month invited mayors of Massachusetts for a summit on ending homelessness, but Menino shunned the meeting, saying, ''I want to be part of a productive meeting, not a rhetoric meeting."