Hud cuts could put more people on the street
The Middletown (CT) Press
August 18, 2004
By Chris Rhatigan
Proposed cuts to Section 8 housing
and other U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
programs could cause a drastic local increase in
homelessness, compounding a problem that is growing with a
recent loss of jobs and a rising cost of living, public
housing advocates say.
The initial Bush administration proposal sought to cut
Section 8 funding by $1.6 billion, it was shot down in the
U.S. House of Representatives. Under the revised proposal,
$300 million would be cut from Section 8, with another $1.2
billion cut from other public housing programs, said HUD
Regional New England spokeswoman Kristine Foye.
Section 8 is an $18 billion rental voucher program mostly
serving those making under 30 percent of the median income
for their area. Some of the other programs to be slashed
included Hope VI, which is funding used to restore public
housing, and rental assistance.
Foye said HUD’s position is that the cuts will not have
an adverse effect, since the organization is revamping its
system.
"Under the proposed cuts the same number of people will
be served," she said, because HUD is changing its
program to give more power to local housing authorities,
which had previously been held by the federal government.
Under the new "Flexible Voucher Program," local
public housing authorities will determine rent payments for
those participating in Section 8 and will be able to
immediately respond to local market changes.
But Alison Cunningham executive director of Columbus
Emergency Shelter, of New Haven, disagrees with HUD’s
assessment of the proposed cuts.
"At a time when the number of homeless people is rising
you don’t cut funding for (public) housing," she
said. "It’s going to affect all of us in this
business."
She said she expected demand for services to increase.
Additionally, a program Columbus House is involved with,
Sojourner’s Place, is funded by HUD and may be in
jeopardy. The transitional housing program currently helps 16
women and Cunningham said the proposed cuts would mean that
they would have to rely more on private donations.
At Milford’s Beth-El Center for the homeless, which
currently supports 13 children and 19 adults, Interim
Executive Director Helen Loughlin said she thinks their
program could be overextended.
"These cuts will make all the more severe the need for
affordable housing," she said.
Milford recently lost jobs when two divisions of Bic Corp.
laid off 300 workers and Huffman-Koos laid off 60 workers.
Loughlin said that since January she has seen the homeless
rate rise along with the demand for meals from the
center’s soup kitchen.
Lack of job security increased the need for housing and
decreased amount of money the organization receives, Loughlin
said. A recent newsletter from the group said donations from
local churches to Beth-El have dropped from $28,000 in 2002
to $18,000 in 2003. So far, the organization has collected
$11,000 this year.
But HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson has said in published
reports that the proposed cuts are needed because the cost of
Section 8 increases annually. He said that five years ago
Section 8 was 36 percent of HUD’s budget and now it is
more than 50 percent.
David Fink, policy director of Partnership for Strong
Communities, said Connecticut has seen an increase in
homelessness among working poor families this year, and that
the proposed HUD cuts will worsen the situation.
"It will lead to an increase in homelessness," Fink
said.
The Partnership’s Web site claims says homeless
population is growing more rapidly than any period since the
Great Depression and now stands at about 33,000 people. It
says that in 2002, 27,114 people were turned away from full
shelters, a 141 percent increase from 2000.
State House Majority Leader James Amann, D-Milford, said the
cuts would shift the burden from the federal government to
the state.
He said that HUD’s proposal to give the local
authorities more flexibility would not make up for the cuts.
ŠThe Middletown
Press 2004