Changes To Section 8 Worry Local Housing
Advocates
The Gazette Newspapers
Long Beach CA
7/21/2005
http://www.gazettes.com/section807212005.html
By Kurt Helin
At a meeting last week, an elderly disabled woman on a
fixed income of $812 a month approached Long Beach Housing
Authority Director Larry Triesch. She told him her rent was
just increased to $830 a month and she begged him to put her
on the Section 8 housing rolls.
“It was so sad. There are so many stories like that and
nothing I can do,” Triesch said. “I have to take
the next name on the top of the waiting list.”
There already are 6,457 households in Long Beach that receive
Section 8 money every month to help them pay their rent, most
of them among the poorest families in the city. Thousands
more are on the waiting list.
And big changes to the program could be coming.
That’s what last week’s meeting was about. The Save
Section 8 Coalition called the meeting to talk with Long
Beach officials (representatives from the federal Department
of Housing and Urban Development pulled out at the last
minute). About 450 people attended the meeting, many of them
from the city’s Cambodian population.
Changes to the program on the federal level have many housing
advocates worried.
Bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress to
create a “flexible voucher program” that would
essentially give cities a capped block of money and put a lot
more power in the hands of local agencies. As might be
expected, local officials are not opposed to that idea, but
activists are leery.
“(The act) would reduce the number of families
participating in the (Section 8) program by capping the
annual allocation to housing authorities,” a press
statement from the organization said. “As rents continue
to rise, tenants will end up paying more of their income (for
rent) and have fewer vouchers available.”
Since it was founded in 1969, the Section 8 program has
helped poor families afford housing by paying 70% of the
market rent (the families must put in 30%). Due to the high
rents in Long Beach, more than one third of households in the
program already pay more than 30% of their income in rents,
the coalition said.
Because of the power given to local authorities, Long Beach
could do things that would stretch the money it is given
under the proposed laws, Triesch said.
For example, it would allow the city to inspect apartment
buildings where Section 8 tenants are housed once every four
years rather than every year (something that would not be
done for all buildings), Triesch said. Also, the city would
only have to certify senior citizens in the plan every three
years, not every year.
But Triesch said he also is worried about how much money will
be coming out of Washington.
“The President’s (proposed) budget would keep us
with what we have, but the House bill would cut us 15%,”
Triesch said.
Working with the flat fee rate has been a challenge as rents
have increased in Long Beach, he added. Up until a couple
years ago, the federal government agreed to pay for each
voucher — meaning if the cost of rents went up, the
government would cover the difference. Now they just get a
flat fee and Long Beach officials have to make sure it covers
everything.
“At this point in time, our funding is okay,”
Triesch said, “but I’m concerned about the
future.”
He is not alone.
“The Save Section 8 Coalition wants HUD to live up to
their commitment to provide decent, safe, affordable housing
not concentrated in one community,” according to the
organization’s materials.
Last week’s meeting ended on a relatively positive note,
because both the city and the coalition want to see the
program succeed in its mission, Triesch added.