Hundreds rally for affordable housing in
Louisville, KY
Crowd protests cuts in federal rent-assistance program
By Gregory A. Hall
ghall@courier-journal.com
The Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal
Originally published May 25, 2005
Affordable-housing advocates held placards at a demonstration yesterday representing each of more than 350 people who might have been eligible for federal rent assistance this year if funding for Louisville had not been cut.
Some people at the protest, held downtown in front of the Mazzoli Federal Building, had another number -- their place on the list of 15,000 people waiting for Section 8 housing assistance.
Stefannie English, 34, of western Louisville, said she is about 2,000th on the list now, after signing up for the aid 2 ½ years ago. English said she doesn't expect to ever get Section 8 help.
"It's been hard because I have five kids and I'm a single mom," she said.
English said she works at two homeless shelters and participates in Homeward Bound, a rent-assistance program for families with children. She hopes to be able to buy a home when that ends at the end of next year.
But English said she worries about other people on the list who aren't preparing themselves. More cuts could mean more homelessness, she said.
Organizers said 712 people attended the rally.
It was followed by an interfaith prayer service at the Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption, which was one of the event's sponsors.
Others included the Coalition for the Homeless and the Metropolitan Housing Coalition.
The federal government reduced the amount of Section 8 money available to Louisville this year by more than $1.9 million, a 4 percent cut, Tim Barry, executive director of the Louisville Metro Housing Authority, said in a telephone interview. The Housing Authority administers Section 8 vouchers in Louisville.
That amount could have helped about 350 families, using the average benefit, Barry said.
His agency was not a sponsor of the protest, but Barry said he shares the concerns expressed there.
Although families currently in the program aren't being dropped, Barry said further cuts could cause that to happen.
Rally organizers and participants said they hope funding is restored to its previous level or even increased.
State Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, said the federal and state governments subsidize people who have mortgages by allowing them to take tax deductions for the interest they pay.
"Shouldn't the very poor also be guaranteed a housing subsidy?" he asked during the rally.
A person in the Louisville area being paid the $5.15 hourly minimum wage would have to work 89 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment at market rates, according to an annual National Low Income Housing Coalition report released last year.
Terry Caffey, 40, of western Louisville, said he was at the rally to support his niece, who was about 12,000th on the waiting list as of six months ago. "There's a lot of mothers out here that need some assistance," Caffey said. "… This is what taxes are for."
Rally organizers fear the cuts are "making a housing crisis that already exists even worse," Marlene Gordon, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said in an interview before the rally.
Barry couldn't specify how long the average wait is to receive Section 8 assistance, but he noted that with so many people on the list, it can last years.
"…How many years, I couldn't tell you," he said.
Each month, about 30 people begin receiving assistance -- but twice that many are added, Barry said.
People on the waiting list are "in jeopardy of homelessness every day that they're paying market-rate rent," Gordon said.
NOTE: For a related story, please see "HUD explains cut in funding."