Rent Snafus Plague Hurricane Evacuees

[Eugene]

Rent Snafus Plague Hurricane Evacuees

Sunday November 13, 2005 4:31 PM

AP Photo LASS103

By LARA JAKES JORDAN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Only $114 a month stands between Shawn Williams,
a Hurricane Katrina evacuee, and eviction from her temporary apartment
in suburban Houston. Williams can afford to pay out of her own pocket
and is willing to do so to make up the difference between the $633
voucher she gets in federal housing aid and the apartment's $747 rent.
But a bureaucratic snag prevents her from closing the gap on her own.

Now, after paying the entire rent herself for months because the
landlord cannot accept the voucher, Williams says she is running out
of money and fears losing the two-bedroom apartment where she has
lived with her disabled husband and teenage son since fleeing New
Orleans more than two months ago.

The government's disaster relief agency says help is on the way for
Williams and other evacuees caught in the frustrating tangle that
prevents landlords from accepting more rent money than what
Washington is willing to cover.

It is a problem in Houston and elsewhere where rents set by the market
outpace the government's gauge for determining aid levels. For
families, it is making it harder to find long-term housing. For
cash-strapped cities, it is adding to their financial woes and
depleting their resources for helping hurricane victims.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5412129,00.html

Current rules make rent vouchers practically worthless.
Local officials are still waiting for promised rule changes
from FEMA.

[Maraya1969]

1. I don't understand who the landlord can't accept the voucher and then

have the tenant pay for the rest. I've run apartments and that is what we did for people on HUD.