The struggle to pay rent is about to get harder

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The struggle to pay rent is about to get harder

The federal Section 8 housing program helps low-income Americans afford decent places to live. But now it's about to be trimmed, meaning it will serve fewer people, or serve them less well - or both.

By Danna Harman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON – Bobby Parker was born and raised on the east side of the Potomac River. His dad was a mechanic and his mom a maid, but the home he grew up in was "just fine," he recalls.
Still, "I never thought much about how they paid the rent," he admits. "It seemed no big deal."

In years since, however, as he has moved in and out of rentals, into shelters, out to the streets, over to friends' back porches, and onto his children's couches, he has given the subject much more thought. And, he says, scratching his bushy mane of hair, it's anything but "no big deal."

Sixty-five million Americans, or 24 percent of the population, have housing problems, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition in Washington. Some are elderly or unemployed. Others juggle two, even three low-paying jobs. Many are single moms. Some are disabled. All are scrambling, one way or another, to pay the mortgage or find the rent.

And it looks as though the scramble might get harder. President Bush's budget proposal for 2005 calls for cutting the Section 8 housing voucher program - the nation's principal low-income housing assistance program - by $1 billion, leaving it $1.6 billion short of what's required to maintain the program's current level of service.

-more-

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0512/p14s02-lihc.html

[Ilsa]

1. And every morning there is Pickles giving her PSA

on feeding hungry kids through Second Harvest. I guess shelter doesn't mean much to these heartless bastards. We need to cut their housing allowance so Bill Gates, etc can get another tax cut.

[Malva Zebrina]

10. and she is billed as the national comforter.

nt

[Terran]

2. This shows how stupid and/or hypocritical the Bush admin is.

I work basically as a housing advocate in Missouri, so I breathe this stuff every day. On the one hand, HUD is touting a huge new effort to help the "chronically" homeless (which basically means the people you see on the street in your city, not those actually in shelters). It's misguided because it throws money at a small fraction of the population and, by its own definition, ignores families and children who are homeless, who are far more numerous. But at least it's something.

So now here comes HUD, intent on cutting its budget by cutting and redefining Section 8. This action will have only one effect: to put more homeless people and families on the steeet, especially the so-called chronically homeless. You really have to winder if the guy who runs HUD for Bush has the slightest idea what the f*ck he's doing.

Anyway, this is something you can call your federal reps and senators about. It's not a pending bill, it's an agency change with HUD (Housing and Urban Development). Your representatives need to hear from you, and know that you're opposed to this foolhardy budget cutting that will throw poor people out of their homes.

For more info, I suggest www.nationalhomeless.org, the site for the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Dirk

[jayavarman]

3. They're screwing all of us sec 8 landlords, as well

I could go on & on about this one, but the cutting of sec 8 is bullshit on so many fronts. I'm not a bigtime landlord or anything, but 2 of my 3 rentals are now sec 8 & this has been pissing me off.

Most section 8 tenants (or at least the ones I've chosen to do business with) working mothers with a limited income & several kids. Section 8, in the cases I've seen, does not pay ALL of the rent for people (they pay, for instance $700/month and my tenant pays $400/month for a 3 bed 2 bath house) Some of the best tenants I've ever had have been on sec. 8.

Anyway, sec 8 has started paying less in rent & having harsher inspections in the past 12mos than they ever had before. When I mention inspections, many of you who have no 1st hand knowledge of sec 8 may think that the houses are run down & crappy. The fact is that many of the homes we all own & rent would not pass a section 8 inspection . . . . My home, for example, does not have screens on windows & thus would not pass.

My point is that the cuts in sec 8 are bad on several fronts:

-they screw the tenants who are on waiting lists trying to get into the program (as there will be no $ for new vouchers)

-They screw tenants in the quality of the housing as good landlords like me, whose properties are in nicer neighborhoods have a choice as to taking section 8 or taking what I call a private market tenant. I just sent a letter to an older lady telling her that I will not be renewing her sec 8 lease because sec 8 will pay me 475/mo for the same 1 bedroom apt I can rent to a non sec 8 person for 600/mo. Landlords who have shadier properties do not have that choice, so these cuts will end up segregating those who need help in bad neighborhoods.

-The cuts screw the landlords who put their own money & time into buying properties to put into the program.

Of all the fucked up thing to cut, I can't believe these clowns are messing with a program that actually works . . .my only hope is that it does not pass

[Terran]

6. Yes; and

more and more section 8 landlords will withdraw from the program because of this change, further reducing the amount of low-income housing available. It's just plain stupid.

[jayavarman]

4. "If you only knew what I've seen with your eyes"

Dirk, I love the Blade Runner reference, that & chinatown are my favorite movies

[Terran]

7. Cool!

I think you're the first DU'er to comment on it. Thanks, and welcome to DU!

Dirk

[redqueen]

12. Where is that?

My favorite movie ever. I was shocked I missed it, but I still don't see it.

[redqueen]

11. Call toll free at 1-877-762-8762

Ask to speak with your senators/reps and tell them which you think is more important: permanent tax cuts for the wealthiest among us - or adequate funding to provide shelter for homeless families.

Please, do it today.

[OneBlueSky]

5. damned shame . . . this is a great program . . .

I owned a two-family house for fifteen years, and rented the second unit to a single mom and her five kids . . . they were my tenants the entire fifteen years, and could only do so because of the Section 8 program . . . just one more example of BushCo shafting the little guy while dousing millionaires with even more money . . .

[GOPisEvil]

8. Just another in a series of attempts by Republicans to get rid of social

programs. Compassionate, my ass.

[Delano]

9. My wife & I make less than 30K/Year living in SF with 2 kids.

Our rent is $1300 including utilities. Are we eligible for Section 8?

It's not like they advertise this thing. I haven't the faintest idea how to apply for it...

[redqueen]

13. It's not by accident that you don't know if you're eligible

Barriers are put in place in order to keep enrollment down, thereby keeping costs down. Money is more important than the welfare of the public, don'tcha know.

[Kanary]

14. I'm one of the ones caught in this

It's what I've been talking about for some time now.

It just doesn't seem to be important to most people.

It would help if there was a huge outcry, and people, in numbers, protested this action.

But, that won't happen.

So, many of us will just quietly fade away, unnoticed

That's going to be the the beginning of the end.....many suicides that won't be noticed.

It'll be different when they come for the middle class.

*THAT* will get the outcry.

Kanary