Section 8 shortfall threatens affordable housing residents
By Jean Lachowicz
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) anticipates a $2.5 billion shortfall for the Section 8 program in 2008, which threatens the security of 1.3 million families housed by the program, 75,000 in Illinois alone.
According to the National Housing Trust, HUD and the Office of Management and Budget failed to request enough funds to meet the program’s obligations in fiscal year 2008. Current appropriation bills will not provide enough funds to guarantee 12 months of payments to Section 8 property owners.
Todd Nedwick, assistant director of the National Housing Trust’s National Preservation Initiative, explained, “Without such a guarantee, thousands of property owners who can economically leave the Section 8 program will do so at the first opportunity, leaving working families and seniors facing substantially higher rents or displacement.”
The Section 8 program provides affordable housing to families with an average household income of less than $11,000 per year. More than 40% of the residents are elderly.
“The program’s 2007 budget of $5.9 billion was $1.2 billion short," Nedwick said. "As a result, thousands of property owners have received late Section 8 payments, forcing them to use reserves to cover operational costs. Since most owners have reserves that are inadequate to compensate for this funding shortfall, owners have been forced to cut back on paying for essential services. Despite this funding shortfall, HUD’s budget request for 2008 is less than what was appropriated for 2007, even though the funding needs will increase.”
On April 18, the Chicago Tenants Coalition for Section Eight Preservation (CTCSEP) met with U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky and staff from the offices of Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama and Representatives Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr., Luis Gutierrez, and Rahm Emanuel to discuss the situation. CTCSEP is a network of community-based organizations that advocate for HUD tenants to preserve their subsidized housing; among its member groups are the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Lakeview Action Coalition, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Metropolitan Tenants Organization, National Training and Information Center, Organization of the Northeast, and Southsiders Together Organizing for Power.
Schakowsky said, “Stable Section 8 housing is good for families and good for our communities,” as she promised to “continue working with CTCSEP to ensure the future of this program” by lobbying her colleagues to join her in signing a Congressional letter to the House Appropriations Committee requesting $2.8 billion in emergency supplemental funding for the Section 8 program. Durbin’s aide also agreed to work with the senator to get others to sign on with him to a similar letter being circulated in the Senate.
The Metropolitan Tenants Organization (www.tenants-rights.org) states in its housing policy that “Fears of recession have many people worried. Subprime lending and the ensuing foreclosures debacle are blamed for the stumbling markets and growing housing crises. But blaming subprime loans and foreclosures for provoking the crisis obscures the real cause: our nation’s lack of a plan to meet the housing needs of its residents.”
Bronzeville resident Herman Bonner, who serves as executive vice president of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (www.saveourhomes.org), said, “Unfortunately, it [the appropriations request] is really at a standstill now. When we went to lobby in Washington in February, we were told we would have an answer in June. HUD hired a new secretary, Steve Preston, and we are going back to lobby some more.
“This affects me personally. I live in a 60-unit building. There are 154 units in the complex. All these people, many of them senior citizens, are going to be out on the streets if the building management turns the building into condominiums. It’s really sad to see how much low-income housing is being turned into condos," said Bonner.
“If they continue to use unacceptable workmanship and materials, or if they try to turn our buildings into condos, we want to be included in the decision-making. After all, we are the ones who live here.
“Housing is a human right, not a privilege like a driver’s license. A person can’t do anything without a place to live. When you fill out a job application, right under the line where you put your name, you are supposed to fill in an address. You cannot apply to anything without a mailing address. This is one of our country’s most critical public issues,” he said.
Bonner and the National Alliance of HUD Tenants went back to Washington for their annual conference in late June to press the issue of the Section 8 shortfall with elected officials and government offices.
