In another thread, some DUers seem to have gotten confused into think that the Republicans are the protector of the poor, and that the Dems have not been fighting to defend Section 8 vouchers, so I spent 5 minutes Googling up some articles for the uninformed
http://www.house.gov/banking_democrats/pr_011108.htmRep. John J. LaFalce
VA-HUD Conference Report for Fiscal Year 2002
November 8, 2001
I rise to address the issue of housing funding in this VA-HUD conference report.
The good news is that this bill restores a significant portion of the very deep and unwise cuts made to housing and community development programs that were proposed in the Administration budget and were adopted in the House-passed bill. The bad news is that this bill is still disappointing from a housing standpoint.
The last few years, we worked together in a bi-partisan basis to restore funding for housing programs that were cut in 1995, and to provide new vouchers for almost 200,000 low-income families.
http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/127/section8.htmlSection 8 Is Broken
http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_3_housing_reform.htmlThe Housing Reform That Backfired
How come liberal Democrats are flocking to the defense of the Section 8 housing voucher program, invented by Republicans as a “market-based” alternative to public housing projects? From the New York Times editorial page and Senator Hillary Clinton, to advocates like the National Low Income Housing Coalition, liberals have railed against Bush administration efforts to change the program’s rules and rein in its growing size and cost. A look at the program in New York City, where it has reached mammoth proportions, makes clear why it has attracted such defenders. Far from protecting “our most vulnerable residents,” as Senator Clinton puts it, housing vouchers are a last redoubt of the Democrat-sponsored entitlement culture that wreaked such harm on the poor and vulnerable over the last four decades by making them perpetually dependent.
http://www.chn.org/issues/article.asp?Art=1179Bush Proposal for Section 8 Housing Introduced (5/9/03)
On April 29, Representative Bob Ney (R-OH) introduced HR 1841, the Housing Assistance to Needy Families Act (HANF) on behalf of the Bush administration. Proponents of the legislation assert that it will better assist lower-income families to obtain decent, safe, and affordable housing by converting the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program into a state-administered block grant. The money would be allocated directly to the states, rather than to the approximately 2,600 public housing agencies that currently administer the program. The states then could choose to contract with the public housing agencies or other entities to manage the program. Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) introduced a companion bill, S 947, which is almost identical to the House bill.
Section 8 vouchers allow very low-income families to choose, lease or purchase safe, decent and affordable private housing. The system has been touted for its ability to provide more hope and opportunity to families than traditional public housing programs, which group poor families in concentrated areas. Many in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, are skeptical of the administration’s plans to overhaul the Section 8 housing program. A lack of federal standards, accountability for grants, and future stability of funding levels top the list of concerns.
http://www.politicalposts.com/news/index.asp?id=181548Don't 'Improve' Rent Aid
By LA Times Editorial - LA Times
July 14, 2003
(Editor's note: This is another case of the administration wanting to get rid of services to the public. They have all services in their gunsights. Section 8 provides a genuine service to the public. People have a chance to escape bad environments while becoming citizens who can contribute to the general well-being of the whole country. Bad neighborhoods become smaller and more likely to disappear altogether.)
In its most dramatic attempt to redefine the relationship between Washington and very poor Americans, the Bush administration wants Congress to replace the largest federal housing program with open-ended block grants to states. It's an idea that makes good sense on paper but would inevitably be trashed by reality...
http://www.nlihc.org/mtm/mtm7-40.htmWeekly Housing Update: Memo to Members
October 11, 2002
The House version of the FY2003 HUD-VA-IA appropriations bill finally emerged this week and was quickly approved by both the subcommittee and then the full committee in two days time. As expected, the House proposes spending less money on low income housing programs than the Senate. What is interesting is that in several key low income housing programs, the House proposes higher appropriations than either the Senate bill or the President’s request. The public housing capital and operating funds, Section 202 elderly housing, Section 811 housing for the disabled, HOME, and McKinney-Vento homeless assistance are the winners in this bill. CDBG and HOPWA also fare very well.
How are the House appropriators able to be moderately generous to these programs and still come in under the Senate bill total? Because their bill proposes radical policy changes to the voucher program that, if enacted, will reduce the number of families served, impede implementation of recent voucher improvement initiatives, and eventually starve the program. No particular sector of the housing advocacy world should be celebrating victory, because it comes at the expense of another staple of low income housing resources. Once again, because low income housing programs are fragmented, each with its own interest groups, when we get to the end of the line in the appropriations process, the fractures are easily exploited. In the absence of a strong force in the Administration who advocates for more funds for all housing programs, low income housing as a whole loses.
http://www.newhouse.com/archive/moriarty011603.htmlHousing Subsidies Face Cuts, Even as Homelessness Spreads
Stephen J. Cooley, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy guy and father of three, was something he had never been before: homeless. Until recently, he lived with his children, ages 5, 7 and 9, at the River Inn, a Springfield, Mass., motel for the homeless.
Cooley considers himself one of the lucky ones: He was able to get a Section 8 voucher. And, more importantly, the schooled chef found an affordable apartment in nearby Chicopee after only three months of waiting for the government subsidy and searching for a new home.
For a generation, Section 8 vouchers have helped provide a roof over the heads of the poor.
But now $1 billion of the federal housing subsidies could be on the chopping block, leaving as many as 150,000 households without a safety net.
Congress will soon decide on the $1 billion cut as it finalizes spending plans over the next month for most government agencies. The White House last week signaled legislators to trim $10 billion from spending plans developed by Senate Democrats a few months ago. Now Republicans control the Senate...Massachusetts Sens. John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy, whose state lost 7,253 Section 8 units between fall 1996 and last February, are lobbying to have the Section 8 voucher funding restored.
The two Democrats, in a letter to other senators, say the House proposal could result in the "immediate loss of housing for low-income families currently receiving vouchers, most of which are likely to be used by low-income families in FY03."
They said the House cuts "will start a downward spiral that will lead to further, significant reductions in the voucher program."
Barbara Sard, who studies housing policy for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said resistance by Democratic legislators to the cuts may not be enough.
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