If the homelessness situation in California and the nation seems rather bleak now, a look toward the future does not show that the housing crisis for low-income Americans is going to disappear anytime soon. If anything, even more people will become homeless unless the nation’s housing policies drastically change course.

Since 2001, around 123,000 units of low-income public housing have already been demolished across the nation, with another 45,000 units or more expected to be demolished under current policies of the Bush Administration.

The U.S. Dept. of Housing Urban and Development (HUD) has only authorized funding to build approximately 40,000 units to replace those demolished since 2001.

As a result of the Bush Administration’s policies, roughly an additional 50,000 families will need Housing Choice (Section 8) Vouchers this year, according to HUD officials. Most of the families are currently residing in public housing units that are scheduled for major rehabilitation, demolition, or conversion to market-rate housing that will charge more than what low-income families can afford to pay.

It’s an extremely flawed housing policy. As the Bush Administration razes public housing units across the country, it proposes to cut funding for the very same vouchers being promised to those now being displaced. This policy is known as the “double-cross” by those affected.

Based on actual funding levels for 2005, California has been authorized to receive 300,836 Section 8 vouchers. But under cuts proposed by the Bush Administration, California stands to lose $665,454,248 in federal HUD-funded low-income housing by 2010, according to a report released February 18, 2005, by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). And an estimate based on limited information provided by the Bush Administration reveals that if the proposed cuts to HUD occur, by 2010, California faces a projected loss of 52,925 low-income housing vouchers across the state, below the 2005 level.

In addition, the Bush Administration proposes a five-year spending cap that would freeze all funding for low-income programs at the already low fiscal year 2006 proposed funding levels.

The Bush proposals have outraged the poor, as housing activists up and down the state and across the nation are alarmed at the proposed cuts that would place tens of thousands more at risk of homelessness by 2010.

BUSH BUDGET PROPOSALS IN BRIEF

On February 7, the Bush Administration released its budget proposal to Congress for fiscal year 2006, and in comparison with all the other government agencies, HUD was hit with the largest funding cuts to its programs.

The Bush Administration is proposing a massive $3.7 billion cut to HUD, which amounts to nearly a 12% cut in the nation’s housing assistance programs.

HUD’s current budget is around $32.4 billion, and the Bush Administration proposes to cut that down to around $28.5 billion for fiscal year 2006.

The nation’s mayors have become alarmed and outraged that the Bush Administration proposes to zero out funding for the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) in HUD, and consolidate the CDBG programs into the Labor and Commerce Department, which is mostly pro business.

Low-income housing activists are horrified that the Bush Administration proposes to end the federal rule that requires 75% of the nation’s Section 8 vouchers to serve the poorest of the poor. HUD and the Bush administration wants to shift the housing vouchers from the poorest of the nation’s renters to wealthier tenants that may not need assistance to avoid homelessness.

The Bush Administration’s proposal to end the 75% rule places the nearly 2 million low-income families in the Section 8 program at risk of homelessness, and would be a disaster for cities across the nation that lack the needed funding to provide shelters for the millions who are already homeless as a result of the nation’s housing policies.

Bush proposes to cut or eliminate hundreds of domestic programs. Key housing programs for the disabled (Section 811), project-based rental assistance programs, Public Housing Capital Funds, Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency funding, Native American Housing Block Grants, Youth Build funds, Housing for AIDS patients, Rural Housing Programs, Fair Housing Assistance Programs, Lead Paint Hazard Reduction Programs and a whole host of other programs meant to enhance the quality of our lives and the nations housing stock as a whole.

The proposed budget cuts are on a fast track, and Congress will attempt to begin work on the proposed budget cuts by March 7. The Bush Administration’s proposed budget includes language to extend the multi-trillion dollar tax cuts to the rich and is meant to protect them from Congressional budget enforcement rules. This would help to ensure the destruction of the nation’s domestic programs, as the tax cuts to the rich extend into perpetuity unless they are opposed by the American public.

Activists urge the public to reach their representatives at the Congressional Switchboard by calling 1-888-818-6641 to tell them that the proposed budget cuts must not take place, and that the Bush tax cuts must be rolled back.

Lynda

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2005 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Federal Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.