Thursday, December 29, 2011
Housing voucher applicants in Minneapolis (photo: Affordable Housing Institute)
In city after city, ample evidence exists of the need for housing assistance in the United States. But as far as Congress is concerned, the problem simply doesn’t require funding.
Federal housing officials estimate that “worst-case housing needs” increased by 42% from 2001 to 2009. In some urban centers, demand for housing aid has outstripped available support by the thousands.
In Dallas, Texas, 21,000 people sought help from the local housing authority, which had slots for only 5,000. In Oakland, California, 100,000 individuals applied for 10,000 vouchers.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington decided it was a good idea to chop $3.8 billion from the federal housing agency’s
budget. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the budget for federal housing assistance has dropped 9.2% since 2003, with the biggest cuts hitting programs to repair and maintain public housing, build new affordable housing, and assistance for seniors and people with disabilities. In 2010, 49% of Americans receiving housing vouchers were elderly or disabled.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
The Unfathomable Cuts in Housing Aid (by Patrick Markee, The Nation)
Large Majority of Housing Voucher Recipients Work, are Elderly, or Have Disabilities (by Barbara Sard and Thyria Alvarez-Sánchez, Center on Budget Policy and Priorities)
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