In his inaugural address President Bush vowed to continue fighting against international terrorism. On the domestic front he expressed his encouragement for economic freedom and responsibility toward senior citizens. Disregarding the widespread Republican disagreement with the President’s ambitious plans, as the Federal deficit reaches $413 billion, Bush reiterated his resolve to reform Social Security, taxes and immigration laws, even if these reforms will further raise the deficit.
At the present time the White House administration is preparing the federal budget proposal for 2006. It is already clear that due to the ongoing war and large federal deficit, the administration will ask lawmakers to halt or limit spending on all domestic programs, including agriculture, urban development and building housing.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD) budget estimates that $20.24 billion will be needed to finance Section 8 Housing Voucher Program during 2005. This sum is almost $1 billion more than the amount granted in 2004 and $1.8 billion more than presently requested by the administration. The Section 8 Program received $14.9 billion, which is $697 million more than was given in 2004 fiscal year and $1.67 billion more than was requested by the administration. This amount includes $13.46 million for redeeming the vouchers, which is 6 percent more than was allotted last year. After many mayors, members of Congress and various religious, social and advocacy organizations protested loudly, Congress added $156 million to DHUD 2004 budget to pay for the existing vouchers.
Despite objections, in 2005 the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program will function differently, operating on a fixed sum of money, which program authorities can dispose of at their discretion, staying within the specified sum. In its budget estimates DHUD failed to account for inflation and the sharp rise in rent in New York during 2004 (6.5 percent). As such, New York State and City housing authorities calculated that $61 million will be an insufficient amount to finance the 118,000 existing vouchers for Section 8 Program. Similar problems also arose in other cities, with 492 out of 2500 housing authorities around the country requesting that DHUD increase the financing for the program.
Senator Charles Schumer wrote a letter to Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alfonso Jackson supporting the request made by state and city housing authorities that $61 million be added for Section 8 Program financing. If the request is denied, housing authorities will either have to freeze the waiting lists for affordable housing and stop issuing vouchers to people – who have waited 12 years for them – or pay less money to the landlords. The second option is perilous because lessees will be forced to pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing and landlords are likely to refuse future participation in the Section 8 Program.
It must be said that for a long time now Section 8 has been unable to solve the problem of insufficient affordable housing for people with low income and for those living below the official poverty line. Even though it has been 11 years since the Section 8 Program in New York accepted new applications, not everyone who applied for this program 12 years ago received the long awaited vouchers.
Meanwhile, many people’s wages have not kept up with the uncontrolled rise in real-estate prices. According to official figures, 25 percent of New York City’s renters presently pay more that 50 percent of their income in rent. Many elderly and persons with disabilities, living below the official poverty line without the Program 8 subsidies, spend 80 percent to 90 percent of their income on housing. Often they are forced to live with their relatives or even strangers, “paying” an extra fee with their mental health.
The $3 billion “New Housing Marketplace” project, initiated by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was started in early 2003. The aim of this project is to build or renovate 65,000 units of affordable housing for low and middle-income families by 2008. In October 2004, this program received a generous gift – a $1 billion grant from the “Enterprise Foundation” located in Columbia, Md., which has been helping New York City build affordable housing for a long time. However this time, presumably understanding the critical situation in the world’s capital, the foundation gave a five year grant that exceeds the sum of all donations it gave New York City during the last 15 years.
In addition to the “New Housing Marketplace” project, two other sources can fund the construction of low-income housing. One is the money allocated by Congress for rebuilding Battery Park City, the housing complex that used to be located next to the World Trade Center. This money would be sufficient to build or renovate 15,000 apartments for low- or middle-income families. Secondly, the New York City Council can and should pass a law which would oblige developers building former industrial zones to designate a percentage of the apartments for low- or middle-income families. Unfortunately, last year a similar proposal, which was put forth by a City Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), the American Association of Jews from the Former U.S.S.R., and other members of New York Immigration Coalition was rejected.
As well, every year under Section 202, the Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program, New York City receives a small grant to subsidize housing for the elderly. However, the money allotted by the Housing and Urban Development to the city in 2003 for Section 202 has not been spent. The official reason is that there is no available land, thus no philanthropic organization has requested this grant. Unfortunately, our community does not have the statistics on how many elderly or people with disabilities living below the poverty line are in need of subsidized housing.
