Bush Aims to Localize Rent Aid

[kskiska]

Money-Saving Plan Would Relax Regulation of Section 8

Tuesday, April 13, 2004; Page A01

The Bush administration is proposing to transform a cornerstone of the nation's housing policy for the poor, replacing a federal program that provides rent vouchers to 2 million families with a system that would give broad new powers to local housing authorities.

The idea, which is intended partly to save money, is a sequel to the administration's failed attempt a year ago to convert federal rent vouchers -- the government's largest form of housing subsidies -- into block grants run by states. It would bypass states, giving lump-sum payments directly to the nation's 3,000 public housing authorities, along with more freedom from federal rules than the White House envisioned last year.

This year's version would eliminate a long-standing rule that families in the program, known as Section 8, pay no more than two-fifths of their income in rent. It would erase a requirement that three-quarters of the vouchers go to families who are extremely poor. And it would omit the federal quality standards that have covered all the apartments and houses in which participants live.

In his second attempt to redefine Section 8, President Bush has changed important details but kept the philosophy behind the plan that was quickly decried last year by lawmakers of both parties and by many affordable-housing and anti-poverty groups.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6498-2004Apr12.html

[Eye and Monkey]

1. This is a gift to real estate developers - shilling for campaign contribs.

BushCo did something similar with federal funding while he pretended to be governor of Texas.

[unblock]

2. can we give bush a section 8 discharge from his commander-in-chief post?

please?

[sam sarrha]

3. All Elected and appointed officials and their families should be required

to live in public housing and have to crawl under the window openings to prevent getting shot, live on welfare, all use public transportation, all their children go to local public schools, all have to use indigent care medical services..non existent dental care...use food stamps, wear funky ugly welfare glasses, have to fill out all the paper work and stand in line for all the the above services with all their children because there is no child care...and take the bus home and walk the gauntlet through the drug dealers, gangs, pimps, whores and the homeless mentally ill... every F'n day.

and in a week we would all be live'n up town, and riding in limos and make'n 6 figures on welfare...:headbang:

[On the Road]

4. I Agree, This is a Giveaway to the Real Estate Industry

it leaves the local housing boards free to make deals with their buddies without standards.

However, there are problems with Section 8 that need to be addressed. I have several rental units, and I don't rent to Section 8. They seem to actively discourage landlords participating in the program, even though there are many boarded up houses in the neighborhood, and plenty of unmet need for housing assistance. I would like to have Section 8 tenants, because they tend to be more stable. The expense and red tape are too much.

Neighborhoods with lots of Section 8 tenants tend to be in run-down neighborhoods with old, imperfect houses. Too much money must be sunk into the houses to qualify. My girlfriend, for example, spent thousands of dollars replacing all the windows and doing other improvements to get a Section 8 tenant, and despite the additional expense, ended getting less than she would have on the open market. That was her last one.

There's got to be a better way. I would personally allow reduced Section 8 assistance for houses that do not meet all the standards, provided that the houses are safe and properly heated. It would allow many more people to get assistance, and actually increase incomes and living standards for many poor folks on the waiting lists. Of course, the long-term solution is to raise the minimum wage to allow a poor working family to afford a modest apartment.

I know this may sound like a Republican idea, and I may sound like a rat fink for preferring the open market to the government program. It would just not be a practical thing in my case, and for a lot of other landlords as well.