NEWS- Section 8/Public Housing- Tenant/Housing News

June 5, 2004 Tenant/Housing News Update

Some of the latest in tenant housing news from across the nation.

High rents got us into this mess, and to Roll Back The Rents is one of the solutions to end America's poverty crisis!

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Congratulations to Bostons Housing Authority for rolling back the rents by 7% rather than raiseing the rents by 7% on the poor to solve the Section 8 funding shortfall in their City lately!

NOTE: By Lynda Carson (Hope VI projects have meant a loss of 33,000 public housing rental units across the nation during it's 10 year trial period. 80,000 units have been scheduled for demolition during the 10 year period, and only 47,000 newly rebuilt units would be available as public housing, creating a 33,000 unit loss in public housing nation wide. It has also meant an extra loss of many, many more thousands of low-income rental units across the nation because half of each Hope VI project becomes market rate housing, and most of the rest is built for higher income renters. Only 12% of the low-income tenants pushed out of public housing make it back into a Hope VI project after the old projects are demolished and replaced by the gentrified Hope VI program.)

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Progressives Vow to Fight HUD's Section 8 Cuts
By The Coalition to Save America's Affordable Housing
May 26, 2004

In opposition to these Section 8 cuts, New York’s Senior Senator Chuck Schumer said, “When it comes to renting an apartment, New York isn't Nashville and it shouldn't be treated like it. That's why last week I introduced legislation in the Senate to force HUD to set Section 8 vouchers based on actual rent costs, and not some one-size-fits-all nationwide formula.

Click below for more.

http://progressivegovernment.org/phpws/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=7631

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Housing authority loses HOPE VI and $20 million;

Public Housing Tenants WIN--Hope VI Loses, in a battle that pitted gentrification against long term renters.

By William J. Ford Of The Morning Call
Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
June 4, 2004

Some Delaware Terrace residents were pleased when shown Easton was not on HUD's list of winners.

"Yes," said Theresa Campbell, 54, who has lived on Lincoln Street for 19 years. "It's not bad around here."

Campbell's next-door neighbor, Dorothy Williams, agrees.

"I have been here for 30 years, and I have not had a problem here," Williams said. "I love this place."

Click below for story...

http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/28597.html

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Hope VI project denied in Sarasota Florida

Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida)
June 4, 2004

Click below for story...

http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/28633.html

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Hundreds of Washington DC tenants face displacement from Hope VI program.

PR Newswire
June 4, 2004

A 230-unit public housing development in the Marshall Heights neighborhood is soon to be demolished to make room for a Hope VI project.

Click below for story...

http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/28561.html

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Section 8 Cuts Hit California Tenants Hard!

See June 3, Los Angeles Times Story,
"U.S. Blamed in Cuts to Rental Aid for Poor."

* The Alameda Housing Authority, facing a $3.2-million deficit, will cancel the contracts of about 100 families, effective July 1, said Michael Pucci, executive director of the city's housing authority.

*On Tuesday, the Long Beach Housing Authority's board of commissioners approved a plan to cancel all 6,172 contracts effective Aug. 1 and issue new contracts with a lower subsidy.

* The San Diego County Housing Authority plans to notify about 4,300 of the 10,400 households it serves that their rental contracts will be canceled. Tenants can expect to pay more each month for rent -- from a few dollars to $100 or more -- under new contracts.

*In Los Angeles, over-leasing contributed to a funding shortfall that forced officials to suspend the vouchers of 1,500 families in February.

http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/28209.html

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SHELTER; Federal cuts to local housing assistance were unwise
The Houston Chronicle
June 3, 2004

Low-income housing is in short supply, jobs have been scarce and there is a long backlog of poor people waiting for rental subsidies. The government's decision to reduce subsidies to hundreds of low-income families in Houston's housing assistance program will hit hard.

For the Housing Authority of the city of Houston, that translates into a $ 5 million shortfall in this year's budget. The options for dealing with the squeeze are limited and unsavory.

The Housing Authority administers 14,045 vouchers, but rarely accepts new applications. Hundreds of qualified families are already on its waiting list. The funding shortage could knock 700 families off this critical support.

Landlords will bear costs of late rents, broken leases and eviction filings. But tenants, who typically are single-earner households for whom rent payments require nearly a third of their meager income (no more than $ 30,500 annually for a family of four), will feel the real pain. Also eligible for assistance are the elderly and disabled, many of whom will find paying additional rent especially difficult.

Click below for story...

http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/27943.html

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Low-income tenants face eviction from Yosemite Village public housing.

Fresno's Housing Authority has received a $20 million federal grant to refurbish/demolish the 113-unit Yosemite Village public housing development in southwest Fresno with Hope VI program funding.

Click below for story...

http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/28424.html

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Benton Harbor, Michigan public housing tenants face eviction from Hope VI program.

By JEFF ROMIG; Tribune Staff Writer
South Bend Tribune (Indiana)
June 3, 2004

The St. Joseph Republican was thrilled by Wednesday's news.

Click below for story...

http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/28556.html

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New York--May 12, 2004

City fights for Section 8

Mike leading charge to avert cutbacks

By FRANK LOMBARDI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

City housing officials sounded the alarm yesterday over the possibility of losing $180 million in federal rent subsidies for the poor.

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/192393p-166292c.html

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650 eviction notices sent to Section 8 tenants
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff  |  April 27, 2004

Of the 650 letters sent yesterday and today, about 384 went to residents in Greater Boston; more than 60 percent went to people with disabilities, according to housing officials.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/04/27/650_eviction_notices_sent_to_section_8_tenants/

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BostonHerald.com - Opinion: Evictions averted in Section 8 funding gap
... Housing and Community Development, which had warned that eviction notices would be sent out Tuesday if no resolution ... The Section 8 vouchers help pay the rent for 18,400 individuals

http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/opinion.bg?articleid=58

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For more recent news on the Section 8 voucher crisis, click below...

Urgent Update/Section 8

http://hawaii.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/4367.php

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