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Bush Regime Plans To Demolish 100,000 HUD Rental Units

by Roll Back The Rents (rollbacktherents [at] yahoogroups.com)
The Nation Is Facing A Monumental Housing Crisis At This Point In Time While The Bush Regime Plans To Demolish 100,000 Rental Units Across The Nation!
100,000 HUD Rental Units To Be Demolished

---August 12, 2004 Tenant/Housing News---

For the latest in housing news from across the nation, join, Roll Back The Rents...
Just send an e-mail to;
rollbacktherents-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com

In the latest tenant/housing news from around the nation;

The Federal Government is moving quickly to demolish America's Public Housing with a plan to demolish another 100,000 units of subsidized housing in their latest attack plans against the poor, elderly and disabled. See full text of story below by Erin Grace.

The housing news from around the nation is grim, and there can be no doubt that the Bush Regime has recently stepped up it's attack on the world of affordable and low-income housing that millions across America depend upon to.

Read about the latest plight of people from Montana, to Pittsburgh, Omaha, Long Beach, Idaho, Monterey County CA, Memphis, and Modesto in the latest batch of tenant/housing news from around the nation...

Millions are being placed at risk by the recent dismantling of the Section 8 program's and another 100,000 families are being placed at risk from the HUD plan to demolish another 100,000 units of public housing.

This is not a sound policy or strategy to house our loved ones, friends or family members that need shelter from the storm.... It is the inhumane act of a ruthless usurping WAR CRIMINAL, that must be dethroned at the earliest possibility...

Roll Back The Rents....

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Leveling OHA buildings may fit federal strategy
Erin Grace
Omaha World Herald (Nebraska)
August 11, 2004


A proposal to tear down several buildings at north Omaha's Pleasantview Homes could be consistent with the government's plan to demolish outdated, unsafe buildings, a federal housing official said Tuesday.

Stan Quy, director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development field office in Omaha, said HUD has approved demolition of what he called "distressed public housing" in Omaha and elsewhere. And the national HUD office plans to tear down an additional 100,000 units of public housing, Quy said.

"It's all about reducing densities and providing for housing choice," said Quy.

Before the local HUD office can examine a proposal pitched Monday by Omaha Housing Authority Director Brad Ashford, the OHA board must give its approval.

Frank Brown, chairman of the board, declined to comment Tuesday on the proposal.

William Begley, vice chairman, also declined to comment specifically on Ashford's desire to tear down the 51-year-old buildings.

Begley did say, "Buildings don't shoot people. People shoot people."

He was referring to a weekend shooting at a Pleasantview apartment in which a 12-year-old girl was wounded while sleeping inside her apartment. Authorities have said they don't believe the girl was the intended victim.

Noting this shooting was the second to occur in a month outside this portion of the 177-unit development -- OHA's second-largest complex -- Ashford declared two to three buildings unsafe.

The Pleasantview Homes complex straddles North 30th Street with two-story buildings sitting between Parker and Burdette Streets. It was built between 1951 and 1953 and originally included two six-story towers and smaller apartments.

The Pleasantview towers were torn down in the 1990s along with other public-housing developments -- notably the oldest, Logan Fontenelle -- in an effort to break up large concentrations of poverty.

The Pleasantview apartments also were slated for demolition but because of a $ 500,000 renovation in the mid-1980s, the federal government would not allow the demolition, Ashford said.

Ashford said that the barracks-style public housing of the 1950s should be replaced with newer homes in smaller concentrations.

But that hasn't been easy so far. The OHA is under federal court supervision to finish replacing the housing units lost in the demolition of the 1990s.

Neighborhoods have balked at public housing, and the Keystone neighborhood went as far as to sue OHA.

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600 hear debate on subsidized housing changes  
Press-Telegram - Aug 10 12:26 AM
Federal funding shortfalls, rising rents may be costly to needy.

LONG BEACH — Despite being on a fixed income and having a life-threatening illness and a disease that could soon put him back in a wheelchair, Michael Meagher eagerly told hundreds of Section 8 housing subsidy recipients packed into an auditorium Monday that he would pay more rent if it meant helping those worse off than he is.

"I make $700," Meagher said, referring to his monthly SSI check. "I should go first."

More than 600 Long Beach residents getting Section 8 assistance heard proposed changes in the city's housing program at a morning meeting at the main library---

The changes may include: Cutting maximum apartment search times from when vouchers are issued to 60 days from 120 days; raising the minimum rent from $25 to $50; and prohibiting Section 8 participants from moving to higher-rent units.

"All of (the proposals) are hurting Section 8 tenants and they're not impacting landlords at all," said Susane Browne, an attorney with Legal Aid of Los Angeles.

Click below for full story....

http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2324166,00.html

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Rehberg seeks cash for rental assistance program  
Montanaforum.com - Aug 10
HELENA (AP) - Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., asked the federal government Monday to restore funding to a monthly rental assistance program that aids thousands of low-income Montana families.

Associated Press

HELENA (AP) - Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., asked the federal government Monday to restore funding to a monthly rental assistance program that aids thousands of low-income Montana families.

The Montana Department of Commerce said it will cut aid to up to 400 families in October if its appeal to the federal Department of Urban Housing and Development to restore $920,000 in funding is unsuccessful. Local housing authorities around the state are also struggling.

In a letter to HUD, Rehberg asked Deborah Hernandez, director of HUD's Office of Housing Voucher Programs, to give Montana more adequate funding.

"It's not a question of HUD having the money," Rehberg said. "When their bean counters looked at the Section 8 program, they underestimated the impact of high energy costs and other basic expenses, and they put money into other programs."

The cutbacks, which took effect earlier this year, were prompted by a change in the formula HUD uses to calculate funding that lowered the amount local agencies receive.

The changes were imposed by Congress to counteract rising Section 8 program costs.
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'Last resident' continues struggle  
Pittsburgh Daily Courier - Aug 12, 2004
Gwendolyn Venay gets choked up when talking about the problems she has faced in the past year since being ordered to move out of the soon-to-be-demolished Liberty Park apartment complex in East Liberty.

"What I've been up against has just been horrific," said Venay, the last tenant in the dilapidated building. "I've looked at at least 100 different places.

"The ones that would accept (federally subsidized) Section 8 vouchers were just horrible. They're roach- and rat-infested and have holes in the walls."

Click below for full story.....

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pittsburgh/s_207795.html

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Rippling River residents keep pushing for answers  
Monterey County Herald - Aug 10 3:25 AM
Rippling River's residents were told Monday to be patient, think positively, don't play the blame game, and fill in and sign their paperwork.

None of these exhortations prevented most of the elderly and disabled tenants who attended a town-hall meeting at their Carmel Valley home Monday from demanding to know how soon government agencies will act to prevent their eviction. Many contended that the 79-unit complex's deteriorated condition was a deliberate policy by the Monterey County Housing Authority, and they questioned whether signing their housing voucher documents for future federal rent supplements will be seized on as proof that they've agreed to move elsewhere.

Residents and their supporters packed a meeting hall at Rippling River with a crowd that spilled out doorways into the adjoining parking lot to meet with county and federal officials to get answers about their future.

Notices of eviction could be sent out this week, said Housing Authority Executive Director Jim Nakashima.

Click below for full story...

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/9362700.htm

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Housing Agencies Bracing for Cutbacks  
Builder Online - 9 hours, 4 minutes ago
Housing agencies bracing for cutbacks

Changes in federal housing policy will boost the rents of poor, disabled and elderly residents on voucher programs in Spokane County, according to local officials and a recent national survey. The changes, enacted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this spring, will increase rents about $25 a recipient, according to the Spokane Housing Authority.

"For someone on a fixed income, it's a significant amount," said Justin Vest, director of the housing authority's voucher program. "But if HUD's formula continues, we're going to look at even more cuts next year. This is just kind of the beginning of it."

Similar changes are expected in Idaho, although an official said exact figures were not yet available. A spokesman for the Idaho Housing and Finance Association said his agency, which serves 34 counties, anticipates a 10 percent funding cut.

**********
URA holdout, supporters rally for good, affordable housing  
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Aug 12, 2004
Surrounded by fair housing advocates and supporters, Gwendolyn Venay, the last remaining tenant in Liberty Park townhouses, spoke emotionally about why she hasn't been able to find a safe and decent place to move her family.

"I feel like I have the right to stand up and do right by my family. There is a stigma and stereotype of what Section 8 is all about. They say people are lazy. They don't want to work. ... I worked for many years until I became disabled and unable to work. I am a cancer survivor," Venay told about 30 supporters who held a rally outside her townhouse in East Liberty yesterday.

Venay, a mother and grandmother who lost the mobility in her right hand after two surgeries for carpal tunnel syndrome, is the last renter in a complex that the Urban Redevelopment Authority----

Click below for full story...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04225/360363.stm

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Cities Gain Grants from HUD to Raze Public Developments
Lynda Edwards
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
August 7, 2004

JACKSON - The Department of Housing and Urban Development has presented two grants totaling $18.4 million to the cities of Meridian and Jackson.

Meridian got a $17.2 million grant to replace distressed public housing at the Victory Village development for 242 families. The city will build 113 new public housing units and 89 additional rental housing. Another 40 new homes will be for sale, officials said.

Jackson got $1.1 million to demolish 184 public housing units at Whiterock Homes.

The presentation was made Thursday at the annual Mississippi Housing Summit, where county and state agencies mingle with activists from nonprofits and faith-based organizations.

Brenda Brown of Tunica County's Miller Union Missionary Baptist wants to help low-income workers buy homes after they have declared bankruptcy.

"Often they only owe $2,000, but a lawyer convinces them they can never get out of debt," she said.

Assistant HUD secretary Steven Nesmith presented the checks and a lengthy campaign speech on behalf of President Bush. He began by saying that 75.7 percent of Mississippians own homes and more than half of all minority households own homes. He praised the state for having "more black elected officials per capita than any other state."

Nesmith said he grew up in public housing before getting his law degree from Georgetown University. "I'm a HUD success story."

Then Nesmith scolded former president Bill Clinton because Clinton "won 98 percent of the black vote yet only 8 percent of his Cabinet appointees were black."

Nesmith urged black voters in the audience to note that Bush appointed "two people of color, Colin Powell and Condie Rice, to control American foreign policy."

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson was asked why Nesmith delivered a presidential stump speech in a state that polls as staunchly Republican.

"Maybe Mississippi is becoming a battleground state," replied Johnson, a Democrat.

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*********
County feels sting of HUD cuts  
Modesto Bee - Aug 08 5:39 AM
Injuries have forced Frank Johnson to navigate his crowded apartment on crutches. Rescinded housing subsidies delayed Johnson's search for a bigger place.

County feels sting of HUD cuts

Injuries have forced Frank Johnson to navigate his crowded apartment on crutches. Rescinded housing subsidies delayed Johnson's search for a bigger place.
BART AH YOU/THE BEE

By BRIAN VanderBEEK
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: August 8, 2004, 06:12:33 AM PDT

Frank Johnson didn't want to hear about cuts.

He didn't care that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, at the behest of Congress, was rolling back its subsidization of the Section 8 housing program to levels of a year ago, plus a small increase for inflation.

He just wanted to know when and if he would be able to move into his new apartment -- a unit being renovated to meet his needs as a wheelchair user.

There are more than 700,000 California families in the low-income housing program, and many have lost subsidies because of HUD's rollback in late June.

Click below for full story...

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/8965627p-9858271c.html

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Gazette opinion: HUD cuts put poor families in the hole  
Billings Gazette - Aug 08 3:38 AM
The federal government is cutting back on a program that helps low-income working American families afford decent housing. In Montana and across the nation, local housing agencies are struggling with cutbacks announced this spring and summer and made retroactive to last January.

***********
Click below for the previous batch (Aug 7) of tenant/housing news...

http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/08/1691360.php
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