Trump regime may cut HUD’s budget by $6 billion or more

Trump regime may cut HUD’s budget by $6 billion or more

By Lynda Carson - March 9, 2017

Oakland - The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reportedly is facing more than $6 billion in budget cuts, slashing the budget by 14 percent in fiscal year 2018, according to the Washington Post.

These are harmful cuts to programs assisting the poor, elderly, disabled, chronically ill, blind, and low-income families with children, and reportedly, HUD’s budget would be cut by about 14 percent to $40.5 billion in fiscal year 2018, beginning in October 2017. According to the Washington Post, the exact amount in funding cuts to HUD have not been finalized yet, and more numbers are expected to be made public next week sometime.

According to HUD, the Oakland Housing Authority has 13,422 federally subsidized housing units in it’s section 8 inventory, and 2,122 units in it’s low rent inventory, formerly known as public housing units.

San Francisco has 9,711 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 3,756 units in it’s low rent inventory. San Francisco is in the process of privatizing more than 4,584 public housing units under the RAD program. South San Francisco has 80 units in it’s low rent inventory.

There are approximately 1.2 million households living in public housing units, managed by around 3,300 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) across the nation.

Additionally, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8 voucher program) assists more than 2.2 million low-income households across the nation including veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind and disabled.

The notorious Trump regime is following through on it’s threat to cut $54 billion from our nation’s federal non-defense programs, so the extreme right-wing fascist administration can grab the $54 billion and shift the funding to the military and security programs. The federal government has already wasted trillions of dollars on former military contracts, and programs to spy on the public through their Samsung Smart TVs, Apple iPhones, Google’s Android, and Microsoft Windows programs.

According to the Washington Post, “Around $1.3 billion would be cut from HUD’s public housing capital fund, under the preliminary plan — when compared to funding in 2016 — and an additional $600 million would be cut from the public housing operating fund. Budgets for public housing authorities — city and state agencies that provide subsidized housing and vouchers to local residents — would be among the hardest hit. Under the preliminary budget, those operational funds would be reduced by $600 million, or 13 percent. Funds for big-ticket repairs at public housing facilities would be cut by an additional $1.3 billion, about 32 percent. The Community Development Block Grant Program, which has enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress, is budgeted to receive $3 billion this fiscal year, according to the document. The Trump budget proposal would cut those funds entirely. HUD salaries and administrative expenses will be cut by 5 percent, down from $1.36 billion in 2016 to $1.28 billion in 2018. It is not yet clear how that reduction in staff or wages­ would be achieved. Under the proposal, direct rental assistance payments — including Section 8 Housing and housing vouchers for homeless veterans — would be cut by at least $300 million, to $19.3 billion. Additionally, housing for the elderly — known as the Section 202 program — would be cut by $42 million, nearly 10 percent. Section 811 housing for people with disabilities would be cut by $29 million, nearly 20 percent. Money available for Native American housing block grants would fall by $150 million, more than 20 percent."

Oakland has been receiving around $1.5 million per year in recent years from HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) that is shared throughout the city by 7 districts. Now that the CDBG program is being targeted for elimination by the Trump regime, it will result in a great hardship for many residents in Oakland. Funds from CDBG in part are used to buy food for low-income seniors and the funding is used for other vital programs assisting low-income residents throughout Oakland.

According to the Alameda County website, HUD’s CDBG funding is used for: “Sidewalk curb cuts for handicap accessibility or the creation of new sidewalks in an area where none previously existed; Community, Senior, and Youth Centers; Food Banks and Meals on Wheels type programs; Homeless shelter improvements; Code Compliance in substandard housing; Single Family Home Rehabilitation programs, including Minor Home Repair and Emergency grants for small repairs; Park and facility improvements; New sidewalks, street trees and traffic calming; Public facilities and improvements, such as water and sewer facilities, streets, neighborhood centers, and the conversion of school buildings for eligible purposes; Energy efficiency improvements to housing and public facilities; Childcare training and construction of new childcare facilities.”

Reportedly, HUD’s budget may be slashed by 14 percent, with around $6 billion in budget cuts, or more. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP): “If a 15 percent cut were applied evenly across HUD programs in 2018, 625,000 households would lose the vouchers or other “Section 8” assistance that helps them to live in private apartments at an affordable rent, and as many as 200,000 other households could lose public housing or other rental assistance.  (These estimates reflect expected increases in rental costs next year.)  The vast majority of these cuts would fall on seniors, people with disabilities, or families with children, putting many at risk of eviction and even homelessness.”

“The Administration could try to limit rental assistance cuts by making deeper cuts elsewhere in the HUD budget, but the options are extremely limited.  Rental assistance makes up 85 percent of the HUD budget (see chart), so a 15 percent cut would amount to $7.1 billion — or roughly HUD’s entire budget outside of rental assistance.”

Cuts To HUD’s Budget Would Be Devastating To Low-Income Renters In Oakland And The Bay Area

According to HUD, the Oakland Housing Authority has 13,422 federally subsidized housing units in it’s section 8 inventory, and 2,122 units in it’s low rent inventory, formerly known as public housing units.

San Francisco has 9,711 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 3,756 units in it’s low rent inventory. San Francisco is in the process of privatizing more than 4,584 public housing units under the RAD program. South San Francisco has 80 units in it’s low rent inventory.

In other cities in the Bay Area. The Richmond Housing Authority has 1,851 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 559 units in it’s low rent inventory.

Berkeley Housing Authority has 1,935 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and has sold it’s 75 public housing town homes to some out of state billionaires.

Alameda Housing Authority has 1,845 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory. The Alameda County Housing Authority has 6,341 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and one low rent housing development managed by the agency.

In Contra Costa County, there are 6,921 units in their section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 1,177 low rent units.

In Marin County, there are 2,162 units in their section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 496 low rent units.

Tens of thousands of low-income households in the Bay Area, including veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind and disabled, are being placed at risk of higher rents and homelessness if the Republicans have it their way, now that they have gained full control of the House and Senate, including the White House.

As reported in Poor Magazine and on Indybay, tenant activists are presently urging low-income renters in HUD’s subsidized housing programs to contact their representatives to speak up in support of HUD’s subsidized housing programs. In addition to the $54 billion in budget cuts that Trump wants, additional massive budget cuts to the federal government are being proposed ranging from $6 trillion to $8.6 trillion, and to as much as over $10 trillion during the next ten years.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

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