Support the Transition to Work by Adequate Housing Appropriations id AAA09704; Sun, 21 Sep 1997 00:22:25 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: owner-uusc-hot@uua.org Tue Sep 16 22:15:20 1997 SUPPORT FY98 HUD APPROPRIATIONS TO STRENGTHEN COMMUNITIES, HELP PEOPLE GET AND MAINTAIN JOBS The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has joined other members of The Domestic Human Needs/Justice for Women and Families working group of the Washington Interreligious Staff Community in signing the following letter to House and Senate VA_HUD_LA Appropriations Conferees concerning HUD appropriations for public housing.. Feel free to use the information in the letter to write one of your own to your representative and senators. Ask that they encourage conferees to help strengthen our communities through this bill. TO: House and Senate VA-HUD-LA Appropriations Conferees FROM: Undersigned Religious Organizations RE: FY98 HUD Appropriations The FY98 HUD appropriations bill represents an opportunity to strengthen our communities. Housing is key to enabling people to get and maintain jobs. As faith-based organizations whose members and institutions serve "on the front line" in communities across the country, we wanted to relay to you some of our concerns in this critical appropriations bill. We encourage the committee to fund new Section 8 vouchers (there has been no new Section 8 assistance since FY95) to aid the 5.3 million households with severe housing needs, to adequately fund public housing in order to give this stock and its residents opportunities for advancement, to target our scarce assistance dollars to those most in need and to adopt market language in the appropriations bill similar to S. 513. Specifically, we encourage the conference committee to: * Fund a minimum of 50,000 new Section 8 vouchers/certificates ($305 million). Neither the House nor the Senate provided any funds for new Section 8 rental housing assistance. In a 1996 report, HUD found that 5.3 million very low income renter households pay more than 50% of their income for rent and/or live in severely inadequate housing -- none of these households receive federal housing assistance. The federal standard for affordable housing is 30% of household income. Clearly, these 5.3 million have "worst case housing needs" and deserve some assistance. In addition, conversations with welfare recipients who are homeless and/or living in transitional housing have found that access to affordable housing is key to enabling them to get and maintain a job. They say they simply cannot make it on low wages without housing subsidies. * Fund 100% of PHA's Operating Needs or $3.4 billion. The House and Senate both funded the President's requested $2.9 billion. Currently, without full funding, PHAs must cut back needed services (e.g., heat, trash collection, grounds keeping, repairs) to manage effectively. When PHAs lack adequate operating resources, the quality of life for public housing residents suffers. * Fund $3.5 billion in Public Housing Modernization Funding. The House and Senate both funded the President's requested $2.5 billion. In contrast, the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities estimates the FY98 need at $3.5 billion. The overall modernization/rehabilitation needs of the public housing stock are more than $20 billion. Clearly, this shortfall has contributed to severely distressed public housing which, in turn, can contribute to unhealthy communities. * Support housing assistance for those who need it the most. Although mixed-income housing is a laudable goal, with our nation's lack of affordable housing, targeting our scarce assistance dollars to those most in need, the least among us, is essential. The House and Senate bills, as in FY97, repeal federal preferences and allow public housing authorities to establish local preferences which could redirect assistance from those most in need in favor of higher income residents. Extremely low income people, those making less than 30% of their area median income, need housing assistance more than those making as much as 80% of their area median income. We ask the committee to reserve 75% of Section 8 vouchers/ certificates for extremely low income people. * Support adoption of S.513 in the FY98 appropriation. This "mark to market" legislation will restructure mortgage debt owed by private landlords who currently provide Section 8 project-based assistance to low income families, saving the federal government about $500 million in FY98 alone. By restructuring these mortgages, the federal government can in turn reduce its rental assistance costs down to market rates for these units. We are concerned that if the basic components of S.513 are not addressed in the FY98 appropriations, there will continue to be disinvestment in properties, uncertainty for owners and residents, decline of neighborhoods and, most probably, the need to reduce other housing expenditures (such as for vouchers and public housing operating subsidies) to meet the appropriations targets. Thank you for your consideration of our views. Sincerely, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee with other members of the Domestic Human Needs/Justice for Women and Families working group of the Washington Interreligious Staff Community ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-09.21.97-00:22:26-16220