n
CSX.EBBATZIVG & DECADE
7
Street roots
Education * Dialogue * Independence
Seattle suspends
issuing Section 8
tenant vouchers
BY CYDNEY GILLIS
STREET NEWS SERVICE
orget the “economic indicators.” For
people on the grouiid, the recession
just took a turn for the worse: The
director of the Seattle Housing Authority
says the agency has temporarily suspended
issuing Section 8 rental vouchers to the
city’s poorest residents.
The federal vouchers pay one-third of a
private landlord’s rent (up to a certain
cutoff) for very low-income households But
since the economy turned bad, Seattle
Housing Authority Executive Director Tom
Tierney told the agency’s board of
commissioners this evening, people are
ùsing their vouchers longer. So few are I
leaving the program every month, he said,
that the housing authority hadto stop
issuing the vouchers to individuals — and
expects it won’t be àble to again until the
middle of next year.
Only individual tenant vouchers are
affected. Tierney said SHA is still issuing
what are called “project-based” vouchers-
vouchers that the agency guarantees to ;
developers of low-income buildings,
including those funded by the Seattle
| Housing Levy. Thè housing authority
provided 500 vouchers to projects funded
by thè current levy, Tierney said, and has
committed another 500 vouchers to a
seven-year levy renewal that goes before ,
‘ voters in November.
The project-based vouchers should,
remain intact, he said, but it’s possible that
could change. “There may come a time
■
w e ’d h a v e to p u h a w a y p r o je c t- b a s e d
vouchers,” Tierney said, but “we would be
very reluctant to ever do that.”
Come Sept. 30, Tierney said SHÁ is
facing another issue when two new HUD
rules go into effect, One will require all
current public-housing residents and
applicants to provide documents verifying
their U.S. immigration status. The other
will require a Social Security number for
every member of a household currently
living in or applying for public housing. The
Seattle Housing Authority currently does '
not require a Social Security number for
anyone under six years old, Tierney said, g
Both represent big changes for residents
and housing authority staff that may be
called upon to help get qr file paperwork.
As a result, SHA and other housing
authorities around the country are
advocating for a delay in implementing the
rulés, Tierney said. |
Courtesy o f Real Change M agazine, Seattle,
W ash.© Street News Service: www.street-
papers.org '
y
Sisters Of The Road’s Hoedown & Auction
Friday, Oct. 23
6-10 p.m.
Portland Art
Museum’s Kridel
Grand Ballroom
www.streetroots.wordpress.com
Hoedown is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and this year it’s going to
be an extra special affair honoring all the great work Sisters has done in *
2009 and celebrating our 30th birthday!
Bring your partner and be ready to twirl to the fabulous music of Uncle
Earl and Casey Neill & The Norway Rats at the Hoedown square dance!
To purchase your tickets to this amazing event, go to www.sistersoftheroad.org or call
Monica Beemer at 503-222-5694 e x t 19
Tickets are $85; tables of ten are $850; and limited patron tables areavailable for $1,300.