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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 2013)
4 Ij jS ;, ;.> ■ ' i a f street roots e April 26, 2013 HUD’S hatchet job ! The federal sequester chops $13 m illion from Oregon's social-service network, leaving housing a n d homeless programs bracing to absorb the hit ■ I BY JAKE THOMAS A N D JOANNEZUHL s STAFF WRITERS y now, every American is probably B familiar with the term and concept — if not the reasoning behind — the national budget sequester. As of March 1, evidence of its fallout nationally has been trickling in, from international airline delays to local job furloughs. But the impact on some of the poorest populations remains a slow burn. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is taking a 5 percent cut across the board, with its primary programs — Section 8 vouchers, homeless assistance, housing loan services — impacting millions of low-income citizens. “A 5 percent cut may not seem like a big deal, but to a family it’s 100 percent,” said Leland Jones, HUD’s regional spokesperson based in Seattle. Jones said that the sequester will mean fewer services for fewer families. One of the largest single casualties is Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, which provides rental subsidies for the elderly, disabled and impoverished. Prior to this sequester, Congress had traditionally protected funding for the actual Section 8 vouchers, regardless of cuts elsewhere in the program budget. The wholesale nature of sequestration changes all that. According to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the voucher program will lose an estimated $938 million from 2013. (Read the complete report from the Center on page 10.) HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan has said these cuts could put 125,000 individuals and families at risk of losing their Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, resulting in more than 100,000 formerly homeless people becoming at risk of returning to the streets. It could also result in 75,000 fewer households receiving foreclosure prevention or other counseling, in addition to deferred maintenance to public housing among other effects. HUD estimates that Oregon will see a $13 million reduction in funding for HUD LOOKING FOR AN AFFORDABLE PLACE TO RENT? Your online housing search just got easier. K ï Thousands o f listings • Free service Includes special needs housing Call 2-1-1 or 503-802-8562 “These are just easy little cuts to people who don’t have any power,” Rudman said. “We’re like pawns in their game.” Home Forward anticipates that much of the $4 million sequestration dent can be absorbed by its own reforms in Section 8. Years of budget constraints had prompted Home Forward to revamp its payment structure for the approximately 10,000 very low-income households it serves, adding incentives for people to transition back to work and off assistance. In some cases, renters could see the percentage they contribute to rent increase. That revenue had been intended to meet the growing demand for Section 8 vouchers: Last year 3,000 n Portland, government and social-service people joined the waiting list out of 21,000 agencies that rely on HUD funding, are expecting the cuts to be painful, even if their who applied. They will be waiting another year before any more vouchers are released. precise damage is to be determined. “We might be able to skate through, but For Portland’s housing authority — Home there’s going to be an impact longer term,” Forward — sequestration means between $4 says Rudman. “That money could have been million and $5 million in funding reductions. put into all kinds of useful things, instead of HUD provides about three-quarters of backfilling the federal government on the Home Forward’s annual budget, which this backs of the poor people.” year was adopted at nearly $121 million. In addition to the cuts, the Portland rental The cuts come in myriad tiers g— applied to administration, operating funds and capital. market is nearly sealed up with vacancy rates at less than 4 percent. That rate drives rents But by far, the bulk of the cut from HUD, higher. So costs are going up while the more than $4 million, will hit rent assistance federal government is pulling out. funds that come through the housing Northwest Oregon Housing Authority authority and go directly to landlords to pay manages Section 8 vouchers for nearly 1,100 rent for low-income residents. The families in Columbia, Tillamook and Clatsop sequestration took a hatchet to a sacred counties, providing about 20 to 30 new budgetary cow by chopping 5 percent of vouchers every month. The cut there mean reimbursements to Section 8 Housing Choice no new recipients for the vouchers beyond Vouchers, which means that HUD will only pay Home Forward 95 percent of what it pays attrition, or about six to eight vouchers a out in Section 8. This means some cuts at the month, according to NOHA Executive Director Todd Johnston. administration level, along with possible “I think for the short-term, it’s sustainable increases in the amount renters’ pay for their — six months at the most. But I think long housing. term, it’s going to affect our staff and that’s “The housing authority system in this ultimately going to affect our clients and our country is in as much jeopardy as it has been ability to respond and get things up in a — ever,” says Steve Rudman, Home timely matter,” Johnston said. Forward’s executive director, who described it as far worse than the war on welfare during I Johnston said the impact is not just the sequester itself but the ripple effect of falling the Reagan administration. Rudman put the blame squarely on a Congressional game of See HUD, page 5 chicken that is “nickel-and-diming” the most vulnerable. programs for the upcoming fiscal yeah The bulk of that is $11 million in cuts to tenant- based rental assistance, a HUD subsidy to help households rent market-rate units, impacting nearly 2,000 families. According to HUD, Oregon will see a $641,000 reduction in HOME funds, which are used to create affordable housing, resulting in fewer units being produced. Funding for HUD homeless programs will be reduced by $1.2 million. Another HUD program helping people with AIDS find housing will see a $73,000 reduction in Oregon as well. I M irador . 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