Coleman talks of shutdown’s affect on housing

— By Bradly Gill

Staff writer

Despite the ongoing government shutdown and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development currently unfunded, Camden residents with Section 8 vouchers are clear until March, according to Housing Authority of the City of Camden Director James Coleman.

“We’re already funded through February. I suspect all this will be resolved by March, though if not, we’ll have a lot greater problems than rental assistance,” he said.

According to a story that ran in the January 12 edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Section 8 housing in Strong and Fordyce are set to expire either in January of February.

The difference, Coleman says, is that some rental assistance is tied to properties, which is the case in Fordyce and Strong, and some is tied to the individual, which is primarily the case in Camden.

The same Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story states, “Project-based Section 8 programs provide rental assistance for people with low incomes at certain apartment complexes. The rental assistance stays with the property — if a tenant moves, they lose their voucher. Another Section 8 program provides vouchers that stay with the tenant.”

A January 8 letter from the Campaign for Housing and Urban Development addressed to Congressional leaders states, “

“Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader McCarthy:

“As members of the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), we call on you to protect low-income Americans by ending the government shutdown and passing full year spending bills that provide strong funding for affordable housing and community development programs.

“We are gravely concerned of the shutdown’s immediate and long-term impacts on these programs and the low-income people they serve. The government shutdown is stopping communities from pursuing development activities that will promote local economic growth through the creation of affordable and accessible housing for low-income families, threatening to destabilize over four million households that depend on HUD’s rental assistance programs and creating widespread uncertainty for affordable housing investors. We have outlined impacts on specific programs below.

“We are also concerned about the shutdown’s impact on the housing stability of low-wage government contractors who often live paycheck to paycheck. These employees, including janitors, security guards, and cafeteria servers, are currently receiving no pay and are at risk of being unable to cover their rent, putting them at risk of eviction, if the shutdown continues.

“It is essential that both the Administration and Congress understand the important role that housing and community development programs have in supporting local economies and improving the lives of low-income households across the country. Congress should act quickly to open the government and pass full-year spending bills that robustly fund affordable housingand community development programs administered by HUD and USDA.”

The letter also states

Public Housing

Public Housing Capital Fund

• Without a full-year FY 2019 Transportation-HUD bill in place, public housing authorities (PHAs) will not be able to access current-year (FY 2019) Capital Funds, which are allocated 60 days after a final spending bill is signed into law. This could have an adverse impact on over 2 million residents, as more than 3,000 PHAs across the country may not have funding available to make critical repairs to units or needed upgrades. The capital backlog was last estimated in 2010 to be $26 billion and growing.

•If PHAs have prior-year capital funds available but require manual approval from HUD, HUD staff is unavailable during the shutdown to approve those expenditures.

Public Housing Operating Fund

• Though PHAs did receive timely payments for January for the Operating Fund and expect to receive payments in February, if the shutdown is not resolved by the end of February, HUD will run out of funding for this critical program, which serves 1.1 million of the nation’s lowest income households.

• The Operating Fund allows PHAs to run public housing efficiently, conduct routine maintenance to units, process tenant applications and prepare units for occupancy, and make small and emergency repairs. Without Operating Funds, PHAs may not be able to provide safe and affordable housing for residents.

Housing Choice Voucher Program

• Much like the Public Housing Operating Fund, PHAs did receive funding in January and expect to receive payments in February.

• If the shutdown is not resolved by the end of February, PHAs will not be able to make timely payments to landlords expecting rent subsidies on March 1. This could have dire consequences for recipients of rental assistance, who could face eviction.

• Because of the uncertainty around funding caused by the shutdown, PHAs will be unable to approve families on the waiting list for vouchers that have been turned over by families who have exited the program. As a result, these vouchers will go unused.

Rural Housing

• Over a quarter million families in rural communities rely on USDA rental assistance to afford a roof over their head. USDA hasn’t provided any information about housing benefits for January.

If the shutdown continues, seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, and other individuals risk facing eviction, or in worst cases, homelessness.

• Homeowners who need assistance to heat their homes or repair leaky roofs are being forced to continue to live in substandard conditions.

• Construction of affordable rental homes has been stopped in its tracks, and projects slated for construction cannot move forward. Nonprofit builders have to find ways to pay contractors and other bills or face additional fees and unnecessary costs. This only makes it harder for rural communities to address their affordable housing crisis and undermines economic growth in rural America.

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