Housing subsidies for poor face new threat
By Heather Cottin
If the Bush administration has its way,
millions of people will face homelessness very soon.
Congress is set to vote on sweeping changes in the program
known as Section 8. Since its New Deal beginning in 1937, the
program has provided assistance to poor people who cannot
afford rent.
The first in the current wave of cuts in federal housing
assistance occurred under the Clinton administration. The
attack on Section 8 is the result of pressure from
reactionaries intent on what they call "starving the beast."
This means destroying government social programs by cutting
funds, which are then handed over to the rich and the
military.
In right-wing circles, within bourgeois-endowed
organizations like the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan
Institute and the American Enterprise Institute, paid
intellectuals generate propaganda campaigns to argue for these
cuts. They have successfully and cynically decimated the
welfare system, health and educational programs for poor
children. They have slashed food stamps and Medicaid. Elders,
orphans and the disabled face a reactionary full-court press
against Social Security.
As a result of the worldwide capitalist crisis, attacks on
the gains of poor people and workers have been unrelenting. The
next goal is to eliminate the Section 8 voucher program that
provides housing for the elderly, disabled and the poor.
Section 8 helps over 2 million people afford rental housing. It
provides up to 30 percent of rent money for people who have
faced the precipitous rise of rental prices in the past 25
years.
Even as it stands, the Section 8 program is insufficient for
current housing needs. Housing assistance has declined
dramatically since the Section 8 voucher program was initiated
30 years ago.
During the Ford administration over 400,000 Section 8 annual
vouchers were granted. President George W. Bush's 2003 budget
request calls for cutting this to 34,000, according to the
National Coalition for the Homeless.
In February Bush released his 2005 budget, which contains a
Section 8 cut of 40 percent over the next five years. This
would result in a loss of 250,000 vouchers immediately.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that by 2009,
were these cuts to go through, $4.6 billion will have been
taken from poor people who need housing assistance. The cuts
will fall disproportionately upon people of color. The Section
8 cutbacks are widely seen as racist.
State and local housing agencies will have to reduce the
number of families served by 600,000 by 2009. This is about 30
percent of the number of households presently served by the
program.
Without Section 8 assistance, tenants across the country
will have to come up with another $2,000 per year by 2009.
On Long Island, N.Y., where over 2,650 people are homeless,
local agencies are worried. They have stopped taking names for
housing assistance. This is the story everywhere.
One executive of a community housing program told the March
11 Newsday, "Many of the extremely poor will wind up in
shelters." In New York City the Housing Authority estimates
that $45 million will be lost, which will translate immediately
into a loss of 5,500 homes.
Reprinted from the March 25, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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