-Caveat Lector-
"Half a million low-income residents face the loss of affordable housing
as more and more landlords decide to reject the HUD ``Section 8'' program,
which provides federally subsidized housing to the poor, elderly and
disabled.
Landlords Opt To Leave HUD Program
By MELISSA B. ROBINSON
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Opal Henke doesn't quite know what she'd do if she lost
her subsidized apartment. Her daughter would take her in. But that's not a
satisfactory solution to Mrs. Henke, who now resides in a Department of
Housing and Urban Development senior citizens complex in Wahoo, Neb.
``You don't really want to depend on your children. They have their families
to raise,'' Mrs. Henke told the House Banking housing subcommittee Tuesday.
Mrs. Henke is among thousands of residents who face the possible loss of
their homes as more and more landlords opt to leave a HUD ``Section 8''
program that provides subsidized housing to the poor, elderly and disabled.
HUD has put together an emergency response. But the department, lawmakers and
housing advocates agree that a longer-term strategy is needed to preserve
affordable housing stocks.
``Without reform, the program risks losing the best of its ... housing,
displacing thousands of low-income families and seniors,'' said Assistant
Housing Secretary William C. Apgar.
Under one part of the 25-year-old ``Section 8'' program, landlords agree to
rent their properties to low-income people, who pay about 30 percent of their
income as rent.
In return, the government pays the difference between what the tenant pays
and its estimate of what the apartment would cost on the open market. But
with the booming economy, many landlords are deciding not to renew their
contracts. Instead, they're seeking more money on the open market.
Last year alone, more than 17,000 units left the program -- more than three
times as many as the year before. By 2004, HUD contracts covering 1 million
units -- some in every state -- are due to expire.
About half of the 1 million are at risk because their rents are below market,
according to the nonprofit National Housing Trust.
HUD's $30 million emergency response will immediately boost rents for some
contracts that are coming due. But the measure is only targeting high-quality
housing in good neighborhoods that is at high risk of being lost. Market
rents may be offered for some other properties on a case-by-case basis.
Apgar said it would cost much more -- $600 million to $800 million more a
year -- for HUD to bring all below-market rents in the program to market
levels. HUD now spends about $16 billion a year on Section 8 programs
providing about 3 million units of subsidized housing.
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