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ACTION ALERT!! Stop Adverse Changes to Section 8 Program Kathy McGinley at the Association of Protection and Advocacy
Systems (NAPAS), kathy@napas.org,
shares the following alert: NYAPRS Note: The following comes from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, courtesy of the Technical Assistance Collaborative. HUD Spending Bill in Final Stage Call your House and Senate offices now to demand adequate funding for all HUD housing and community development programs. House and Senate staff are working through the differences this week in an attempt to have final language for next week's lame duck session of Congress. The House and Senate bills differ greatly. The House bill cuts every housing and community development program (public housing, homeless assistance, fair housing, CDBG, HOME, etc.) except for the Section 8 project- and tenant-based programs. And, the House bill leaves the window wide open for continuation of HUD's harmful Section 8 voucher spending mechanisms, which have been in place since April 22. The Senate bill provides adequate funding for Section 8 vouchers and project-based housing and provides for small increases in most housing and community development programs. Regarding HUD's distribution of voucher funding, the Senate bill is a marked improvement over the April 22 HUD notice and over the House bill. While the Senate bill might benefit from some improvement, advocates should be asking for it rather than the House bill. The Senate bill does include a terrible provision: Section 224 prohibits the use of federal funds by public housing authorities to do a range of voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities. Advocates should ask that this section be removed. The White House is pushing for all remaining appropriations bills to be completed by November 20, when the current continuing resolution runs out. The White House and the House are also seeking to decrease what they see as budget gimmickry in the Senate bill (e.g., designating some spending as 'emergency' and thereby removing it from the bill's spending cap). All of this puts pressure on an already inadequate funding level for the bill overall, which also includes spending for VA health care and NASA, two big priorities of the White House and others. HUD programs need support now. Call your House and Senate offices at 1-888-818-6641 and leave the following message: "I'm a registered voter from your district urging you to support increases that are at least equal to the Senate bill, for public housing and section 811 housing for persons w/ disabilities." . with the following message on the 2005 HUD spending bill: Support increases, at least equal to those in the Senate bill, for public housing, homeless assistance, fair housing, CDBG, HOME, Section 202 housing for the elderly and Section 811 housing for persons with disabilities. Support adequate funding to renew all project- and tenant-based vouchers. Urge for the removal of Section 224 from the Senate bill. ----------------------- Housing Alert: Congress and the Bush Administration Consider Major Changes to Section 8 Program House and Senate negotiators this week are considering major changes to the Section 8 rental voucher program as part of final deliberations on the FY 2005 budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These changes could include adoption of major portions of the Bush Administration's "Flexible Voucher" plan to convert Section 8 to a capped block grant program and create disincentives to prevent local housing agencies from targeting rental assistance to extremely low-income households - especially people with mental illnesses who are on Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Despite the fact that both the House and Senate proposed budgets for the FY 2005 HUD budget (known as the VA-HUD Appropriations bill, HR 5041/S 2825) reject the "Flexible Voucher" plan, efforts are being made to revive major portions of it as Congress moves to finish work on the bill by the end of this week. Go to www.nami.org/enews/4-43 to read additional background information on the Section 8 program as a critical affordable housing resource for people with mental illnesses and the Administration's "Flexible Voucher" proposal. Action Required Advocates are strongly encouraged to contact members of Congress and urge them to support provisions in the Senate version of the FY 2005 VA-HUD Appropriations bill that: 1. provide sufficient funding for FY 2005 to renew all current Section 8 vouchers and reject the $1.6 billion cut to Section 8 and 2. reject the Administration's "Flexible Voucher" proposal, including efforts to convert the program to a capped dollar-based block grant, eliminate targeting requirements for extremely low-income households and allow for arbitrary time limits on assistance. In particular, advocates are urged to ask their Senators and House member to reach out to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittees (Senators Bond and Mikulski and Representatives Walsh and Mollohan) to support the funding levels and protections for Section 8 in the Senate bill. All House and Senate offices can be reached through the Capital switchboard at 202-224-3121 (please note that this is not a toll-free call). Senators and House members can also be reached at their local offices that are listed in the Blue Pages of your local phone directory.
This 'Mental Health E-News' posting is a service of the New York Ass'n of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, a statewide coalition of people who use and/or provide community mental health services dedicated to improving services and social conditions for people with psychiatric disabilities by promoting their recovery, rehabilitation and rights. To join our list, please click on the E-News Subscription button.
Last Updated on 11/22/04 webmaster@namiscc.org |
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