Prometheus 6

I always wondered, why Section 8? It's not like the Feds would have spent more on mortgage subsidies. 

America's Other Housing Crisis
By Michael Kelly
Saturday, May 24, 2008; A21

There's a housing crisis in America -- but it doesn't have anything to do with the thousands who have been forced from their over-leveraged residences or the steps Congress has taken to help those caught in the subprime debacle. This crisis doesn't generate many headlines, but it threatens Americans nationwide.

Over the past eight years, the Bush administration has tried to cripple public housing. It has devalued and defunded key programs. The president's proposed 2009 budget includes massive cuts in affordable-housing programs that will hit the working poor, people with disabilities and seniors while dismantling the crowning achievement of federal efforts to revitalize and redevelop city neighborhoods.

This year, for example, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed operating subsidies equal to just 81 percent of what the agency itself determined are needed. This is equivalent to saying that state and local housing authorities should shutter nearly one-fifth, or 227,000, of their units nationwide. What happens in such situations? Authorities do not evict the poor but are forced to reduce services to residents and to delay or neglect repairs and maintenance, which in turn causes public housing units to become run-down. Budgeting shortfalls feed a vicious cycle.

The administration has killed the $300 million Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, the only crime-fighting-specific initiative in HUD's budget. The proposed budget recommends eliminating the HOPE VI redevelopment program, which has transformed neighborhoods in Washington and other cities from pockets of deep poverty into attractive communities for people of all incomes.

In the past two years in particular, Congress has acted to stem the worst of the administration's slash-and-burn policies. But with the high federal deficit and public housing's low-priority status, few appreciate the gravity of the situation. Either the federal government renews its historic commitment to public housing or this scarce resource will soon cease to exist. The situation is that bad.