Proposed HUD cutback worries officials in state

Proposed budget cuts released Thursday morning by the White House have caused some hand-wringing among public housing officials in Arkansas, who noted a 13.2 percent proposed cut for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.





RELATED ARTICLES

http://www.arkansas…">Moans over budget bipartisan http://www.arkansas…">Pledged border wall in budget http://www.arkansas…">Trump’s plan guts agency boosting Delta http://www.arkansas…">Budget plan backs air traffic spinoff http://www.arkansas…">Trump budget ends air subsidy

President Donald Trump's 2018 budget requests $40.7 billion in discretionary funding for HUD, a $6.2 billion decrease from 2017 -- a deduction the White House called a "commitment to fiscal responsibility."

On the chopping block is HUD's $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program, a 42-year-old program that helps fund community improvement projects and youth programs across the country. The proposed cuts also target programs that help bolster affordable housing, support distressed neighborhoods and help community groups fight poverty.

While the president's proposal sends a signal of which direction he intends to take the housing agency, details were still too meager for housing officials to know what the direct effects may be, they said Thursday.

[TRUMP'S BUDGET: Explore proposed cuts, additions by agency]

"Based on what's being said, it could have devastating effects," said Rodney Forte, the director of the Metropolitan Housing Alliance in Little Rock. "But at this point, I don't think there's any point in talking about what could be rather than what will happen."

On Wednesday, HUD issued letters to public-housing officials indicating a likely reduction in the funds the federal agency sends to local housing authorities for administration costs related to Section 8 voucher programs. The Section 8 program helps pay rent costs for very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled.

Currently, HUD subsidizes about 94 percent of a housing authority's administration expenses for a Section 8 program. Under the new budget, that rate could drop to between 77 percent and 80 percent, according to the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, a national community development organization.

Some Arkansas housing officials said they expect the decrease to affect staffing budgets and the ability to properly and adequately inspect units leased out under the Section 8 program.

[PRESIDENT TRUMP: Timeline, appointments, executive orders + guide to actions in first 100 days]

"I think there's room for improvements in public housing," said David Lange, Arkansas' national association president and executive director of the Paragould Housing Authority. "But when you start looking at straight-across-the-board hard cuts as this budget shows, it's going to be difficult. You're really hitting the folks who truly need our assistance -- the elderly, the disabled and the people who simply can't get out and get on their feet to find gainful employment."

Lange's Paragould Housing Authority issues close to 400 Section 8 vouchers. The fastest-growing group needing housing assistance in his area is the elderly, he said.

In North Little Rock, the cuts may prevent the city Housing Authority from filling vacant positions, Executive Director Belinda Snow said.

"People who were already overworked are going to have to pick up additional duties. We may have to start looking at [cutting] benefits again," she said.

Further down the road, however, a slimmed staff may cause housing authorities to reduce the number of Section 8 vouchers issued. Currently that number stands at about 1,400 in the state.

Across the state, more than 22,000 Arkansans receive federal housing subsidies through the Section 8 program.

To some housing agencies in Arkansas, the cut in housing administration funding may not appear as threatening.

At the Housing Authority of Texarkana, which issues about 650 vouchers but employs only four people to manage them, administration cuts likely will not force any layoffs "as long as it doesn't drop below 77 percent," Director Dub Wingfield said.

"Once we get below 77 percent, then we're going to have to start looking at what we can do," he said.

Later this month, several Arkansas housing representatives, including Forte and Lange, will travel to Washington, D.C., for the National Housing Association's National Legislative Conference.

There, they will address budget cuts with members of Congress, who will begin budget consideration in April.

Metro on 03/17/2017

Upcoming Events