HUD cuts threaten renter subsidies(and supply of poor neighbors) in Howard County

Howard County TimesBy ^ | 12/16/04 | Pete Pichaske

[marylandrepub1]

Federal housing authorities have dramatically underestimated the cost of renting an apartment in Howard County, potentially costing low-income renters hundreds of dollars a month in subsidies, according to local housing officials.

The Howard County Housing Commission last month appealed the "Fair Market Rent" schedule the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development set for most of the county for next year.

The schedule assesses the cost of renting a typical apartment in Howard County. It is used to determine the size of federal subsidies under HUD's Section 8 program, the main federal housing program for low-income families.

Hundreds of families in Howard County receive Section 8 subsidies, and some 3,000 more are on a waiting list.

HUD's estimates "are not reflective of the real drastic increases in rents that we've seen," said Leonard Vaughan, executive director of the county Department of Housing and Community Development. "They're forcing people to rent apartments out of their means."

According to the letter county officials sent to HUD appealing the rates, the estimates "will severely limit the ability of the program to serve residents of Howard County. It has become increasing difficult for families to locate units in the county and the families that have been able to secure units are rent-burdened."

That means many families simply cannot afford to live in the county and use Section 8, and the number of such families could grow unless HUD raises its rent estimates, Vaughan and Lefenfeld said

[marylandrepub1]

For those of you who are not familiar with Howard County MD, it was until recently a very nice Republican island in democratic MD. In HC, they had a democratic Island called Columbia. This town was carefully planned so the rich can live next to poor, non-white next to white, this place, with a large local tax and with millions of rules was to be a liberal heaven. To make sure that the children would be enriched by those of the poor welfare culture, apartments were setup in all the villages. HC even passed a law making it illegal to refuse to rent to a person paying rent with section 8 subsidies.

Then something unexpected happened. As the apartments grew older, section 8 (subsidies) people grouped themselves together (why?), and murders and drug dealers took over those areas. But how could this be? Everything was planned; it was the environment that was the problem in cities, not the people.

So HC rushed their tax dollars to the Columbian paradise (Long Reach Village is a good example) in the form of teachers and police. But it didn't help; progressive minded Liberal Columbians fled those areas, while businesses closed. The liberal press (Baltimore Sun and HC Times) were enraged. It was the fleeing of those progressive liberals causing the problem, not the poor. Did these good people change or were they always closed minded?

The past few years HC has been flooded with outsiders, who apparently vote Democrat. Good old HC voted for Kerry in 04 and raised taxes to the highest levels (or close) in MD. In fact the Kerry loving residents cried for the higher taxes. But Kerry lost, and now that mean old Bush is threatening their most valuable asset, the poor. Ha.