125,000 Families to be Cut from Section 8 Housing by HUD

Thousands of Metro Detroit's poorest residents, already forced to wait years for federally subsidized housing, will find even fewer homes available this year as local agencies brace for steep cuts in funding. An estimated 125,000 families nationally are expected to be cut from the program called Section 8, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The demand for subsidized housing in Metro Detroit is so heavy that county governments won't even accept people to get on a waiting list. Local agencies that administer the program learned this week that they will receive at least a 4 percent reduction in federal aid, in addition to previous cuts, at a time when Michigan is reeling from a rocky economy. The state's unemployment rate soared to more than 7 percent in December, giving it the nation's highest jobless rate. With the funding reductions, many agencies are considering scaling back the number of families they serve, eliminating programs or lowering payments to landlords. "I don't think HUD really cares," said Wayne Moran, a 59-year-old Vietnam War veteran who lives in a subsidized unit in Westland. "They want to look the other way. Whenever there's a problem, they always tell me to go to someone else. They're good at pushing paper." Housing advocates say they are being hurt by a HUD funding formula that allocates agencies a lump sum of money to divvy up for Section 8, without taking into account the rising costs for the program. [more]

• Pictured above: Bush and his flunkey, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who said "being poor is a state of mind, not a condition" [more]