While the recent anti-foreclosure bill signed by President Obama is
of assistance to the homeowners affected by the current financial
meltdown, the bill and its $13.6 billion of housing recovery money have
ignored the nearly one-third of American households who rent, including
more than 2 million households in New York City.
All these
people also have a dream of having and staying in a home - and they
also need help from Congress, on the double. Over the course of the
last generation, things have gotten progressively worse for renters -
and the deep recession has added insult to injury.
When Congress passed the Housing and Community Development Act in
1974, the law included a goal of closing the gap between the rising
cost of housing and the slower rate of increase in wages. The Koch
Amendment to that bill - which established that a family should pay no
more than 15%-20% of their income in federally assisted housing, and
that a voucher (we now call this a Section 8 voucher) - would cover the
difference. After a compromise with the Senate, the cap was set at 25%.
Over the years, this successful program has been whittled away by
special interest groups and misdirected priorities. In 1983, the
percentage of a family's income that could go towards rent was
increased to 30%. That may sound like a small but necessary increase
given federal budgetary constraints. However, many families that get
Section 8 are paying upwards of 40% and 50% of their income because
they cannot find an apartment that meets the established rent cap.
It's not just the size of the individual voucher that's the problem;
it's the overall scope of the program. The federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development estimates that 3 million families will
receive aid under Section 8 this year. The number of individuals in
need is far greater. The New York City Housing Authority reports there
are 127,825 New York families on the wait list.
Their hopes for affordable housing are dependent on the chance that their number is picked out of a hat.
The Federal Housing Administration advocates that a family should
spend no more than 30% of their income on housing. In 2006, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half of renters exceeded this
guideline, with almost a quarter of renters spending more than 50%. The
situation is particularly dire in New York, where nearly one in three
New Yorkers use half of their income on rent.
It shouldn't surprise us that one very immediate consequence of all
this is homelessness. In New York City alone, there has been a 65%
increase in the use of homeless shelters since 1998 and a 23% increase
since 2002. Even at these record numbers - 36,218 were in shelters as
of May 31 - a shelter, though a wonderful resource, is not a permanent
home, and shelters only house a tiny fraction of the homeless. While a
virtually immeasurable number, the New York City Coalition for the
Homeless believes homelessness this decade is "the greatest since the
Great Depression."
In Congress, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Cal.) and Barney Frank
(D-Mass.), the chairs of the House Housing Subcommittee and the full
Financial Services Committee, are moving forward with Section 8 housing
reform after the July 4 recess. The White House and Congress can help
the third of Americans who rent by going back to the guidelines set by
the Housing Act of 1974 - increasing the availability of Section 8
housing vouchers, assuring that families pay no more than 30% of their
income on housing and using the rent limit as a model for other low
income housing. This would not be a bailout for renters, but a return
to the protection needed to enable people to pay their rent and remain
in their homes.
Congress must make sure that all citizens, including renters, who
are often the poorest Americans, have roofs over their head. That's not
too much to ask in America.
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