Affordable housing

The Government Shutdown Could Decimate America's Subsidized Housing Programs

The government shutdown has hit the one-month mark, and subsidized housing programs are reeling.

Between December and January, the contracts of 1,150 Section 8 units expired, putting in jeopardy the housing of tens of thousands of people enrolled in the project-based rental assistance subsidy program (over half of whom are elderly or disabled). Another 500 contracts are set to expire if the shutdown continues into February.

Government Shutdown Puts Rental Assistance Programs in Jeopardy

Patrick Greene could soon see his rent double.

The 70-year-old man lives with his wife, Karen, in a two-bedroom apartment in Montgomery, Alabama.

He pays $460 a month for the apartment, and the rest of his $940 rent is normally covered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Due to the stalemate in Washington, D.C., however, his landlord informed tenants that she hasn't received the government funds.

"We literally have no idea what's going to happen," Greene said, adding that he and wife live off around $1,500 a month.

Government Shutdown Hiking Rents for Hundreds of Low-Income Tenants

Hundreds of low-income tenants at housing complexes in four states now face rent hikes thanks to the government shutdown.

A property management company told the tenants in a letter this week that because of the shutdown, the federal government is no longer subsidizing their rent.

“As of February 1, 2019, all tenants will be responsible for full basic rent,” said the letter, an image of which was tweeted Friday by a low-income housing advocate.

The U.S. Housing Market is Deeply Unfair: Here's How You Can Help

Fifty years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, the US housing market is anything but fair. In stark contrast to the racially and economically integrated neighborhoods envisioned by 1960s-era reformers, the United States housing market today is characterized by striking inequality: precipitously rising rents accompanied by high rates of eviction and homelessness in US cities, along with exploding luxury construction marketed to the wealthy.

S.F. Says 'Yes' to RV Ban

The City’s transit agency is telling RV dwellers to drive off into the sunset.

It’s a major reversal for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which previously pushed back against banning oversize vehicles where homeless people slept. Now, with The City exploring new ways to help that specific homeless population, the SFMTA is preparing signage saying “no” to oversize vehicles on specific city streets.

And the tiny street where the latest round of the battle over homeless residents living in RVs began, De Wolf Street, is among them.

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