Vermont Housing Agencies Face Another Cut

Friday, May 21, 2004
Barre - Montpelier Times Argus & Rutland Herald
[Vermont] Housing agencies face another cut

By Brent Curtis

RUTLAND HERALD

Housing authorities around the state were informed by federal regulators this week that they would have to do without as much as 19 percent of their Section 8 housing administration budgets.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sent memos to Vermont's 10 local housing authorities and the Vermont State Housing Authority on Tuesday that detailed deep and unexpected cuts to the administrative portion of Section 8 housing voucher programs.

The vouchers are among the primary tools used by housing agencies to help those in need pay rents, especially the disabled and elderly, who account for 64 percent of the 6,100 vouchers issued in the state.

Richard Williams, executive director of the state Housing Authority, said administrative cuts had been expected this year, but in the area of 2 percent to 3 percent.

The reduction his office learned about Tuesday amounts to more than a 14 percent drop or $262,000 of the $1.8 million administrative budget for the program.

"This is going to have a definite impact on the program," said Williams, whose office administers 3,100 of the vouchers issued in the state and is managing a waiting list of applicants nearly as long.

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Read the entire article, here.


Related blog posts on Norsehorse's Home Turf:

[Hpn] Section 8 op-ed by Nancy Pelosi

National Housing Justice Memorial Day: May 26, 2004


For additional information, go to:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Vermont State Housing Authority (VSHA)

Congressman Bernie Sanders, I - VT

Bernie Sanders' Press Release (5/20/2004):
Sanders Blasts Bush's Housing Secretary on Housing Cuts in Vermont