Street Roots has been following nearly 300 families that are being terminated from Section 8 because of to a numbers game between the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority (NOHA) and the Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
On June 12 Street Roots wrote an indepth piece about the complexities of the situation and has been following a family that’s at risk of becoming homeless through the bureaucratic mishaps that have occurred. Read the story from June 12 here.
On June 8, Sen. Ron Wyden wrote HUD asking for immediate redress. On June 12 Sen. Jeff Merkley and Oregon Congressmen David Wu and Kurt Schrader followed suit.
During the course of writing the June 12 article, Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl discovered that the same is happening in Oregon were also happening in rural Washington, West Virginia, Florida, Idaho and New Jersey.
On June 24 Street Roots published "The Perfect Storm" covering the broader implications of the crisis both locally and nationally.
Street Roots joined forces with more than a dozen organizations around the country and launched a campaign to ask the President, Congress and HUD to save the hundreds of families from being kicked to the curb.
This morning (June 29) Street Roots received a response from HUD saying, “The Department has no additional source of funds to provide.”
Read the entire response below and an interesting press release by HUD.
“The Department has received your recent electronic letter concerning the Housing Choice Voucher Program operated by the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority (NOHA).
Thank you for your letter and for your concern about this important program. The Department is aware that the NOHA has issued termination notices to some participants in the program, and this is most regrettable because it can disrupt the lives of many people. This action by the NOHA had many causes, including rapidly increasing Housing Assistance Payments expenses, funding offsets the Department was required to make this year, and the fact the NOHA has provided assistance to more households than could be afforded thus far in the year. That is, the NOHA is assisting more households than are provided for in the contract with the Department and is also assisting more households than the funding will cover.
The NOHA's contract with the Department covers a total of 1077 vouchers. For the first three months of 2009, the NOHA assisted an average of 1129 households per month. Because funding eligibility is based on prior year costs, the NOHA is actually funded this year for a total of 1040 households per month.
The NOHA must either find another source of funding for some of the households or terminate households from the program. The Department has no additional source of funds to provide.
While this information will be helpful to you in viewing the situation, the Department is aware that it does not resolve your concerns. The Department continues to work with the NOHA and other affected housing authorities to identify measures to reduce costs in order to minimize the need to disrupt households even for a temporary period.”
All of this of course comes on the heals of a press release put out by HUD seeking comment on how to allocate vouchers to support independent living and non-elderly disabled families.
For Release
Monday, June 22, 2009
HUD TO OFFER HOUSING ASSISTANCE TO 4,000 AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
Agency seeking comment on how to allocate vouchers to support independent living.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today joined President Obama's commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision by announcing that it will offer rental assistance to 4,000 non-elderly families with disabilities, including 1,000 vouchers specifically targeted to those transitioning out of nursing homes and other care facilities. Through its funding notice, HUD is seeking comment from public housing authorities and others to ensure this critically needed assistance is distributed and administered in the most effective manner possible.
Today's announcement coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. & E.W. which affirmed the rights of individuals with disabilities to live independently. To commemorate this landmark decision, President Obama declared 2009 the Year of Community Living.
"As individuals with disabilities leave institutional care, it is essential that they have housing options that will allow them to live independently," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "As we prepare to launch this initiative, we also want to make certain that we get input from local housing experts, disability rights advocates and others who can help us target this assistance to those who need it most. We also recognize how important it is for HUD and
HHS to coordinate our resources to enable community-living for those individuals that live with disabilities."
HUD's Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) will make $30 million in voucher assistance available to support approximately 4,000 Housing Choice Vouchers for non- elderly disabled families. HUD is making a 1,000 of those vouchers available specifically for individuals transitioning out of nursing homes and other institutions. These vouchers directly support a $1.75 billion initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help persons who reside in health care settings move to community-based living. While HHS' Money Follows the Person (MFP) program offers health care, case management and other services to qualified families, it does not include funding for housing. HUD's funding initiative is designed to fill that gap.
The remaining 3,000 Housing Choice Vouchers are available to assist any non-elderly disabled family. The Department is encouraging local housing authorities to give strong consideration to using some or all of these vouchers to provide housing for those non-elderly persons that are living in the community, but are at-risk for institutionalization.”
Meanwhile, The Daily Astorian is reporting that NOHA is working to buy time.
Photo by Ken Hawkins
Posted by Israel Bayer
