Categories: Federal
08.05.2013
Help us put a face on painful cuts to low-income individuals
The Network has launched a new initiative to highlight the direct effects of sequestration on homeless, low-income and working class Americans. Visit our Sequestration Stories page for a regularly-updated listing of news stories on this pressing issue
We're calling on our members to help raise awareness of the real, tangible effects of sequestration. If your program and your tenants have been impacted in any way by budget cuts related to the sequester, please contact us to have your story featured on our Sequestration Stories page. We will also highlight your stories -- preserving anonymity, if you prefer -- in meetings with elected officials who have the power to end the sequester.
We will also continue to highlight the impacts of sequestration on Twitter using the hashtag #SequestrationStories. We urge you to share your personal stories relating to sequestration, along with published news articles, using this hashtag.
The supportive housing community did not feel the immediate effects of sequestration, but we're beginning to now and at an increasing rate. There was an initial delay as local public housing authorities (PHAs) scrambled to devise and initiate plans that caused the least amount of harm in their communities. Over the last couple months, as the PHAs have had their Section 8 frozen, one depressing story after another has risen to the surface.
If sequestration is allowed to continue, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) alone is looking at the loss of 3,400 vouchers next year. To avoid rescinding vouchers this year, HPD has spent down its reserves, put a temporary freeze on rent increases and reduced payment standards from the current 110% of fair market rent (FMR) to a 105% as of June 15.
The only vouchers exempt from sequestration are those set aside through the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program. All others are subject to these cuts. Between HPD, the NYC Housing Authority, NYS Homes and Community Renewal and all other PHAs in the state, New York is looking at a reduction of 11,000 Section 8 vouchers. For a complete list of New York's PHAs, see here.
New York State is also bracing for significant cuts in funding to its various Continua of Care. New York is expected to lose about $12 million in CoC McKinney-Vento funding; New York City's CoC alone faces an estimated $6 million cut when the FY13 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) is released late summer/early fall.
Plans to minimize the effects of sequestration are specific to each agency, so please reach out to your local PHA and CoC to learn more about how their plans will impact your community. For further information, please contact Edline Jacquet. The Network has been engaging in various advocacy efforts including, a recent lobby day in Washington, D.C.
We know these stories are grim. Many would sooner talk about anything but sequestration, given its depressing nature. But we believe that by sharing these vital stories, we'll help motivate lawmakers to take action. We hope you'll help us in our efforts to put a face on sequestration cuts.
For more information on the dire impacts of sequestration on the poor, see this definitive analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.