| Forwarded from:
Work, Welfare & Families
An Illinois Coalition Working to End Poverty
PROTECT SECTION 8 AND FEDERAL HOUSING FUNDING
CONTACT SENATOR DURBIN TODAY
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee to Housing will vote on the FY06 HUD budget Tuesday, July 21st.
Speak out about the importance of the FY06 HUD budget to low-income people and communities across Illinois. Please pay attention to this critical issue! Call Senator Durbin (202/224-2152) and urge him to do 3 things:
1.) Fully fund current HUD programs. To see the budget cart with House approved HUD Appropriations figures, click here.
2.) Increase the Section 8 Voucher program from $14,766 billion to $15,845 in order to restore most of the vouchers lost due to the Administration's faulty voucher funding formula in 2004-05. In 2005, Illinois lost funding to house over 3,400 families. This proposal would restore funding for another 1,600 households in Illinois.
3.) Approve a new Section 8 program funding formula that:
- Uses the most recent 12-month period as a basis for renewal funding rather than the arbitrary May-June 2004 "snap-shot" that has led to the loss of funding for most housing authorities in 2004-05
- Allows adjustments for changes in tenant incomes and vouchers reserved for project-basing to subsidize rents in new housing developments
- Provides every agency 2% reserves and allow up to 4% through internal "savings"
- Provides supplemental funds in some manner so that: (1) additional costs of portable vouchers could be supported and, (2) some of the cutbacks that housing authorities and Section 8 agencies were forced to make in the past two years due to the Administration's 2004 change in the Section 8 program funding formula could be restored
State's will continue to lose ground in their Section 8 programs if the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee does not approve this request for an additional $1.1 billion in voucher renewal funding. Additionally, unless the Administration's flawed 2004 Section 8 funding formula policy is changed as outlined above, state's will suffer even more, permanently losing the vouchers that were lost in 2004-05 and losing additional vouchers under the current "budget-based" formula.
Call Senator Durbin today at 202/-224-2152! | 
