ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has begun requiring occupants of public housing communities and subsidized housing to pay at least $25 a month in rent.
The policy change is intended to encourage occupants to become self-sufficient, but it could create a hardship for the 58 people living in public and subsidized housing in the Roanoke area who pay less than $25 a month or nothing at all because they have little or no income.
``Our concern would be for individuals who come to us who may be homeless,'' said Devona Springer, information officer for the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority. ``Paying the $25 would be a concern.''
HUD's old policy required people to pay 30 percent of their gross income in rent. Those without income paid nothing.
The $25 minimum monthly rent was mandated in a resolution Congress passed in January to allow the federal government to continue operating during the budget impasse between Congress and President Clinton, said Billy Hall, housing program specialist for HUD's Office of Rental Assistance in Washington.
The new policy will be effective from May 1 to Sept. 30. Twenty-seven people in the housing authority's 1,362 occupied public housing units and 31 of 992 people who receive subsidized - Section 8 - housing benefits pay less than $25 a month rent.
The policy change was intended to encourage those dependent on housing assistance to learn to live without it, or at least less of it, Hall said.
``It came about because of different ideas that have been batted around about welfare reform - to have people contribute something toward their dwelling, toward their shelter needs,'' Hall said. ``The feeling was, so many people are housed and nothing whatever was required of them.''
The new policy could help move people toward self-sufficiency, Springer said.
``Part of [the Roanoke housing authority's] mission is self-sufficiency,'' she said. ``If people are homeless and don't have income, there are means for them to work within our system to become self-sufficient.''
The Roanoke housing authority has provided job training in such fields as child care and home health care. People have found work after completing the courses, Springer said. The authority also has helped residents earn General Educational Development Diplomas, Springer said.
HUD also has put a 90-day freeze on the issuance of new Section 8 certificates and vouchers, which people need to receive the benefit. Section 8 is a federal rent subsidy program for poor and moderate-income families.
The freeze was intended as a cost-saving, deficit-balancing measure, Hall said.
``It was done strictly to reduce the amount of money the government has to put out day to day,'' he said.
HUD is requiring the nation's 3,400 local public housing authorities to hold the certificates and vouchers for three months before reissuing them to people on waiting lists. The Roanoke housing authority has about 400 people waiting for Section 8 certificates and vouchers.
The freeze prohibits housing authorities from issuing new certificates and vouchers to people on waiting lists once others in Section 8 housing leave the program.
``If no one goes off the program, [the freeze] affects no one,'' Hall said. The impact ``is likely to be minimal because turnover is not great in these programs.''
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