THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 10, 1996 TAG: 9605100533
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
The House voted Thursday to replace the nation's 59-year-old policy for housing the poor in largely federally funded projects with block grants that give more power to local officials.
The Clinton administration said it would oppose the Republican-written bill unless changes are made to assure that public housing remains affordable for the most impoverished.
Still, 91 House Democrats joined all but four House Republicans to pass the measure by a 315-107 vote.
Democrats said the plan would increase rents for the poor and turn many out into the streets. Majority Republicans said the changes would help rid the nation's largest cities of crumbling and crime-ridden housing projects.
``This bill begins the process of strengthening communities,'' said Rep. Rick Lazio, a New York Republican. ``We're getting back to local involvement, local flexibility.''
Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros commended the House for endorsing changes that he said President Clinton had put in place, but he said supporters of the bill were ``wrong to allow rents to be raised on the working poor and to deny scarce federal housing aid to families most in need.''
The Senate passed a less sweeping public housing overhaul plan in January, and negotiators from the two houses will have to work out the differences.
Under the House bill, the country's 3,400 local public housing authorities would be closed and replaced with new agencies having more autonomy. The government would divide $6.3 billion in block grants among them in each of the next five years.
Several Democratic attempts to soften the bill and insert parts of current law were rejected by the Republicans. Democrats led by Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., said the block grants probably wouldn't provide enough money to run decent public housing developments or allow enough federal control to ensure that basic management standards are met.
``You should be ashamed of yourselves,'' Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., told Republicans. ``Stop trying to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.''
The Clinton administration praised parts of the bill, including measures that would crack down on crime, encourage tenants to work and give local communities more flexibility to manage housing assistance.
But in a statement released by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the administration said it would oppose the bill unless changes were made.
The House rejected one of those changes Thursday, voting 222-196 against a proposal by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to restore parts of the Brooke Amendment, a 27-year-old rule that limits a public housing tenant's rent to 30 percent of his or her income.
House Democrats said if the rule is discarded, local agencies could raise rents to meet their operating expenses, leaving the poorest tenants homeless.
But Lazio said the rule discourages tenants from earning more money. He said, ``It's a tax on work. Why should somebody do the overtime if he knows it's going to be eaten up on rent?''
The Clinton administration also urged the House to limit minimum rents to $25 per month for the poorest families in public housing and allow waivers in hardship cases.
The White House statement said the bill places no upper limit on the minimum rent local agencies can charge, and that could result in ``many very-low-income individuals paying an extremely high percentage of their income in rent.'' ILLUSTRATION: HOW THEY VOTED
A ``yes'' was a vote to pass the bill.
Herbert H. Bateman,
R-Va.Yes
Owen B. Pickett, D-Va.Yes
Robert C. Scott, D-Va.Yes
Norman Sisisky, D-Va.Yes
Eva Clayton, D-N.C.Yes
Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C.Yes
by CNB