Health & Fitness
More than 31,000 Subsidized Housing Voucher Clients in DC Metro Area to Feel the Impact of Sequestration Cuts
Housing authorities across our region are scrambling to find ways to continue to provide housing assistance though their own budgets have been cut as a result of sequestration cuts.
The Affordable Housing Conference of Montgomery County is issuing a "Call to Action" to protest sequestration cuts that will harm tens of thousands of renter households throughout the Washington metropolitan region.
It is expected that the 31,963 households in the region who participate in the Housing Choice Voucher Program and Public Housing will see a decrease in the amount of housing assistance they receive. In some instances, families may be required to move to smaller homes or pay more than the standard 30 percent of their income that they currently pay toward their rent.
On Friday, May 10, at the annual Affordable Housing Conference of Montgomery County, a group of housing officials will discuss the impact that federal cuts will have on renters using vouchers to help pay the rent or residents living in public housing in the Washington/Baltimore region.
Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“We recently witnessed Congress acting to save air traffic controllers from the impact of sequestration. But what is not being dealt with is the pain and suffering that families who rely upon housing assistance will experience as the funding cuts take hold, “ said Barbara Goldberg-Goldman, co-chair of the Affordable Housing Conference of Montgomery County.
“Low and moderate-income families will face hardships in the coming months and years as voucher subsidy funding, and public housing funding, are decreased. These are families and individuals who can least afford these changes. For families who are on waiting lists – in some cases for years – the prospect of ever receiving help is diminishing,” Goldberg-Goldman added.
Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The panel on sequestration and budget cuts will be held at 9:45 a.m. at the annual Affordable Housing Conference on Friday, May 10 at the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center.
The panel includes: Stacy Spann, executive director of the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County; Paula Sampson, director, Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development; Adrianne Todman, executive director of the D.C. Housing Authority; and Eric Brown, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, Prince George’s County. Douglas Rice, Housing Policy Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities will moderate the panel.
For more information about the Conference, or to register, visit: www.affordablehousingconference.org.
