The bill would allow some fiscally distressed housing authorities nationwide to use all capital, operating and Section 8 funds flexibly, meaning NYCHA could use unlimited Section 8 funds to operate public housing. While housing advocates would like to see a bill that minimizes the effect on Section 8 and tenants' rights, political realities appear to present a tension between the desire to maintain Section 8 funding and to preserve public housing, period.
Advocates like Bach understand NYCHA’s need for some flexibility in funding to stay afloat. But they would rather see the city and the state pick up what they say is their fair share. “We don’t want the Section 8 voucher funds to be lost, and if they have to be lost, we want to keep it to a minimum,” Bach said. “We’re concerned they may do it without getting the city and state to provide their fair share of the load."
Contrary to the advocacy community's understanding, Marder of NYCHA maintains "there really is no direct link" between using Section 8 funding to operate NYCHA and the future availability of Section 8 vouchers. He would not explain exactly how it will work, however.
Legal Aid Society and Community Service Society are not planning on trying to block the bill's passage because, according to Bach, "the idea now is not to pretend we can stop it." Also, one thing they like about the legislation is that it does address Section 8 funding by adding 100,000 Section 8 vouchers nationwide over five years, rolled out at 20,000 annually. "People like the increase in Section 8 voucher funding that SEVRA represents," said Bach.
Still, worries about the bill are numerous. The new law, if passed unchanged in the Senate, would not only allow NYCHA to spend Section 8 funds as it sees fit, it would also waive some tenant rights now afforded to public housing residents. The Brooke Amendment, which limits participants' rents to 30 percent of their income, would be waived and housing authorities would be able to impose work requirements on tenants plus time limits on a person's public housing residence.
NYCHA’s Marder said that the authority would not implement any of those requirements if the bill passes. Instead of blocking the bill, both Legal Aid and Community Service Society are in talks with NYCHA and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer to remove its most controversial elements before the Senate votes.
No matter where the money comes from, housing advocates say unequivocally that they should not come at the expense of Section 8. “Every dollar saved for NYCHA we think of as a dollar saved for Section 8 voucher funds,” said Bach. Section 8 slashes would come at a time when the number of homeless people in the city is rising and the number of affordable and subsidized apartments is dwindling.
“I think it’s a cop-out,” said Valdez, of Gravesend, of the plan to use Section 8 funds to maintain housing projects she has lived in all of her life. “The people who live in New York City public housing get screwed. The people in Section 8 get screwed,” she said.
Not so, says Marder of NYCHA. "No one will lose their apartment as a result [of] this program."
