Lately, I’ve heard many different news stories about our state and national budget debates. It’s hard to wrap my head around all the numbers that fly around. I want to figure out what these cuts could mean for people who are looking for housing assistance from our government.
Last week the U.S. House passed a bill, known as H.R.1, as an attempt to address our national budget crisis. Even Speaker Boehner admits that it is “one of the largest spending cuts in American history”. H.R. 1 is a $1.2 trillion bill that would require $61 billion in cuts to the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. This proposal moves to the Senate on February 28th. Congress has until the end of next week to reach a decision or else face a government shut down.
The federal budget cuts could have long lasting ramifications for housing programs across our country. The following programs would be dramatically affected by the cuts:
• Public housing- More than 43% of the public housing capital could be cut. This would greatly accelerate the reduction of public housing units and reduce the number of units available for elderly and disabled persons.
• Veterans Affairs- The proposed cuts would eliminate 10,000 new Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers, and 10,000 new homelessness demonstration vouchers. These new resources would have provided housing for 161,000 people who are currently homeless.
• Section 202 housing- This program, which provides housing for the elderly, would be cut by $587 million. A similar program, Section 811, provides housing for persons with disabilities. Section 811 would also be cut by $210 million. These cuts would prevent approximately 6,400 units from being built.
• Community Block Development Grant- This program, which has helped communities across the nation strengthen their affordable housing programs, would face funding cuts as great at 66%.
• Native American Housing Grant- $200 million could be cut from this program, resulting in approximately 1,750 households not being served.
Unfortunately, our state budget discussions are not looking any better for affordable housing advocates. Gov. Perdue presented her budget proposal on February 17. Gov. Perdue avoided a cuts only approach to the budget, and by doing so she preserved jobs for teachers, bolstered mental health funding, and protected community colleges. Together NC points out that even though the Governor’s budget proposal was pretty good, our state would still be devastated by the fact that thousands of people would lose their jobs and our university system would take a heavy funding cut.
The problem for our state elected officials is that Republican legislators are promising a cuts only approach to the budget. This is where major damage could happen to our state. If we were to close the budget gap the way Republicans propose the following problems would be created:
• Education- 5,000 teachers and 13,000 teacher assistants would be laid of from our public schools. Class sized would be increased at every grade level. 1,000 teachers would be laid off from our community colleges. This would eliminate 100,000 class registrations and create a $10 per credit hour increase.
• Smart Start and Community Health Services- These programs would face massive cuts which would prevent thousands of families from receiving the services they need.
• Real estate values- Real estate revenue dropped dramatically throughout 2009, leaving many state governments (like ours) with just over $4 in tax revenues for every $5 collected in 2008. The slow pace of the economic recovery will keep real estate revenues below pre-recession levels for years to come. This will hurt us as the need for public education, health care, and public safety continue to grow. This situation will not be improved with a cuts only approach to the budget.
• Closure of 4 state parks- We’d lose these parks, and all other state parks would close Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
• Families already aren’t getting the help they need- Without additional revenue for next year, North Carolina’s budget will be the smallest the state has had in over 40 years. Already, so many people are in need of more assistance. Wait lists for many Public Housing Authorities are years long or have been closed. We don’t need to shrink the resources so many families are already counting on.
These proposals could turn into our reality next year. However, they haven’t been enacted yet. We have the opportunity to make a difference for programs that serve so many families across our nation. If you agree that our governments need to take a different direction with their budgets you can make a difference. You can do so by contacting your Governor, state legislator, or Senator Hagan, or Senator Burr.
After looking more closely at these numbers it’s hard to believe that this is the best way forward for our country. We have the power to stand together and ask our elected officials to take a way forward that is socially just and fiscally sound.
If you’re concerned about the our NC budget, join TogetherNC
For more information about facts on the national budget click here, for facts on the state budget click here.
