White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Council Ponders Procedure to Terminate Subsidized Leases IF HUD Pulls Funds

WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. March 4, 2013: The cutting of Section 8 HUD rent subsidies has not happened yet. But the Common Council is prepared if it comes to pass. The Common Council prepared for the worst tonight: possible cutting of Housing and Urban Development partial funding of Section 8 housing rentals running at approximately $5 Million, (under the new sequestration legislation signed by President Obama last Friday). They opened and closed a public hearing (where no one came up to speak), then tabled the resolution that would establish a procedure spelling out criteria defining which tenants of Section 8 subsidized housing would have their leases vacated first in the event HUD cut part or all of their rental subsidy and the rent could not be paid. Councilman Benjamin Boykin told WPCNR the resolution was going to be tabled because the city does not know if HUD is going to cut its subsidy to the city. Mayor Thomas Roach told WPCNR he hoped to know more tomorrow. The city prepared for a possible loss of HUD Funds by putting forward legislation establishing what types of Section VIII tenants would be the first to lose their Section 8 vouchers entitling them to subsidized apartments. Section 8 tenants consist of families and individuals meeting certain income levels qualifying them for apartments landlords are willing to rent with the government paying a portion of the rent and the renter paying the balance. According to the 2012-13 City of White Plains Annual Action Plan on the city website, counts 646 units of its 846 Assisted Living apartments, as subsidized units. A total of 400 Section 8 vouchers are awarded the city in the current year, however the city is limited by the government to using only 372 of them. This would mean at least 372 voucher holders who may represent a head of a household stand to be be affected if the $5,000,000 aid for public housing is cutback by the government. Councilman Benjamin Boykin and Mr. Callahan credited new Commissioner of Planning Elizabeth Chetney for discovering White Plains did not have a procedure for determining which tenants the city would remove first from Section 8 apartments if and this is a big if, HUD withdrew its funding for the government's share of tenants' rent. Callahan said that the city realized that with no assurance HUD sudsidies would not be cut, the city needed a policy to determine what families would go, should HUD cut off a portion or all of its subsidy to White Plains. He said Ms. Chetney drafted a termination plan in case HUD funds paying the share of rent that renters do not pay were cut back or ended altogether. Callahan said that the resolution was ready to be passed by the council if HUD cut its subsidies to White Plains. He said many other cities and towns did not have procedures in place either. Asked if the city could supplement giving tenants time to relocate if the housing subsidy disappeared, Callahan said there was no money to do that. Asked if the Sales Tax Stabilization (collected to replenish city fund balance) might be available, he again said no. According to the White Plains City website, "the City makes a monthly payment to the landlord on behalf of the eligible tenant which constitutes the difference between the tenant's payment (30% of income) and the maximum rent allowable set by the federal government for the apartment size offered by the landlord."


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