MPC urges congressional leaders to support full funding for the Housing Choice Voucher program in 2004 - Metropolitan Planning Council

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MPC urges congressional leaders to support full funding for the Housing Choice Voucher program in 2004

Prompted by the uncertainties surrounding the FY 2004 Housing Choice Voucher program appropriations process, MPC sent a letter to Illinois' congressional leaders urging them to support full funding of the program through 2004.

Prompted by the uncertainties surrounding the FY 2004 Housing Choice Voucher program appropriations process, MPC President Mary Sue Barrett has sent letters to U.S. senators for Illinois and U.S. representatives of the Chicago region urging them to support full funding of the HCV program through FY 2004.

The HCV program has gone through several funding obstacles throughout the FY 2004 Appropriations process. Initially, President George W. Bush requested a funding amount that, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities , would have led to the loss of 184,000 vouchers. The House improved on this request somewhat, proposing a higher amount, but still falling 63,000 vouchers short of the amount needed to fully fund the program. Recently, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its bill suggesting a lower funding level than the House bill and requiring the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to use unspent funds from past years to fully fund the voucher program.

The HCV program provides rent assistance to approximately 50,000 families in the Chicago metropolitan area, a region that is experiencing an affordable housing crisis. Earlier this year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition released Out of Reach , a report that revealed that the "housing wage (the amount that a full-time worker must earn per hour in order to afford a two bedroom unit at the area’s fair market rent)" in the Chicago metropolitan area was $18.29 in 2003. The minimum wage in Illinois was $5.15 per hour.

In the last decade, the six-county Chicago region grew by 11 percent in population and 16 percent in jobs, but lost more than 28,000 apartments. The Comprehensive Housing Initiative , an executive order passed in 2003 by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, sought to begin to address this situation. Earlier this year, aware of the key role that the HCV program played in guaranteeing affordable housing to low-income families, Gov. Blagojevich also signed the Housing Opportunity Tax Incentive Act, which gave tax incentives to landlords accepting HCV holders in low-poverty areas.

In the coming weeks, the VA-HUD Appropriations bill containing funding provisions for the HCV program will be considered by the full Senate, and then by a House-Senate conference committee. It is not too late to call representatives and senators and urge them to guarantee full funding of the HCV program. The National Low Income Housing Coalition is orchestrating efforts and has extensive information on making outreach efforts to political leaders.

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