With all that’s going on in the world, it’s easy to overlook that the Bush administration’s domestic policies are almost as disturbing as its foreign policies.
The New York Times had an important editorial today about Section 8, the federal government program that provides housing assistance to 2 million poor families in this country. After decades of relative bi-partisan support, the program is in trouble, squeezed to the brink by tax cuts for the wealthy.
To be sure, it’s a program worth supporting.
Section 8 subsidies go primarily to families that live at or below the poverty level, in households that include children, disabled people or the elderly. These families pay 30 percent of their incomes toward rent and the Section 8 vouchers pay the rest. Some cities give priority to battered women, many of them with children, who have to find a new place to live to escape danger. The need is so great that families often wait years for vouchers, which become available when voucher holders die or become ineligible after getting better jobs.
Nevertheless, the Bush administration has sought to cut back housing aid through Section 8 dramatically.
Congress rejected an administration proposal that would have placed a financing cap on the program and turned the money over to the states. But the administration’s assault continues, through the appropriations process in the House and through administrative rulings at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has been trying to put the brakes on the voucher program. Last month, the department issued new guidelines to the country’s 2,500 public housing agencies declaring that it would no longer pay the full cost of the vouchers but would cap the federal contribution at the level of August 2003, adding an adjustment for inflation.
This has already caused some private builders and financiers to back away from projects that would have produced desperately needed affordable housing. In addition, public housing officials in many states have made it clear that the new policies will force them to raise rents or evict tenants. Having paid lip service to the goal of ending chronic homelessness, the Bush administration is now threatening to kill off the only program that could possibly achieve it.
So much for “compassionate” conservatism.