Feds increase affordable housing

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

A decision by the federal government to spend $100 million a year to expand its rental-assistance program could result in a housing boom for Las Vegas' poorer residents.

Almost 26,000 apartment units and houses will be added to the Las Vegas area's pool of affordable residences.

Although no new housing will be built and no new rental-assistance vouchers will be immediately added to the program that allows poor families to reside with anonymity in private communities, it will make it easier for existing Section 8 voucher-holders to find nicer, affordable places to live.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development says the number of qualified units in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, which also includes parts of northwest Arizona, will increase to 129,000 apartments and houses.

Nationwide, the available units will increase by 25 percent to more than 1.4 million units.

"This is good because it will allow people who are hurting to find better housing a lot quicker," said Gus Ramos, Clark County Housing Authority deputy executive director who also has held key posts with the Las Vegas and North Las Vegas housing authorities, which also will benefit from the action.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., praised Tuesday's announcement by the Clinton administration because the program helps people who are helping themselves.

"We are talking about the working poor -- often a single parent, in many cases a mom, who is the sole supporter of her family," Bryan said. "These people are paying as much as half of their income sometimes for substandard housing.

"We talk a lot about family values today, and what is more of a family value than a decent, safe, clean and affordable home?"

The additional HUD funding for Section 8, which costs the federal government $15 billion annually, is expected to go into effect in December.

Currently, 2,300 of 4,300 families assisted by the Clark County Housing Authority are in Section 8 housing. Ramos says, however, that fills just 20 percent of the need, and there is about a one-year waiting list for vouchers.

Ramos said a small number of families have turned in vouchers because the families were not able to find decent housing.

"It is not as bad here as it has been in places like San Francisco, where housing is real scarce," said Ramos, who has worked 25 years in public housing and was a city councilman in Ontario, Calif., in 1973 when he oversaw the Experimental Housing Allowance Program -- the forerunner to Section 8.

"But it is getting more difficult for families as rents increase and the market gets tighter. This (federal money) will help as long as the rents don't continue to rise (above the maximum level the federal government will pay)."

Federal statistics indicate that many families in the voucher program earn at or near the federal poverty level of about $17,000 a year for a family of four.

A person seeking Section 8 housing qualifies for one of a limited number of vouchers from a housing agency, then looks for a place in the private sector. A landlord agrees to accept an amount the government will pay based on the tenant's income, and the Section 8 tenant is responsible for the rest.

Voucher holders qualify only for the least expensive 40 percent of the units in the market. The new HUD policy will increase that housing pool to the least expensive 50 percent of the area's units.

Officials say one problem with Section 8 involves big families requiring larger units and have more difficulty finding housing because the rents are far greater than what they can qualify for or afford.

HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, in a news release, noted that, "rather than benefiting from the surging economy, the low-income renters are left to compete for a dwindling supply of affordable rental housing on the private market."

He noted that a record 5.4 million very low-income families either use more than half of their income for housing or live in severely substandard conditions. This includes a growing number of families working full time.

Cuomo said Las Vegas is one of 39 metropolitan markets with more than 450 communities that will meet the new criteria for raising the so-called Fair Market Rent -- a term for the maximum rental subsidies paid to landlords.

HUD's announcement also noted that the agency is proposing in the 2001 fiscal budget an additional 120,000 vouchers to address the nation's worst housing needs. The number that Southern Nevada will receive is not yet known.