Fed cuts could put poor on the streets

Monday, July 12, 2004 | 10:31 a.m.

Threatened cuts to agencies subsidizing rent for low-income families could push those residents onto the street, the outgoing head of the Clark County Housing Authority warned Friday.

Betty Turner, the authority's executive director who has resigned effective Sept. 30, said the Bush administration has proposed a 7 percent cut to the administrative fees that her agency can collect. But even more worrisome is the proposed 4 percent to 6 percent cut to federal funding for "Section 8" housing assistance, Turner said.

The Clark County Housing Authority, second in size regionally to the Las Vegas Housing Authority, subsidizes 2,654 families in unincorporated Clark County and Henderson. The agency is independent of county government and funding, although its board members are appointed by the Clark County Commission.

Section 8 pays an average of $570 a month to help cover rent for each family in the program. The residents pay the difference between the assistance they receive and the actual amount of their rent, Turner explained. Loss of the federal funding, about $20 million annually, will mean that fewer families will receive the subsidy, she said.

Turner said the issue is now before Congress, but it is anybody's guess when the final budget will come out and what it will look like.

"We just don't know right now," Turner said. "Everything is still up in the air. We won't know until the federal budget is approved."

Her resignation takes effect on the last day of the federal fiscal year.

Turner, who has served as executive director for more than four years, said she is resigning for personal reasons, among them a desire to be closer to her family in California. Her decision to resign is not connected to the proposed federal cuts that would affect the number of people the housing authority serves, she said.

She said her agency has met with all five members of Nevada's congressional delegation, and all five "are very supportive of our programs and tell us we do a good job in Southern Nevada."

"But it's bigger than Southern Nevada. It affects every housing program nationwide."

Over the last four years, the housing authority has faced stagnant or dropping federal support while the size of the community, and the number of potential clients, has grown, Turner said. The Las Vegas metropolitan area is the fastest growing urban area in the country.

While the number of people who receive subsidies has been more-or-less stable, the size of the staff at the agency has dropped from 134 to 102 since 2000, she said.

Gustavo Ramos, the agency's deputy director, said the cuts, if they come, would be the latest round in a long run of cuts to housing programs. Ramos has worked in public housing and subsidized housing since 1975.

"The worst thing we're facing is the cutbacks," he said.

Ramos noted that President Bush has publicly pledged to end chronic homelessness in a decade. The cuts will instead increase the number of local homeless, he said.

"It's a total contradiction."

The most immediate issue facing the five members of the Clark County Housing Authority board, however, is Turner's resignation and the need to start looking for a replacement.

Ramos said he hasn't decided whether to pursue the top job. He said he would assist the board and the agency with any transition but that Turner's shoes will be hard to fill.

"In the 29 years I've been in the business, Ms. Turner is the best executive I've ever worked for," Ramos said. "She has provided tremendous direction for this agency during the time I've been here."