Senior citizens, disabled and struggling families can’t afford housing without Section 8 vouchers, tenants from Section 8 said at a Boston City Council meeting on Monday.
The Council held the public hearing to help urge Massachusetts leaders in Congress to oppose cuts in housing and vouchers for the city of Boston.
About 150 tenants from Section 8 housing came to the hearing to listen to the resolution and to vocalize their support. After the hearing, many of the tenants marched to the John F. Kennedy Federal Office Building to ask for Sen. Scott Brown’s opposition to the budget cuts.
The hearing implored the Massachusetts congressional delegation to oppose housing cuts in President Barack Obama’s budget. If passed, the new budget will cut $1.6 billion from public housing and nearly $1.5 billion from Section 8 vouchers.
The Section 8 tenants who spoke to the committee pushed for members to oppose the budget cuts.
“I am here today for those who couldn’t be here. We have a kind and generous country and I’d hate for them to take that kindness away,” said Carolyn Walker, a resident of the Section 8 housing. “There are so many people in poverty- why are our own representatives trying to make them poorer?”
Councilor Rob Consalvo, chairman of the City Council’s Housing Committee, said he organized the hearing in hopes of gaining the attention of Massachusetts representatives.
“What’s going on in Congress in the next few months will have an immediate negative impact on Boston and an immediate negative impact on public housing,” Consalvo said. “We need to do everything we can to oppose local cuts to housing. This is just the first step in addressing the issue of federal cuts.”
The march following the meeting was led by Michael Kane, the executive director of the National Alliance of Housing and Urban Development Tenants (NAHT), who emphasized the importance of applying local pressure.
“They are cutting two-thirds of funding for Community Development Grants and for housing of the elderly and disabled. We are urging the Massachusetts Delegation to oppose these cuts,” Kane said. “We have gotten support from [Rep.] Barney Frank and [Rep. Michael] Capuano, but who we haven’t heard from is Scott Brown. Brown has to take responsibility for his actions.”
The NAHT march celebrated the NAHT Day of Action and the “Have a Heart, Save Our Homes” campaign. Tenants came from all over Boston to support each other and to fight for continued funding to housing.
The “Have a Heart, Save our Homes” campaign is fighting to accomplish several different goals, including preventing cuts in the 2011 Fiscal Year budget, prevent cuts in the 2012 Fiscal Year budget, extending protections to unprotected “expiring use” tenants and preventing cuts for Section 8 and public housing.
Some Section 8 housing tenants, when faced with difficulty in paying their bills, said they had to look to a private sector for help.
“I was fighting breast cancer and I was fighting for a place to live. I couldn’t work, but I was forced to pay the market rent,” said Debra Groomes, a social worker and resident of Section 8 housing. “When I told my landlord the situation, all he said was sorry. My employer eventually offered to pay for four months of rent. Otherwise I would have been homeless with cancer.”
Groomes said she wondered how politicians were planning to replace Section 8 housing.
“Do they think they’re going to put people in shelters? The shelters are all full!” Groomes said.
Another tenant who asked the committee for support was Linda Freeman, who has been living in Section 8 housing for eight and a half years.
“I am here today to support myself and to support others. Those who can’t afford housing have no choice but to apply for Section 8 housing,” Freeman said. “They cannot think about cutting funding when we need more of it.”
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