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The previous 24 hours have been a whirlwind for Ann Lott.
Lott, who leads the Dallas-based housing advocacy group Inclusive Communities Venture, mentioned her workplace was flooded with calls from households panicking about President Donald Trump’s controversial federal funds freeze. The memo’s wording, which mentioned the freeze would affect “financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal,” made it unclear whether or not federal housing help can be reduce off days earlier than households had been anticipated to pay hire.
Though Trump aides mentioned housing vouchers wouldn’t be touched, housing teams throughout the nation despatched alerts on Tuesday that fee portals had been shut down — stoking fears that households may quickly discover themselves on the streets.
Ann Lott
“I will tell you for the population that we serve, the anxiety began in November when President Trump won the election,” she advised Inman. “It created anxiety because they remembered the first term where he didn’t seem to be very supportive of lower-income families and particularly was sending messages that he was going to do everything he could to keep ‘the criminals’ and ‘the ghettos’ from moving into suburban areas.”
“But our messaging to them [after the election] was ‘You’ll get through this, you’re going to be okay, everything’s going to be okay,’” she added. “That was until yesterday. The anxiety turned into absolute terror because next week is [Feb. 1] and their rent was due.”
The Inclusive Communities Venture doesn’t obtain federal funding, Lott mentioned, however they assist households with Part 8 vouchers navigate the system and discover protected and reasonably priced models. Her workforce spent a lot of Tuesday and Wednesday morning serving to households and property homeowners perceive the freeze and create backup plans if the funds didn’t come by.
“It’s not just the families. Property owners rely on this federal assistance, too,” she mentioned. “And then, if they’re not going to get money, then what are they going to do with the families that live in their units? Are they going to be expected to evict them? Do they wait? What does it mean ‘a pause’? How long will the pause be? Those were the kinds of questions that we were asking.”
“It’s been a rollercoaster,” she mentioned. “The last 24 to 48 hours have been a rollercoaster for us and for the families that we serve.”
The nation’s largest housing coalitions, together with the Nationwide Alliance to Finish Homelessness, the Nationwide Truthful Housing Alliance and the Nationwide Low Earnings Housing Coalition, issued a number of statements on Tuesday and Wednesday in regards to the freeze and the potential affect on the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth’s capability to fund vouchers and a number of grant packages.
“The Alliance is committed to keeping our local, state, and national partners informed of the changing circumstances regarding this week’s memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directing all federal agencies to temporarily freeze activities associated with the obligation and disbursement of all grants, loans, and other financial assistance,” the Nationwide Alliance to Finish Homelessness mentioned on Wednesday. “Details are unclear as to which specific programs will be subject to a pause and other possible impacts. The Alliance is operating under an assumption that until there is an explicit exclusion or exception, federal programming targeted to serve people experiencing homelessness will be impacted.”
Though the hazard to housing alternative vouchers (i.e. Part 8) has been on the forefront of talks in regards to the freeze, The Nationwide Low Earnings Housing Coalition mentioned there are a minimum of 14 packages in danger together with Part 202 Housing for the Aged, Part 811 Housing for Individuals with Disabilities, Housing for Individuals with AIDS, Eviction Prevention Grants and Tribal housing packages. “Advocates must keep up the pressure on federal lawmakers to ensure that all federal housing and homelessness programs are protected,” NLIHC mentioned.
Lisa Rice
The Nationwide Truthful Housing Alliance known as for Congress to cease all affirmation hearings and votes till the administration cancels the freeze. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and City Affairs superior HUD nominee Scott Turner to a full Senate vote on Jan. 23, regardless of Turner failing to finish an FBI background test.
“The National Fair Housing Alliance calls for a pause on processing all presidential nominations so the Congress and White House can be laser-focused on an immediate and complete withdrawal of the federal funding freeze and the accompanying Executive Orders that attempt to end the government’s efforts to foster diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility for the people of our nation,” NFHA President and CEO Lisa Rice mentioned in a written assertion. “Our nation is in the middle of a fair and affordable housing crisis impacting millions. The White House’s unprecedented decision, with less than one day’s notice, to freeze federal grant, loan, and assistance payments including funding for fair housing enforcement and education and outreach programs, is not only illegal, but also designed to create fear, chaos, insecurity, and dysfunction among the most vulnerable in our society.”
“It will bring about serious economic and personal injuries that can undermine our already fragile housing market and our nation,” she added.
Though the eye is on a possible freeze, Lott mentioned advocates and legislators have to be ready to struggle tooth and nail to guard HUD funding beneath Trump, who has floated plans to chop the division’s price range by a minimum of 50 p.c and decrease the Part 8 program.
“I’m concerned about where our families will be able to locate housing. That’s a big concern for us because in the earliest days of the program, the families were pretty much limited to the highest poverty areas,” she mentioned. “There wasn’t any kind of mechanism in place that would allow them to expand their housing search to some of the lower-poverty, suburban kind of areas.”
“They should have the freedom to choose where they want to live,” she added. “I believe that that’s what we’re going to have to watch for over the next four years. I remain concerned that our families won’t have as much latitude to choose places that are safe, have better schools, better amenities and social services.”
E mail Marian McPherson
