Bush Proposes Housing Cuts 2007 Budget to Reduce Funding For Homes of Disabled, Seniors

Columbia Spectator

Bush Proposes Housing Cuts
2007 Budget to Reduce Funding For Homes of Disabled, Seniors
By Tom Faure
Spectator Staff Writer

February 15, 2006

President George W. Bush issued his budget for the 2007 fiscal year last week, prompting angry reactions from New York politicians who say it cuts too heavily into vital housing services.

Under the president�s proposal, Community Development Block Grants, a federal program which provides housing funds for state governments, entitlement communities, and loan guarantees, would be cut by $736 million, or 20 percent. Funding for housing for the elderly would drop $189 million, or 26 percent, while funding for housing for persons with disabilities would be cut in half. Public housing would be slashed overall by eight percent, a total of $459 million.

�It will affect everyone in New York City,� Community Board 9 Chair Jordi Reyes-Montblanc said of the housing cuts. �Usually when the city gets short-changed, Harlem is short-changed.�

Nellie Bailey, director of the Harlem Tenants Council, Inc., agreed. �If NYC catches a cold, Harlem catches pneumonia,� she said.

�It�s devastating, but it�s to be expected from the Bush administration,� Bailey said.

President Bush has repeatedly voiced his concern with the increasing federal deficit and has said large cuts are necessary to curb unnecessary spending. In a speech last week on his budget proposal, he said, �Families set priorities. Individual Americans set priorities. Business people set priorities all the time when it comes to setting the budget, and that�s what the federal government needs to do ... The budget I submitted this year proposes to cut discretionary spending that�s not related to defense and homeland security. We will keep the growth in overall discretionary spending below the rate of inflation so we can cut the deficit in half by 2009.�

But several of New York�s elected officials vowed to fight the cuts.

�This is Robin Hood in reverse: the Bush Administration is taking from the poor to give to the rich,� U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) said in a statement. �For a president who touts morality as his guiding light, it�s shocking to see how far he�ll go in denying our elderly, disabled, and working poor their basic right to shelter.�

�We�ll be voting on the budget ... There will be amendments,� said Reid Cherlin, Nadler�s press secretary. �We�re actively looking at our strategy because the cuts were outrageous.�

Cherlin added that Nadler was optimistic concerning the amendment process, though he said it was too early to predict how much of the cuts could be stopped. �There are so many steps in the process, but hopefully we�ll get amendments passed ... they�ll get sent for review, they�ll be negotiated, and hopefully some deals will be cut,� Cherlin said.

Advocates said that the cuts would worsen an already difficult housing situation in the city.

�Massive cutbacks in social programs will lead to even more homeless people,� Bailey said. �Surveys show that the increase in homelessness in this city is unlike anything we�ve seen in the last three decades.�

�The infrastructure is crumbling,� she said. �The priorities have to be addressed locally, as well as nationally.�

�One thing you can be sure is New York City won�t take it laying down,� Reyes-Montblanc said.

Some housing programs are left intact by the president�s budget proposal. Representative Nadler said that Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS, a program he has championed, did not appear to have its funding reduced.