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THE STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN YEARBOOK 1998
units, leading to further loss and deterioration of such housing. Nonprofit housing providers,
community development corporations, and even public housing agencies are hurt by this
crunch. "This cycle ofdisinvestment will result in an acceleration ofthe already rapid disappearance
ofaffordable, low-eost units from the inventory,» the report says.
As low-eost housing becomes more scarce, more poor Americans are fmding themselves out
on the streets. In its 1997 survey of 29 cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors found a 3 percent
increase in requests for emergency shelter since 1996. This is a troubling statistic in the midst of
economic growth and extremely low unemployment (below 5 percent). Furthermore, whereas
single individuals accounted for most of the homeless in the past, the number of homeless
families with children has steadily increased. It is a national disgrace that more and more
children cannot count on a roofover their heads. Being homeless or living in a shelter is very hard
on children. It breaks up families, disrupts schooling, and is associated with increases in child
health problems and extreme emotional distress. No child should have to live so precariously.
Waning government help. What are federal, state, and local governments doing to respond
to the crisis in affordable housing? UnfortunatelY, less and less. While federal tax benefits for
middle- and upper-income housing continue to expand rapidly, federal outlays for low-income
housing assistance are not growing enough to keep pace with inflation. In real dollar terms they
are shrinking. The budgets for Fiscal Years (FYs) 1996, 1997, and 1998 included no funds for
additional Section 8 rental assistance (rent subsidies for low-income tenants in privately owned
housing). The number of public housing units has been shrinking as a result of demolitions,
poor maintenance, and lack of modernization. It is also distressing that many housing authorities,
feeling pinched by the federal funding crunch, plan to stop admitting very low-income
people and start converting many oftheir developments into housing for families with incomes
over $25,000, using scarce public housing dollars to subsidize their rents. Unless these trends
are reversed, the next five years may bring further declines in housing for the families most in
need. The good news is that the Administration has proposed new Section 8 funding in its FY
1999 budget.
Harmful legislation. Many changes made in the appropriations laws for FY 1996-FY 1998,
as well as regulatory changes made by the Clinton Administration, have put families in worse
straits.
• Congress suspended the federal requirement that local housing authorities target assistance
to the neediest ofthe poor. Local authorities now have more latitude to set minimum rents
that may be charged to even the most destitute. They also have broader discretion to rent
more units to families who have higher incomes and need smaller subsidies (leaving fewer
units available to poorer tenants). It makes sense to have more working families qualify for
public and assisted housing, but many local agencies seem to be using the elimination of
federal preferences to "skim the cream" from their waiting lists, picking only higher-income
working families who appear unlikely to require counseling or specialized services. In so
doing, they are closing the door on many who are homeless or in need ofaffordable, stable
housing before they can seek, obtain, and hold jobs.
18 CHI L D R EN'S D E FEN S E FUN D