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PRESIDENT BUSH'S FUNDING CUTS WOULD LEAVE NEARLY 1000 CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FAMILIES HOMELESS "By weakening the Section 8 housing program many low-income, elderly and disabled families will be forced out of their homes and neighborhoods" President Bush's proposed funding cuts will force families out of their homes.   (Harrisburg, PA) - President Bush spent Monday, March 15 in Ardmore, PA explaining how he hopes to guide more American's to homeownership. Meanwhile, a proposed budget cut would eliminate $1.6 billion dollars from low income housing funding in 2005 and force nearly 1000 Central Pennsylvania families out of their homes. During his 26th visit to Pennsylvania, the most of any state, President Bush boasted that homeownership in America is at its highest rate ever. However, his fiscal year 2005 budget calls for cutting the housing voucher (or Section 8) program by more than $1.6 billion dollars, with shortfalls exceeding $4.6 billion by 2009. "President Bush's budget allocations must change in order to retain and even expand the housing assistance low income Pennsylvanians need. Homeownership is a great goal, but without financial assistance many low-income families will never be able to attain that goal," said Lynn Stewart, Director of the Local Housing Options Team of Dauphin County based at the Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania. Section 8 provides low income, elderly and families of people with disabilities with vouchers that help cover the cost of obtaining modest rental housing in the private market. There are currently 1.9 million families receiving voucher assistance in the United States. Under the President's proposal 250,000 U.S. families will lose their voucher assistance in 2005 and 600,000 by 2009. "These funding cuts will be devastating to many families and people with disabilities in central Pennsylvania as well as the rest of the state," Stewart said. "By weakening the Section 8 housing program many low-income, elderly and disabled families will be forced out of their homes and neighborhoods." With 81,350 families using the Section 8 program, Pennsylvania families will be drastically affected by the budget cuts with nearly 10,000 families losing their homes including 1000 in central Pennsylvania. "Another one of President Bush's initiatives is to end homelessness in 10 years. How can that be achieved when he is taking away housing financial assistance to the poor and disabled," Stewart said. Charles Gassert, Executive Director of the Dauphin County Housing Authority says that funding cuts will affect more than just the families currently using the Section 8 program. "The general feeling among authorities is that this could drastically affect the amount of families that we can assist. Along with the families we are currently serving, we have nearly 3,000 households on our waiting list," Gassert said. The Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania is a nonprofit, nonresidential organization established for and by people with disabilities and serves Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry, Mifflin and Juniata counties. CILCP's vision is to empower people with disabilities to fully participate in all aspects of society. For more information on the CILCP and the Local Housing Options Team contact Nathan Pigott at 717-975-2148 or via email at npigott@hersheyphilbin.com. ### Back to the Newsroom