The Dispatch wrote Public housing might be halved
Monday, May 12, 2008
BY RITA PRICE
The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority wants to tear down six of its largest and oldest public-housing communities and give the residents Section 8 vouchers so they can rent privately owned places.
The five-year plan hinges on approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which regulates public housing and issues the vouchers. Nearly 1,700 units, or about half the CMHA-owned total, would disappear, including historic Poindexter Village.
Dennis Guest, CMHA executive director, said he sees little choice. “We’re bleeding,” he said. Double-digit percentage cuts by HUD have drained more than $7 million from the authority’s operating subsidy since 2003. Nationally, advocates say, housing authorities have been underfunded by nearly $12 billion over the past seven years.
Related Stories:
– Charity plans second Downtown homeless building
– Councilwoman’s housing plan calls for land trusts