The Department of Housing and Urban Development said Tuesday that in response to an unsparing audit by its watchdog, it’s urging public housing authorities across the country to kick out tenants who make too much money to qualify for government subsidies.
“It may be legally acceptable, but it is morally unacceptable for people who could pay market-rate rents to be in public housing,” a senior HUD official said of the disclosure that more than 25,000 tenants earn more than the maximum income to get into public housing —almost half of them making $10,000 to $70,000 more.
“We agree there has to be some change,” said the official, who requested anonymity because the agency is “still in discussions about options we have to ensure that we don’t encounter this problem in the future.”
The crackdown represents an about-face from the agency’s response to the audit by Inspector General David Montoya’s office, which found a family of four in New York City taking home a $497,911 salary but paying just $1,574 in rent for a three-bedroom apartment in public housing. The review described this family and other tenants who cross HUD’s low-income threshold but get to stay in cheap apartments “egregious” abuses of the system that are squeezing out truly needy families.
HUD’s deputy assistant secretary for public housing and voucher programs had denounced the report before its release in late July as contradicting HUD policy, which allows “over-income” families to stay because evicting them could destabilize their progress toward self-sufficiency.
But in recent weeks, the agency’s policy has apparently evolved. “You’ve really got to look at, what is the intent of public housing?” the senior official said. “It’s to serve people with limited options.”
But housing advocates are furious with the inspector general’s review, and Tuesday they took their private criticism public.
Check here to read more about HUD’s about face regarding their policy of allowing “over-income” families to stay in government subsidies housing.
