Sequestration Will Shred the Housing Safety Net

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said that “sequestration will place more than 230,000 men, women, and children at substantial risk of homelessness.” The huge budget cuts threaten several hundred thousand households with the loss of their federal housing assistance and housing vouchers — resulting in a massive increase in homelessness.

Federal Housing and Poverty Programs Are Threatened by the Fiscal Cliff

Unless the Obama administration and Congress agree on a new plan to avoid falling over the “fiscal cliff,” several disastrous, across-the-board spending cuts to non-military programs are scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 2, 2013, and may cause great harm to programs serving the elderly, disabled, low-income and homeless people.

Gov. Brown’s Shocking Cuts to California’s Safety Net

Despite the already extreme levels of poverty in California, Gov. Brown is planning to balance the budget on the backs of the poor by grabbing an additional billion dollars from critical social services programs. This deal jeopardizes the state’s safety net, with permanent changes being made to many life-saving programs.

Berkeley City Council Moves to Privatize Public Housing

“The city and BHA promised to keep its public housing permanent to receive special funding from HUD to build housing for the poor. Now they are breaking their promise to current and future generations of the poor, who desperately need low-income housing to remain in their communities.” – James Vann

Federal Voucher Reform Bill Will Harm Poorest Tenants

The federal government is about to remove the cap that limits the amount of rent that can be charged to the poorest of the poor. Yet, there are no caps on how much money the executives in the so-called affordable housing industry can grab for their often excessively high salaries and wage compensation.

Serial Killer Stalked Homeless Men in Orange County

Evidently, the authorities place very little value on the lives of homeless people. Orange County offered the same paltry amount of reward money for the conviction of a serial killer of four homeless men as pet owners in the same affluent area offer for finding a lost dog or cat.

Berkeley May Sell Its Public Housing to a Billionaire

At the same moment when thousands of families in public housing across the nation are living in substandard conditions or are at risk of becoming homeless, the Berkeley Housing Authority has entered into an agreement to sell the city’s occupied public housing units to a billionaire.

Oakland Slum Hotel Owner Goes to Prison for Arson Plot

Richard Singer, a Tiburon millionaire and owner of slum hotels, was sent to prison for hiring an arsonist to torch his own hotel. Singer told an informant that since there were no fire alarms or fire escapes in the substandard hotel, the arson plot would be easier to carry out.

Oakland Tenants Wrongly Threatened with Eviction

About 25 percent of the residents in the apartment building received notices threatening them with eviction. The tenants were falsely accused of denying EBALDC entry into their apartments. Tenants received notices warning that they had seven days to correct the violation or face eviction.

AARP Sells Out the Elderly, Poor and Disabled

Even as 1.3 million elderly and disabled Californians had their SSI benefits slashed below the federal poverty level, the American Association of Retired Persons made national headlines after it double-crossed the elderly poor by joining right-wing members of Congress in supporting budget cuts to Social Security benefits.

Oakland Tenants Are Targeted for Displacement

Oakland tenant Aiyahnna Johnson said, “They caused us a lot of stress and anxiety in our community by trying to frighten us out of our housing. They have been trying to pressure us into signing documents in an effort to force us to move out of our homes.”