Sure we need housing funds.

Just look at the cars we drive or their components, the clothes we wear (check your tags), the computer or t.v we use and just about everything else you touch or use. Its all made overseas by non-skilled or semi-skilled workers that Amercians used to do. Corporations and Governments that are driven by profits are missing the point of maintaining our work force that are given away to other nations in the pursuit of the dollar.

Every aspect of life and living should be subsidized for the individual, like they are for big business by the government.

The entire welfare system in this country is disfunctional. In my opinion there is nothing worse for the human spirit than giving a person something that they did not earn. Handing out more food stamps based on how many children they have seems good in theory but it is often abused by mothers that in turn have more kids for just that reason. they than turn around and get cash for the stamps.


yes our govt does waste tremendous amounts of money on other things but I believe that welfare is as crippling as crack cocaine or heroin.

On top of that, the projects are a breeding ground for more of the same types of mentality. They are led to believe that there is no hope for themselves. Its a vicious cycle that has to be stopped.

We need to really find an alternative waty to get these people to function in our society.

Obviously people that are mentally handicapped and senior citizens need to be taken care of.

Unfortunately most people in the system are healthy and of working age.

Dumping more moeny into this broken sysyem is not the answer.

Its a shame we dont have a better solution to all of this.

If cutting housing leads to a decline in the number of housing projects being built, which only breed irresponsibility and anti-social behaviour, then I am all for this. Give low income people vouchers, instead of putting them in the projects.

Only in the twisted universe of entitlements is the same exact budget as the prior year considered a "cut," much less an "unprecedented" and "intolerable" one.

Healy, Booker rap feds' cuts in housing funds

Wednesday, January 31, 2007
By ALI WINSTON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

NEWARK - Seventy years after the creation of affordable housing under the New Deal, Jersey City Jerramiah Healy joined Newark Mayor Cory Booker yesterday to denounce the Bush administration's proposed unprecedented cuts in federal housing funds.

Both cities face 24 percent reductions in federal Housing and Urban Development funds, and their housing authorities will see layoffs, maintenance reductions, reduced security and fewer family self-sufficiency programs, the mayors said at a press conference held at noon at a Newark senior citizens building.

HUD has budgeted $3.5 billion for its public housing subsidy, the same amount as last year. However, public housing authorities nationwide say they were operating at 86 percent of their requested budget in 2006, and are expected to be at 76 percent this year.

Labeling the cuts as "intolerable," Healy called on the federal government to restore "100 percent funding" for housing authorities.

"Our affordable housing resources cannot continue to be diminished," he said.

The Jersey City Housing Authority, which serves more than 8,000 people, stands to lose $3.6 million of its $15 million, officials said. More than 100 JCHA employees are losing their jobs during two rounds of layoffs that began last month.

Maria Maio, executive director of the Jersey City Housing Authority, said her department already has taken pay cuts and reduced services.

"Layoffs are a last resort," she said.

The Bush administration proposed the cuts in the budget it sent to Congress, which has yet to approve the HUD spending plan for the 2007 fiscal year.

Healy hoped the Democrats' victories in the House and Senate in November would provide a fresh start to negotiations, saying that the Bush administration's "priorities are not where they belong" when it comes to public housing.

"It's time to change our priorities," he said. "We are wasting billions of federal tax dollars that are the casualty of a tremendous misadventure overseas."

Newhouse News Service contributed to this report.

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Booker and Healy protest HUD cuts for their cities
Proposed fed budget would lop record amount of housing aid for Newark, Jersey City

Wednesday, January 31, 2007
BY JEFFERY C. MAYS
Star-Ledger Staff

The mayors of New Jersey's two largest cities decried unprecedented cuts in federal housing funds yesterday, saying that the most vulnerable residents of their cities were suffering.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Newark Mayor Cory Booker said they will join with other urban mayors across America to fight the largest proposed funding cut in the 70-year history of federally funded public housing.

"We are now united in a chorus of urban areas saying enough is enough. We are not cutting the fat. We are into bone and marrow," Booker said during a news conference at the James C. White Manor on Bergen Street, a 200-unit public housing building for seniors.

Public housing agencies such as Newark and Jersey City are facing a 24 percent cut in funding. Newark has already laid off 271 workers and Jersey City laid off 50 workers, 20 percent of its staff.

For the 2007 budget year that began Oct. 1, 2006, the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities in Washington, D.C., estimated that the Department of Housing and Urban Development's operat ing subsidies should total $4.6 billion for the authorities to be funded properly. The current budget calls for about $3.5 billion or 76 percent of what would be considered full funding.

In Newark, with 30,000 residents in public housing, the federal funding cuts mean that an operating subsidy of $50 million for 2007 will be cut to $36 million, said Newark Housing Authority Executive Di rector Keith Kinard.

Jersey City Housing Authority Executive Director Maria Maio said the proposed cuts have seriously affected maintenance at her facilities as well as social services programs.

"This is a crisis that's been going on for a number of years. It's now at unprecedented levels," said Maio.

Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said the restoration of federal housing funds was on a list of 10 priorities his group presented to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington last week. He said he is encouraged by the response he has received from members of the Democrat controlled Congress.

The Bush administration proposed the cuts in the budget it sent in February to Congress, which has yet to approve the HUD spending plan for the 2007 fiscal year.

New Jersey Sens. Frank Lauten berg and Robert Menendez, both Democrats, jointly wrote a letter last week to the Senate appropria tions committee urging an increase in funding before the 2007 budget is closed.

An additional $300 million to help fund utility costs has already been added to the budget, said Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities.

Even with the additional funding, housing authorities are getting only 83 percent of necessary operating funds, according to early esti mates, said Zaterman.

A NEW URGENCY
"There is a special new urgency. The mayors are realizing that given the central role public housing plays in a lot of communities there are problems that will arise and will affect their cities dramatically. These programs serve people that no one else serves, the very low in come," said Zaterman.

Healy said that of the 8,000 pub lic housing residents in Jersey City, 1,500 are elderly or disabled and 2,000 are children.

"It's time to change our priorities. We are wasting billions of federal tax dollars that are the casualty of a tremendous misadventure overseas," Healy said referring to the Iraq war.

Rahaman Muhammad, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 617, which represents the authority's security, maintenance and clerical staff, said he was happy to see Booker and Kinard voice strong opposition to the cuts. Over the last few months, he has criticized both for not voic ing stronger objections, especially as the authority laid off workers partly due to the loss of funding.

"We welcome Cory Booker's voice to the battleground even though it's late. We welcome Keith Kinard. We are very extremely ap preciative of the mayor standing with workers and tenants in fighting these HUD cuts that will destroy public housing as we know it," said Muhammad.

FEELING THE EFFECTS
The residents of James C. White Manor said they are feeling the ef fects of the cuts. There was once a social worker on site to help residents with things such as understanding the changes to the Medicare rules. A doctor who was on site five days a week for mobility impaired residents is now there only twice per week.

"If you miss the doctor this week you might catch him next week. Might," Eleanor Fuller, 85, said of the on-site doctor. She's lived at the complex since it opened in 1976.

A vending machine in the recreation room helps residents collect money to fund their recreational activities, said Grace Elder, 77, as she restocked the change in the machine.

"We need help," Elder said about the loss of the social worker. "That's the question we are asking. Where will we go for help?"

Jeffery C. Mays covers Newark City Hall. He may be reached at jmays@starledger.com or (973) 392-4149.