Policy-Makers Explore Proposals to Secure Shelter for Most Needy : Studies show a worsening problem. The House, Senate and White House have put forth different solutions.

Everyone seems to agree there is a problem: Too many Americans can’t find affordable housing.

According to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Low Income Housing Information Service, two Washington nonprofit research groups that have conducted a series of studies on affordable housing, the number of poor households has increased as the number of low-income rental units has declined. The net result has been “a loss of 1.8 million low-rent units . . . a 19% decline” between 1978 and 1985, the research groups reported. Federal standards set the cost of affordable housing at 30% or less of a household’s total income, meaning a family of three with poverty-level income of $8,500 should pay no more than $212.50 per month for housing.

Aware of the problems, policy-makers have begun to wrestle with possible solutions. Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), who has been studying the nation’s housing situation for the past three years, said during a recent interview that his congressional colleagues recognize that federal leadership is needed to provide affordable housing.

“Local government, local communities can’t do it alone,” he said.

Proposed Solutions

The House, Senate and Administration each have varying ideas about how best to put a roof over the heads of the nation’s most needy citizens.

Legislation winding its way through the Senate calls for about a $3.1-billion per year increase in rental subsidies and for new housing construction, providing public assistance to about an additional 183,000 households in 1991. Under provisions in the bill, drafted by Cranston and Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) and cleared recently by the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, the subsidies--through grants and tax breaks--are designed to encourage builders to construct rental apartments for low-income families. The legislation also would set up another program to encourage state and local governments to provide money to buy, build or renovate low-income housing. The matching program would provide 75% federal funds and 25% local government funds.

The House bill, which is in committee, would provide for an $11-billion increase in federal rental assistance, which would help an additional 30,000 households in 1991. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez (D-Tex.), calls for the authorization of $300 million in grants for new rental housing development and calls for the creation of a National Housing Trust, which would make low-interest mortgages available.

The Administration’s offering is less generous than either of the congressional proposals. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp’s plan--called HOPE for Homeownership and Opportunity for People Everywhere--would enable low-income and public assistance residents to buy the apartments they now rent through government-backed grants and vouchers. The Senate and House bills contain provisions for the Kemp proposal. But the Administration has not proposed additional construction of low-income units.

Added Pressures

Low-income housing could become even more scarce later this year, as a federal program from the 1960s and 1970s comes to an end. Under that program, owners of buildings who promised to provide rental housing for the poor received federal subsidies for low-income occupants making up the difference between the tenants’ ability to pay and the full-market value of the unit. Owners involved in this program were required to provide low-income units for 20 years. But once their obligations have expired, the property owners are free to convert their properties to other uses.

A moratorium, which has prevented such conversions so far, expires Sept. 30. If property owners decide to cash in on their long-delayed investments by converting their properties to more profitable enterprises--say upscale condominiums or luxury apartments--low-income households may be priced out of yet more neighborhoods.

The outlook for passage of more funds for low-income housing is unclear, but as Congress continues its overhaul of federal housing programs--the first such effort in over a decade--some observers and participants predict the public will lend its support for the construction of additional housing for poor people despite limits imposed by the anti-deficit Gramm-Rudman law and the high cost of new rental construction.

“I think a large number of people are aware of the problem,” Cranston said. “I think that what we face is that people have a sense that they’re being deprived. . . . It will take us some time and take us some resources, but we can do it.”