BALDWIN HILLS : Residents Decry Plan for Low-Income Rent Vouchers
More than 2,500 people converged on a Baldwin Hills neighborhood last week to protest a proposal to streamline a federally subsidized housing program by turning it into a voucher system.
The rally, held at the Section 8-funded Baldwin Villa Apartments, was sponsored by the statewide Coalition to Protect Section 8 Housing, an alliance of tenant and housing organizations. The event, staged between Marlton Avenue and 39th Street, drew a vocal crowd that denounced the proposal as more harmful than helpful to low-income housing recipients.
The streamlining proposal was put forward by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. It would eliminate designated Section 8 housing and require recipients to find housing on their own with vouchers.
“I hope it doesn’t pass. We wouldn’t know where to go,” said 70-year-old Wille Davis, a resident of Baldwin Villa since it opened in 1984. “I love it here. . . . I don’t want to move.”
Under Section 8, the government subsidizes rent for tenants in buildings that meet federal guidelines for rehabilitation, rent limits, new construction and other criteria. The proposed voucher system would force recipients to seek Section 8 housing individually, which critics say could be difficult because property owners would have to be persuaded to accept vouchers.
It would especially hurt the elderly and disabled, said La Verne Miller, resident manager of Baldwin Villa, which houses nearly 200 senior citizens. “Seniors are on fixed incomes and have no flexibility in dealing with landlords who may want to negotiate rent,” Miller said. During the rally, she and others circulated petitions urging Congress to kill the HUD proposal before it gathers momentum.
The measure, discussed since HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros took office in 1993, is seen by proponents as preferable to the current system for several reasons. By using a voucher system, they believe, HUD can spur housing integration by allowing the poor to live in previously unaffordable neighborhoods and near jobs. The vouchers, they say, also would allow housing subsidies to go to people and not into the pockets of builders.
A letter-writing campaign to members of Congress is under way, said Alpheus Merchant, president of the senior citizen club at Angelus Plaza, a Downtown Section 8 housing complex. “People are excited and worried about this issue. If it passes, it’ll force more people on the street, and that means more of everything--more crime, more insurance, more money needed for other social programs,” said Merchant, who is also a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging.
Baldwin Villa resident Sue McKinney, 70, said she hopes her signature on the petition will help to defeat the voucher system. “It’s like a family here,” she said. “We do things together. It’s very convenient too--the mall and a lot of other places we need to go are within walking distance.
