Valleywide : Veto Threatens Status of Affordable Housing

A presidential veto on Monday of a spending bill that included funds to preserve affordable housing has raised doubts about the future of some low-income renters living in federally subsidized housing in the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles.

President Clinton vetoed a U.S. Housing and Urban Development spending bill that would have provided about $628 million to keep rents low for senior citizens on fixed income as well as poor and disabled people. Clinton said he vetoed the bill, along with an Interior Department spending bill, because he objected to cuts made in environmental and education programs.

The program provides subsidies to landlords who keep rents low. It also sets aside money so that tenant groups can buy their homes from landlords who want to get out of the low-income housing business.

Los Angeles has about 10,500 units at risk of losing their affordable housing status, with 2,677 located in the Valley.

Tenants trying to purchase their buildings, such as those at the 88-unit Valley Pride Retirement Village in Sylmar, waged a yearlong lobbying campaign to persuade legislators to keep funding the program.

But even if Congress agreed to provide funds, tenants and housing advocates said they expected the president to veto the spending bill, because Congress attached provisions to it that Clinton deemed unacceptable--including eliminating his highly prized National Service program.

“It was a significant victory, just getting from zero funds to $628 million,” said Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, which represents 5,000 low-income tenants in Los Angeles.

“But now, the key is to make sure they don’t end up taking away from the HUD preservation program when they compromise” after the veto, Gross said.

“It puts everything in a state of limbo, once again,” he said.