Anaheim to Receive Housing Subsidy Funds

Under a new federal program to help those on welfare make the transition to work, Anaheim will receive more than $4 million in housing subsidy vouchers, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo announced.

The new welfare-to-workfare vouchers were among $280 million in added rental assistance for 35 states. The program, which will assist about 700 low-income families in Anaheim, was designed to help needy people live closer to jobs, day care and public transportation.

The agency estimated that about two-thirds of new jobs are created in the suburbs, while three-fourths of welfare recipients live in central cities or rural areas.

“Our economy is booming, and many suburban employers can’t find all the workers they need,” Cuomo said in announcing the program. “When we help unemployed people get housing closer to these unfilled jobs, we enable them to move off the welfare rolls and onto payrolls.”

The announcement marked the first time in at least four years that a substantial number of new vouchers were granted to cities nationwide, a HUD spokesman said. In Orange County, those applying for housing vouchers must wait for years, and even after they receive them, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to find an affordable rental. In recent years, the upswing of the economy has pushed rents to record levels, resulting in a severe shortage of affordable homes, officials said.

In addition, HUD awarded $23.8 million in grants to 669 housing agencies nationwide to hire coordinators whose jobs will be to assist 35,000 people on the rental subsidy program on job training and child care.