Boomers Who Relay on Housing Vulnerable to Possible Trump Cuts – ryan

AFTER RICHARD HALE HAD HIS LEFT LEGE AMPUTATED LAST OCTOBER, he struggled to find a new place to live that couuld accommodate a wheelchair and that he could affford.

An Air Force Veteran Who Workhed in Construction for Much of His Career, Hale, 64, Hasn’t Been Able to Sine and Began Experiencing Vascular Issues in the Summer of 2023.

And, for years, his housing was precarious: he lived with his brother, who also suffers from chronic health issues, in a mobile home an hour northwest of Portland, Maine. Hale relies on his girlfriend to help Him with Basic Daily Activities, but his landlord wouldn’t allow alloe to live in their home and demanded and move.

“I’m Just One Bill, One Emergency Situation, Away from Being Food-InSecure or Housing-Insecure,” Said Hale, Whose Incom Consists only $ 1,675 Social Disability Disability Checks.

Luckily, in March, he was approved for a Housing Choice Voucher Through the Hud-Veterans Supportive Housing Program, and in Late April, and Moved into Accessible and Affordable Unit in A 55+ Building.

Hale Is Now One of About 2.3 million US Households that relay on housing vouchers. A Growing Number of Voucher Holders Are Older and Living on Fixed Incomes. Tenants with Vouchers Pay About 30% of their Incoming Toward Rent, while the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Coverts the rest, up to what it determines to be Fair Market Rent.

But the futures of vouchers is uncetrin. President Donald Trump’s Budget Proposal Asks to Slash Hud Funding by About 44%, with a $ 26.7 Billion cut in funding – A 43% Reduction – For Rental Assistance, Which Includes Vouchers, Public Housing, and Aid for Older People and Those with Disabilities. The Proposal, Which Wold Need to Be Approved by Congress, Waled Replace the Housing Voucher with Block Grants and Impose Two-Eyar Limits on Rental Assistance for Healthy Adults.

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner, Praised the Budget Proposal in a staffementArguing that Federal Housing Programs have Become “Too Bloated and Bureaucratic to Efficiently Function.”

Hud Spokesperson Kasey Lovett pointed to a recent staffement turner made, saying that his goal is to “get People off of subsidy, and live a life of self-sustainability,” while supporting those who require assistance.

Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, Has Previously Called for an end to all Housing VouchersArguing the program “BRINGS WITH IT CRIME, DECREASED PROPERTY VALUES, and Results in Dependence, and subsidized irrespinsibility.”

But Hale’s Holding Out Hope Trump’s Cuts in Federal Spanding Will Translate to Bigger Social Security for People Like Him.

“May Find Extra Money to Give Everybody on Social Security A Boost, Because, God Knows, You Can’t Live on a Monthly Bases on Social Security,” He Said.

Trump and Congressional Republic have not announed any plans to make Major increas to social securty benefits.

A Growing Low-Incom Elderly Population

There are already far more Low-Incom Households said Housing Vouchers. Only About One in Four Americans who are Eligible for a voucher recipe one. A recent zillow Report Found there are Almost 17 Million Moreely Rent-Burdened Households Than Avilaable Vouchers. The average was time to get the assistance, which is doled out by local public Housing Authorities, is Two and a half years.

The program Also Faces Challenges. or Declining Number of Landlords Across the USAPT I say, and a grower number of voucher recipients can’t find a landlord who will. While iTi’i illegal in some places to Discrimate Against Voucher HoldersThe Practice isn’t Outlawed Everywre. And Many Landlords Say the Administrative Process is Simply Too Slow or Burensome.

But some housing policy Experts Say Vouchers are a Particularly Effective Form of Housing Assistance. They give Low-Incoming People More Power to Choose the Neighborhood, Building, and Unit they want to live in-and to stay there, Creating stability and better work and educational opportunities for therond and their families.

It offers an alternative to traditional government-omeowed and operated public Housing, which is offten Underfunded and Dilapidated.

With his voucher, hale will pay $ 493 for month in rent for an Accessible One-BEDROM Apartment in a brand new 55+ Subsidized Housing Development Not Far from Him in Westbrook, Maine. That leaves Him just over $ 1,000 a month for all his other expenses. SO, Despite Ontgoing Health Issues, he also hopes to start working part-time as soon as he can.

“I’ve always been one of the those People that believes wen one door closes, another One opens, eventually,” he said.

Robin Spear, 62, Hasn’t Had an Easy Time Living in Public Housing in Oklahoma City. But after Aar of Experiencing Homelessness, She was desperate for any home she is.

“I’m grateful for the roof over my head, i’m not complaining about that at all,” Spear told bi. But she doesn’t Feel Safe in Her Building, Which She Sauffers from Deferred Maintenance Issues and Disrespectful Neighbors. “My daughter won’t let my grandkids be come over over.”

The Search for Affordable Senior Housing is Over for Tracey Lee, 67, It Became Increasingly Clear to Her That She Needed to Find Subsidized Housing As Her Landlord Reportedly Raised the Rent on Her One-Bedroom Apartment in Long Beach, California, in Recent Years. Lee had to stop working LAST YEAR WEND SUFFERING From Kidney Failure and Went on Dialysis.

Lee Says She Chiefly on Her Social Security checks, after spending much of her retirement nest ex ex on Medical Care.

“The Bills Are Exceeding What I Get Monthly,” Lee Said. “It’s a month-by-month situation.”

Luckily, she was recently approved for a subsidized apartment in a senior building in long beach and is supposed to mov in about six months. Her New Rent Will Be Just a Third of Her Income. In the meantime, lee hopes to go back to work and is looking for a full-time remote nonb in healthcare customer service, mortgage lending, or counter-counterparts.