Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004-Continued

DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004-CONTINUED

AMENDMENT NO. 2183

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on behalf of a Sense of the Senate amendment that Senator SARBANES and I are offering with respect to the section 8 housing voucher program. This amendment states that section 8 housing vouchers are a critical housing resource, that public housing authorities must be able to use all of their authorized vouchers, and that the Senate expects the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take all necessary steps to encourage full voucher utilization.

Our Nation is facing a critical shortage of affordable housing. A recent study by the Joint Center on Housing Studies at Harvard University indicates that approximately 30 percent of American families have housing affordability problems, with as many as 14.3 million families paying more than half of their income for housing costs and 17.3 million families paying 30 to 50 percent of their income toward housing costs. The same study indicates that 9.3 million families live in housing that is overcrowded or distressed, and 3.5 million households in the United States will experience homelessness at some point this year. That last number includes more than 1.3 million children.

As the gap between wages and housing costs grows, the number of working families who are unable to afford adequate housing continues to increase. On average, a family must earn over $15 per hour to afford modest rental housing, and in many cases, rising costs have led to families simply being priced out of the housing market. In my home state of Maine, the City of Portland offers a prime example of this phenomenon. The National Housing Conference reports that, in 1999, the median home price in Portland was $12,500. By 2001, that median price had increased to $158,000. During this period, Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment jumped from $641 to $817 per month, and this trend of increasing disparity between wages and housing costs shows little sign of abating.

Section 8 housing vouchers help approximately 2 million families with children, senior citizens, and disabled individuals afford a safe and decent place to live. The congressionally appointed, bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission found that housing vouchers are "the linchpin of a national housing policy providing very low-income renters access to privately owned housing stock. Currently, utilization of vouchers is at a high of 96 percent, and is on course to rise to 97 percent in fiscal year 2004, according to data provided by HUD. The average cost per voucher has also steadily increased from just over $6,400 in August of 2002, to $6,756 in April, 2003, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cost per voucher in FY 2004 will be $7,028.

Our amendment states that it is the sense of the Senate that: 1. housing voucher are a critical resource in ensuring that families in America can afford safe, decent, and adequate housing; 2. public housing agencies must retain the ability to use 100 percent of their authorized vouchers to help house low-income families; and 3. the Senate expects the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take all necessary actions to encourage full utilization of vouchers, and to use all legally available resources as needed to support full funding for housing vouchers in fiscal year 2004, so that every voucher can be used by a family in need.

To many families, older, and disabled individuals, section 8 housing vouchers are the difference between having a safe, decent place to live and homelessness. it should be the sense of the Senate that HUD use all legally available funds to support every authorized voucher, and I encourage my colleagues to support this amendment.