Latest news with #rentalassistance
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Selangor extends rental aid for Putra Heights explosion victims until April 2026
SHAH ALAM, June 4 — The Selangor government will continue providing rental assistance to victims of the gas pipeline explosion in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya, at least until April next year. State Housing and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Borhan Aman Shah said the decision to continue the RM2,000 monthly rental assistance was made to ensure that victims have appropriate shelter until their homes are repaired. 'Initially, the state government agreed to provide rental support for six months, but we have decided to extend it for up to a year or more, especially for homes that were completely destroyed, as rebuilding will take time,' he said. 'For houses that were partially damaged, assistance will also continue until repairs are fully completed. The aid will only be discontinued once the occupants are able to return to their homes,' he said in a statement today. He added that the Selangor government will monitor the repair progress of each affected home to ensure that assistance is distributed efficiently under the allocated funding. On April 30, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari announced that the Selangor government had allocated RM2.73 million in rental assistance for 455 families affected by the incident, covering six months from April onwards. The Petronas gas pipeline fire, which occurred in Putra Heights at 8.10 am on April 1, sent flames soaring over 30 metres high, with temperatures reaching up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. The blaze took nearly eight hours to extinguish and left a 9.8-metre-deep crater at the site. — Bernama
CBC
20-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Province will help 2,500 more N.B. households pay their rent
The New Brunswick government will spend $21.1 million to support 2,500 additional households struggling to pay rent, Premier Susan Holt announced Tuesday in Saint John. "We're doing this to help people who are struggling to find an affordable place to call home," Holt said. "We have a long waiting list of people looking for subsidized housing. We want renters … to choose where they live, and this direct-to-tenant benefit allows them to do that." The direct-to-tenant program has helped 6,100 households to date, she said, but there is a waiting list of nearly 12,000. Under the province's housing strategy, the goal is to get the waiting list down to 7,500 by next year. The program is geared toward lower-income households in urban and rural New Brunswick that are paying more than 30 per cent of their income for adequate housing. WATCH | N.B. is expanding a rental subsidy program. Here's why: David Hickey, minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corporation, said the province made the announcement on the lower west side of Saint John because of the high rate of low-income renters there. People should be able to stay where they have roots, he said, and not be forced to move to find cheaper rents. "There's a deep sense of identity and a deep sense of community [on the west side], and we know it's neighbourhoods like this that are going to be supported by funding like this. "The vision is … to make sure that people can continue to afford and continue to live in the places they have [been living] and make sure that we are stopping the massive inflow into homelessness or more insecure housing situations." The $21.1 million increase in funding for the program is one of a number of ways the government is trying to make life more affordable for tenants. They also include the recently implemented three per cent rent cap and and efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing. "We continue the job of making sure that we are accelerating the rate of public housing faster than we ever have," Hickey said. "[We are] making sure that we are investing in partners like … the New Brunswick Non-Profit Housing Association, to make sure that we're leaning on our non-profit partners to build faster than they ever have in communities just like this one." Randy Hatfield, the executive director of the Human Development Council, said it's important to help residents in neighbourhoods that have a high percentage of renters, many in low-income households. According to the most recent census data, Hatfield said, 33 per cent of Canadian households are renters. In New Brunswick, the rate is 26 per cent because of its rural nature, but in Saint John, the rate is much higher, at 45 per cent, and it rises to 71 per cent in the city's Ward 3, which includes the lower west side. Nearly 30 per cent of those renters spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. The overall poverty rate is 35.8 per cent, with the child poverty rate at 45.6 per cent. "Many are struggling, doing the best they can to meet this affordability crisis," Hatfield said. "We have low vacancy rates, low median family incomes, a big gap between the minimum wage and a living wage and, until recently, no rental caps, and long waiting lists for affordable housing." The Human Development Council recently conducted a survey of people in the province who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. "[We asked] what caused you to lose your housing most recently, and 29 per cent of respondents said it was not enough income for housing, Hatfield said. "Another question asked them to identify challenges to finding housing and 74 percent said rents are too high.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Far from cutting affordable housing in Kansas, we could use more resources for those in need
Government housing assistance provides a vital lifeline for Kansans, writes columnist Rebecca Phillips. (Getty Images) I have a dear friend who I have helped with different issues over the years. She is a disabled senior with limited eyesight, and she also has no car. I met her about 11 years ago, and while I am much younger we care about each other. About four years ago, I recommended that she sign up for a program I had heard about — Section 8. That's a housing assistance program funded by the federal government in which individuals in need — those who qualify — can apply and receive help in paying for a house or an apartment whose landlord takes the Section 8 voucher. I told my friend: 'You should sign up for this. It may take a while to hear from them but I think it's a good program.' I picked her up and drove her to the Topeka Housing Authority office, where she picked up an application. It took a couple of years for her name to come up on the list, but she was approved. It was just in time because her rent at her apartment was about to go sky high, and she couldn't afford to pay. Without the Section 8 voucher, who knows what she would have done. That is why when I read about proposed budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development totaling $32.9 billion, along with the idea of creating a grant program to send rental assistance funds to the states, my heart grieved over the precious lives this would affect. The people who work at the Topeka Housing Authority are very special people, including the vice president of rental assistance programs, Annette Brown. They work hard to make sure those with limited incomes, the disabled and seniors find safe, affordable housing. We are in a time when homelessness is at an all-time high. If anything, we need more funding for housing programs, including those beyond Section 8. I attended a meeting for the public in which the former executive director of the Topeka Rescue Mission discussed homelessness and how so many individuals who grew up traumatized or experienced trauma as adults often end up homeless. Barry Feaker has a true heart for the homeless and has dedicated his life to the issue. People such as Theresa Douthart and Sehera Hays at the Topeka nonprofit organization Breakthrough House give of themselves to help assist clients to find housing. Robert Sanders, chair of the board of directors for Breakthrough House, works at the Topeka Rescue Mission and he helps the individuals there find employment and work on job skills. His work is vital and much needed. When I think of the Section 8 program, I think of my good friend who might have had nowhere to go if she had not received her voucher. These people are good folks who need shelter. It's time to make sure they get to stay in their dwellings and to continue to provide the funding they need to live a productive life. The time is now to help those in need of a place to live. I worked as a volunteer writer at the international headquarters of Habitat for Humanity in 1997 for a brief time, and I saw people from all over come together to help those who I believe are God's children. Let's be the light of Heaven to folks who would otherwise be homeless. Let's offer hope. It's needed more now than ever before. Rebecca Lyn Phillips is a published author, speaker and mental health advocate. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Forbes
07-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Trump Housing Assistance Cuts Would Hurt People And The Economy
Demonstrators outside the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters in ... More Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 3, 2025. The Housing Choice Voucher program, which provides rental assistance to 2.3 million low-income households, faces uncertainty due to proposed workforce cuts at HUD and funding discussions on Capitol Hill. Photographer: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg © 2025 Bloomberg Finance LP The Trump administration looks to cut Department of Housing and Urban Development funding by 43.6%. The largest suggested cut is to housing assistance — just under $26.72 billion from the State Rental Assistance Block Grant, according to the White House discretionary budget request for fiscal year 2026. (The federal fiscal year runs from October through September.) The document claims that states would be 'empowered' by using a state-based formula for grants. States could then 'design their own rental assistance programs based on their unique needs and preferences.' There would be a two-year gap on rental assistance for 'able-bodied adults,' ensuring that a majority of aid would go to the elderly and disabled. To better understand what this would mean if adopted — realistically, presidential budgets aren't passed wholesale — it's important to understand federal housing policy. Interestingly, search for 'State Rental Assistance Block Grant' on or on the site using Google and nothing comes up. Search which is the suggestion on the HUD site, and you can find a page for HUD grants. It mentions two grants and then offers a link called 'Click here to read about other HUD grant programs'. If you click it, you briefly land on a 403 page not found error message and then land on Block grants are typically amounts of money that go to states or sometimes local governments or organizations so they can do with it what they will inside given parameters. American Banker reports that the funds are intended to support rental assistance, public housing, and elderly and disability housing. A state-based formula doesn't replace the cut funding, and given that federal labor is only 5% of government spending, the vast bulk of the cut funds represent money that could have been used for housing programs. It's that much less available to help people with housing. Who Uses Housing Assistance These block grants help many, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The money goes to many rental assistance programs, including Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs, more commonly known as Section 8), Public Housing, Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, and Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities. Five million low-income households are recipients of assistance programs that allow them to rent housing at affordable costs, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Half of the households live in urban areas, 31% in suburbs, and a little under 20% in rural areas. In 2022, more than 4.6 million families received various forms of rental assistance, according to HUD. Even at that, HUD rental assistance reaches only about 25% of eligible families. And in 2024, 77% of those receiving help had incomes less than 30% of the local area median income. Another 22% had between 30% and 50% of the median income, while 1% were between 50% and 80%, according to HUD documents from 2024. The growth of median family incomes has been stifled as corporate profits expressed as a percentage of national income have continued to grow. To at least some degree, this seems like an upward redistribution of wealth. Where did those extra profits go? About 76% were increases in dividends that rewarded shareholders. Another 15% were retained profits. And then 9% went to increased corporate income taxes. Are some of these people without jobs? Certainly. Many aren't but are in households that have earnings well below local median levels that grow far below the rate of inflation. They pay a portion of the rent they can afford by official calculations and policies. The support isn't close to luxurious, to which anyone who has seen Section 8 apartments or public housing developments can attest. Housing Assistance Implications For The Economy If only one in four families had access to help before, what would it be with the cuts? Many families might find themselves unable to afford decent shelter, increasing homelessness at a time when other programs like those funding shelters are falling short, widening homelessness without additional funding to help alleviate it. State and local governments will find themselves having to backstop the problems, essentially undertaking an unfunded mandate. If people are homeless, where will they be? How can they retain the jobs they have? That will have a significant impact on the economy. So will the sudden loss of income to the many property owners who rent to lower- and low-income people. Will the people who could easily afford those rentals move down from where they are? It doesn't seem likely. Severely cutting back housing assistance, with the assumption that restructuring how aid is delivered makes up for the huge cut in funding, could upend how a significant part of the housing market works, with negative economic shocks spreading outward across the country.
