opinion

by sara shortt and tommi avicolli mecca

Save Section 8

IN THE WAKE of Hurricane Katrina, a national conversation has begun about the government's responsibility to take care of its neediest citizens. This dialogue has much relevance to the housing situation in San Francisco.

Whether far left or arch conservative, most people writing in the popular press agree: Pre-Katrina New Orleans was a portrait of bad housing policy. It became abundantly clear in the aftermath of the hurricane that New Orleans families living in poverty disproportionately resided in certain geographic areas. Not coincidentally, these neighborhoods were also faced with high crime, unemployment, poor services, and general government neglect.

Recognizing the problem this type of ghettoization presented in New Orleans, discussions of reconstruction have included proposals designed to avoid such concentration of poverty, segregation, and general lack of services in the rebuilt city.

All who desire a just and compassionate housing policy and an end to the blatantly racist and class-baiting programs of the past should take advantage of this open window to demand change. The issues being raised post-Katrina are not new to housing policy advocates.

It was, in fact, some of these very same concerns that shaped the federally funded Section 8 program. Now officially called the "Housing Choice Voucher" program, Section 8 was created, in part, as a way to break free of the original public-housing model that brought us Chicago's notorious Cabrini Green and became the backdrop for countless media depictions of gang warfare and street violence. Section 8 brought desperately needed innovation. It was a step away from the unfortunate policy of abandonment of the poor and a move toward greater opportunity and quality of life for participants.

Section 8 allows low-income tenants (in San Francisco the average yearly income for those with Section 8 vouchers is $15,000), who are primarily people of color (72 percent) and in large part seniors and disabled (50 percent total), to seek affordable housing options in the private market. Rather than being restricted to certain neighborhoods, renters with a Section 8 voucher can use it to rent from any landlord in the city who agrees to take it. As a result just as many of the 7,300 voucher-holders can be found living in the more middle-class neighborhoods, such as the Sunset, as in the more traditionally poor neighborhoods, such as the Tenderloin or Bayview-Hunters Point. Across the country, this program has helped compensate for the failings of public housing and break up the pockets of poverty that were created by redlining and other planning and development practices.

In light of the Katrina-driven concern that we not revert to the sins of the past when it comes to rehousing the low-income families of New Orleans, housing advocates are working hard to apply this lesson to national housing policy. Unfortunately it is not being heard in the nation's capital.

The Bush administration and its allies in Congress have placed the Section 8 program on the chopping block. Our local housing authority suffered a 4 percent funding shortfall this year due to budget cuts in Congress. The president's original budget proposal cut $2.5 billion from the program at a time when San Francisco faces a waiting list of over 25,000. Without full funding, tenants will face displacement, homelessness, and deepening poverty. And of course, without access to Section 8 vouchers, the lowest-income San Franciscans will be forced to inhabit the typically low-rent areas of the city, where they will meet the accompanying conditions of substandard housing, violence, and little access to basic services.

The Senate bill partially restores funding, but nowhere near enough to ensure housing vouchers for everyone in need. In the next few weeks, Congress could put up even more of a fight to preserve the program. Unless we want to see similar images of grinding poverty in the national media when our next big disaster comes, we need to fight tooth and nail to defend Section 8.

Sara Shortt and Tommi Avicolli Mecca are tenants' rights advocates who work for the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco.