On December 17, 2009 the New York City Housing Authority announced that it will void 3,000 previously-issued Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers in response to a budget shortfall. Under this plan, 1833 formerly homeless families, 407 victims of domestic violence, and 133 children aging out of foster care or families in the child welfare system in need of housing vouchers for reunification will lose the assistance and face certain homelessness. We are calling on the City's Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to use a small portion of the federal stimulus money it received to bridge the gap and provide the funds necessary to protect the City's most vulnerable populations.

The Section 8 voucher program is a lifeline for the poorest New Yorkers and the last line of defense against homelessness for many. Under the Program, people receiving vouchers can rent apartments on the private market. They pay 30% of their household income for rent and the voucher provides a subsidy for the rest. For the working poor, the disabled, and for people on public assistance, Section 8 vouchers are often a family’s only chance at staying together as a family or avoiding the shelter system.

This year DHS received $75 million for homeless prevention from the federal stimulus package. This money should be used as intended -to bridge the funding gap threatening these families with homelessness. The $28 million required to fulfill the voucher commitment for one year is only a small portion of the $108 million that the City will expend if these families are forced into the shelter system. The cost of emergency shelter per person is approximately $3,000 per month. If 3000 families are added to the shelter rolls, it will cost a total of $108 million.

If you or your community works with people who are homeless it is likely that one or more of the homeless people you know is holding such a voucher – a promise that if they found an apartment, they would finally be housed. Now that promise of a home has been broken.

As a person of faith I know you join me in reacting with outrage to this decision by the New York City Housing Authority, and the willingness of Mayor Bloomberg to allow it to stand, to consider the promise of a home to someone who is homeless – a promise that can be broken.

If you agree with me that this decision must not stand, I urge you write to Mayor Bloomberg and call on him in the strongest possible terms to immediately instruct the New York City Housing Authority to reinstate these 3,000 Federal Section 8 Housing Vouchers and then communicate to the holders of these vouchers that their dream for a home has in fact not been crushed beneath the wheels of government expediency.

Thank you so much for your immediate action on behalf of our homeless brothers and sisters, praying this season of hope that they may soon have a place to call home.