Day of Silence for housing

A “Day of Silence” is being held today, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007, to protest federal funding cuts that will cripple public housing authorities across the U.S. Due to the ballooning federal deficit, federal funding for low-income housing has been cut drastically this year. While a permanent budget still has not been passed, there is no indication that any of those cuts will be rescinded. As a result, public housing authorities are being forced to make deep budget cuts, reduce staff and cut back on services. The long-term consequences are a reduction in the availability of housing for those who can least afford it, cuts in services that can help low-income families achieve self-sufficiency, and an increase in urban blight as existing properties are unable to be properly maintained and repaired.

The danger ahead for our nation’s poorest seniors and families is real. Housing authorities are considering a host of options to continue to finance housing operations. These include selling housing units, raising rents, eliminating social services and laying off thousands of people who provide those services to seniors and families. Today housing agencies are making ends meet with only 76.4 cents of every dollar appropriated with no relief in sight this budget cycle and dim prospects for the near future. Ultimately fewer poor families and senior citizens will be able to live in federally subsidized housing.

Today public policy and social action come together, as public housing authorities throughout the nation participate in a national "Day of Silence" in order to raise awareness of this funding crisis. For one day only, many housing authorities will not be answering phones or returning calls (except for emergencies). Instead, callers will get a voice mail message, telling them that public housing agencies around the nation are observing a national day of silence today in order to focus attention on the critical funding cuts proposed for the nation's public housing program. Such cuts will impact the ability of housing authorities to respond to calls for service. Callers will then be asked to contact members of Congress to ask them to support full funding for public housing and given the number for the US House of Representatives.