Date: 2007-07-12
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Madam Chair. I rise today to offer an amendment withmy colleague from Ohio to limit the amount of time a section 8 recipient may receive housing assistance. I believe this amendment offers a reasonable approach to a very difficult issue. The intent of this amendment is not to be harsh or uncaring. If you read the amendment. you will see that we provide exemptions for the elderly. for the disabled and for hardship. This amendment is an attempt to inject fairness into this program. where we are faced with the fiscal reality that we do not have the resources to provide unlimited housing assistance to all those who want to participate in the program. This amendment will help those who have been waiting a long time for their turn for the helping hand. When we started working on section 8 reform legislation a couple of years ago. I asked my staff to reviewall the casework inquiries we had received from constituents about the section 8 program. This review revealed that section 8 recipients werent contacting me to help them with problems with their housing or HUD- regulations. the constituents who had contacted my office were complaining about the fact that they had been on the section 8 waiting list for years and were just as in need as those who are receiving assistance currently. According to HUD. the average length of time families spend on the waiting list for subsidized housing in the United States is more than 2 years. In cities like Los Angeles. the waiting list is approaching 10 years. How can we justify a situation where one person is given unlimited Federal housing assistance. while another -who might have greater need is on the waiting list and unable to participate in the program for almost 10 years? The answer is not to allow this program to eontinue to grow out of control by providing more vouchers. Rather. we must reform the program so that participants can transition into selfsuffibiency within a reasonable period of time. The answer .is to institute a reasonable time limit for assistance. which would give more families the ability tQ benefit from our Nations temporary. helping hand. The Amendment I offer today is based on the successful reform we made to the welfare program in 1996. Under the amendment. the maximum amount of time during which a family may. receive section 8 assistance is 7 years. Time limits would not apply to elderly or disabled families. In addition. there is a hardship exemption for families who need extra time. .due to circumstances beyond their control. While some might argue that we should increase the number of section 8 vouchers that are available so we can serve all those who are on the waiting list. the practical reality is that we cannot already sustain the growth in the current section 8 program. Our aim should be not to expand the program more butinstead reform it to allow it to provide assistance to more people. Even with the section 8 program growing out of control. it is not helping all the people that it could. This amendment is one way to ensure that our Federal limited resources may be used to help all those who need help. I reserve the balance of my time.