Section 8 cuts sting tenants, owners

Subsidized-housing landlords in several area communities are getting only a portion of their rents owed this month because local housing authorities have not secured enough funding from the federal government to pay for the housing vouchers for low-income tenants.

In Quincy, landlords who have been waiting weeks for June's rent will receive about three-quarters of the money owed, after a last-minute transfusion averted an even larger shortfall. Jackie Loud, acting executive director of the Quincy Housing Authority, said those landlords are expected to swallow the lost rent unless the agency has its reserves replenished later for the Section 8 subsidized-housing program.

Agency officials aren't pleased with the lingering $386,000 shortfall, but the federal government's willingness last week to release some of the needed funds has assuaged a more severe $1.7 million budget gap, Loud said.

Still, the fallout from unexpected cuts by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development is being felt hard in area communities. The funding crisis has prompted some landlords to threaten eviction and warn low-income tenants they must cover the shortfall in rent.

Judith Liben, a lawyer with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, said HUD's actions have brought local housing authorities, tenants, and landlords to ''the brink of despair and eroded the necessary trust and faith in this incredibly important program."

Funding cuts forced the Hingham Housing Authority to pay only half of June's rent to landlords -- just weeks after sending out late rent checks for May. The landlords are expected to forgo the lost rent until the housing authority can get more funding.

''All of us are just shaking our heads and can't believe this is going on," said Gail Neibaur, executive director of the Hingham Housing Authority and president of the Section 8 Administrators Association. ''We've worked so long and hard to build relationships with landlords . . . and everything is just so uncertain now."

Rockland Housing Authority said it anticipates a $106,000 budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins in July. Unless the agency receives more funding, at least 11 people will be removed from the program, said James Kaszanek, executive director of the Rockland Housing Authority, which administers 154 housing vouchers.

''For a small housing authority, that's a lot of people," Kaszanek said.

Although the federal government recently replenished reserves for some public housing authorities, many agencies said those monies were insufficient to fully operate the critical housing programs.

Kristine Foye, a spokeswoman for HUD's New England office, has encouraged housing authorities to contact HUD if they think they are being cut short.

''We want to try to work out a solution," Foye said.

Earlier this year, HUD cut funding to housing authorities because of a provision it said required payments to be based on average costs from last year, rather than actual costs for the current year. But housing authorities have argued these reductions in the middle of the fiscal year were unnecessary because Congress had authorized sufficient funds to pay for actual costs. The fiscal year begins in July.

For the Brockton Housing Authority, these cuts are resulting in an estimated $800,000 budget shortfall this year. To reduce costs, the agency has frozen available housing vouchers and is requiring existing Section 8 tenants to contribute between 5 and 10 percent more to the rent as they renew their leases, according to Tom Thibeault, chief operating officer of the Brockton Housing Authority.

Even if tenants move off the Section 8 program, Thibeault said, he doesn't plan to release any housing vouchers because of the overall instability of the program.

Officials from numerous housing authorities said they've received conflicting figures about budgets and funding cuts, and the lingering uncertainty further undermines the program.

''We're in a tough situation," said Carolyn DiTullio, a Section 8 landlord who has a tenant in Hull. ''I like to be fair to everybody, but I'm just thinking of selling the house and getting out of this."

The Quincy Housing Authority said it hopes it can restore stability to the program during the next year and will get a better idea of the fiscal portrait when it meets tomorrow with HUD officials.

Still, Quincy resident Lynette Samborski said she's concerned her housing voucher will soon be worthless and she'll be out of a home. Last week, Samborski called Father Bill's, a homeless shelter in Quincy, to ask whether there are programs being put together if Section 8 falls apart.

''They told me I would just need to line up with the others in the afternoon if I needed a place to stay," Samborski said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.