650 eviction notices sent to Section 8 tenants

Eviction notices were sent out yesterday and more will be mailed today as some 650 low-income tenants statewide face losing their homes by June 1 if a $550,000 shortfall in a federal housing voucher program is not filled.

Most of those in the Section 8 rental voucher program were formally homeless or struggling to find adequate housing. Officials said that without family to take them in, many of these tenants could face homelessness again.

Of the 650 letters sent yesterday and today, about 384 went to residents in Greater Boston; more than 60 percent went to people with disabilities, according to housing officials.

Three weeks ago, with little notice, the federal government cut the state's allocation for federal Section 8 housing vouchers by $3.15 million for the current fiscal year, a cut resulting from what Governor Mitt Romney called a new interpretation of language in the federal budget by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. That cut was expected to result in about 2,000 tenants losing their vouchers.

After an outcry from officials, including the state's congressional delegation and Romney, HUD officials announced that they had found $2.6 million in funds from past fiscal years that had not been spent and could fill the gap, leaving the $550,000 shortfall in Massachusetts.

HUD officials said yesterday they are working closely with Massachusetts housing officials, but Michael Liu, the assistant HUD secretary who has said that the agency is reading the law as Congress intended, blamed the nationwide deficits on fiscal mismanagement at state housing agencies.

"I'm not sure why they have to issue 650 [eviction] notices," Liu said in a conference call with reporters. "We're also looking to see whether or not they have managed their reserve accounts in a way that is supposed to support the program." Liu said that part of the problem stemmed from the state handing out 900 more vouchers than it was budgeted to issue over the last two years.

"That agency needs to act responsibly," he said, referring to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program through eight regional members of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Housing Association.

The vouchers help pay the rent for 18,400 individuals and families statewide.

Housing advocates said they were left with few options but to issue the letters, which also informs tenants about what they can do if their leases are ended.

"We won't stop working for a solution once those [letters] go out," said Beth Bresnian, a spokeswoman for the state housing agency.