SANFORD (WGME) — A White House plan to slash federal housing assistance programs has Mainers who receive federal housing vouchers fearing they could lose their apartments.
Those fears were heightened by a recent letter they received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The letter mailed to people receiving help from its rural rental assistance program says, “No funds are currently available for your housing voucher.”
It means the federal government can’t pay their portion of the rent. Nancy Kenney, who lives in an apartment in Sanford, says she was shocked when she read the letter.
Kenney, who’s on a fixed income, says that housing voucher pays more than half the monthly rent. A USDA staffer says the voucher program ran out of funding early, so they must reapply for it.
What worries people is where the letter says, “If funding is withdrawn, voucher payments cannot begin at all.”
“It concerns me. I don’t know what the future brings living here,” Kenney said. “I could lose my apartment.”
Her neighbor, Anne Chagnon, receives the same housing voucher to help pay her rent.
“I’m worried if I’m going to be able to stay here. Where am I going to find a place that I can afford?” Chagnon said.
The letter was sent to residents of Meadowcreek and Breary Farm in Sanford, two of 15 apartment complexes in Maine owned by the Caleb Group. One of its directors says they expect this federal funding issue to be resolved. In the meantime, she says no one’s housing is at risk over this.
She says the company will ride this out, wait for vouchers to be restored and won’t evict anyone because the federal government is slow to fund this program.
“I’m hoping that it’s good, because I have been here for a long time,” Chagnon said.
However, the big question mark are Republican bills in Congress seeking to cut federal housing assistance by as much as 43 percent, a goal of the White House. The Center of Budget and Policy Priorities says in Maine alone, it could mean more than 2,700 people lose their housing vouchers.
The center says all total, more than 400,000 Americans could lose federal housing assistance. The Trump administration also plans to implement time limits and work requirements for the vouchers.
“It’s upsetting that he would do that. We don’t all have the money that he’s got,” Kenney said.
“Some people need a place to stay. And they don’t have the means to pay $2,000 or $1,500 a month. I just can’t,” Chagnon said.
Advocates for federal rental assistance say these programs keeps millions of low-income Americans housed, including veterans, people with disabilities and older Americans.
