Work requirement urged for Fed housing

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Posted 9:05AM on Sunday, May 19, 2002

WASHINGTON - People who get federal help to pay for housing should be required to work, and rules that discourage them from marrying and pursuing higher-paying jobs should be changed, a commission created by Congress will recommend. The proposals, which would extend the basic philosophy behind the 1996 welfare overhaul to housing, are among the ideas laid out in the bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission's final report that soon will go to Capitol Hill. The executive summary of the 150-page report was obtained by The Associated Press. The report urges lawmakers to devote significant new federal money and more attention to the worsening housing shortage. ``The nation faces a widening gap between the demand for affordable housing and the supply of it,'' the report says. ``It is time for America to put ... quality-of-life issues on a par with cost considerations and make housing programs work to improve communities and individual lives.'' Lawmakers created the 21-member commission in 1999 to guide them on changes in housing policy. Led by former Republican Rep. Susan Molinari and New York developer Richard Ravitch, the panel includes representatives from a broad range of ideological viewpoints. There has been renewed interest in housing in the past year. That is in part due to growing evidence that housing problems affect not just the poorest families, but many middle-income Americans as well. At a meeting this week in Washington, the National Conference of Mayors plans to develop recommendations for Congress on housing policy. While some in Congress are pushing housing-related measures, none of the plans is as comprehensive as many in the housing industry and advocacy community - and now the commission - insist is needed. ``Hopefully there will be a housing bill next year that will be based in large part on what the commission is saying,'' said Cheryl Malloy, a senior vice president of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Without commenting in detail, Malloy said she was pleased the commission was suggesting many changes her group has promoted. Federal housing officials and others declined to comment on the report until its official release. The commission gives no estimate of costs, but many of its proposals would be expensive for taxpayers. Those include federal tax credits to promote home ownership among lower-income families and to encourage developers to build more mixed-income apartment buildings. It also recommends spending on a new program to build properties open to the poorest families. Among the most contentious ideas is a work requirement for rent assistance. Housing programs now limit what federally assisted tenants must pay to 30 percent of their income. That discourages residents from pursuing better-paying jobs or getting married, the commission said. Such programs are ``a powerful barrier to household movement up the ladder of economic opportunity,'' the report says. It recommends a combination of work requirements and support services to encourage residents to make more money and eventually move out of subsidized housing, making room for other families in need who are awaiting housing aid. Commissioners said many federal efforts to support housing have been a success, noting the country's high homeownership rate and the millions who receive federal aid. Still, the report says, minorities lag far behind in homeownership rates. Nearly one in seven American households also must use more than half its income for shelter. Almost 30 percent of those 13 million households include at least one full-time worker, according to the National Housing Conference. The commission said there are 1.8 million fewer apartments than are needed for people with the very lowest incomes. In addition, much of public housing and other federally subsidized properties are in serious need of repair. The causes of the problem include a rise in housing construction costs that has outpaced income gains, as well as local zoning practices that keep such units out of many communities, the commission said. The report also blames inadequate federal spending on housing.