Putative Republican presidential nominee Mitt
Romney wants to eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He
said so at a fundraiser recently where the remark was heard by several
reporters in attendance. Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan was at the Capitol
last month pleading with Congress to beef up finding for low income housing
construction to keep up with the needs of the struggling American economy in
this time of high and prolonged unemployment, with 4.6 million poor families
receiving housing subsidies, and another 14.3 million in need of subsidies but
not getting any.
Housing aid recipients now pay rents of $25 to $50
per month out of their own meager incomes, and even the Obama administration
expects to have to raise that to $75 next year in order to work within HUD’s
budget. Dismantling HUD will not only hurt subsidized renters and those living
in public housing, but also continue downward pressure on an already struggling
housing construction sector of the economy.
