Would Cash Assistance for Housing Make Life Simpler?
When you are struggling to pay your bills, you wish for a windfall, but when you wish for a windfall, it only brings more stress. The stories of people who won the lottery and quickly ended up in worse shape, financially and otherwise, than they were before they bought the fateful scratch off ticket have become famous. You don’t have to win the lottery for a financial opportunity to feel like more of a burden than a relief. Getting a housing voucher from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is an emotional rollercoaster. If you don’t find a property that will rent to you by the deadline, then your voucher expires, you do not get a penny of financial relief, and you are back where you started. If you are lucky enough to find an apartment that will accept your voucher, thus paying only 30 percent of your income toward rent, the other 70 percent is rarely enough to cover all your other expenses. HUD is considering replacing its voucher program with cash assistance, but that change is still a big maybe, and it is still in the future, if it happens at all. If you are struggling with debt while waiting for a housing voucher, or even after receiving one, contact a Miami debt lawyer.
HUD Considers Providing Cash to Beneficiaries Instead of Housing Vouchers
According to a recent report, 40 percent of housing vouchers issued by HUD expire without providing any financial relief to the beneficiaries, because the recipients are unable to secure housing that will accept the vouchers. It is not due to lack of effort on the part of the voucher recipients; they tirelessly submit applications, and some even travel to apply in person at properties that they think are more likely to accept their applications. Landlords tend to be cagey about accepting HUD vouchers, because they only get a portion of the rent from the tenant; the rest comes from HUD, and the landlord has to fill out lots of paperwork to get it. In a twist of injustice that will surprise no one who has ever waited for public benefits, if you don’t feel like filling out paperwork, you don’t get housing, and if your landlord doesn’t feel like filling out paperwork, you also don’t get housing. Another reason landlords bristle at the sight of a HUD voucher is that their buildings must pass inspections to receive HUD funding, and that means that the landlords will need to maintain the buildings adequately, instead of just taking people’s rent money while letting the buildings decay.
HUD is considering replacing its voucher program with cash payments paid directly to beneficiaries; they could pay these toward their rent, but it would not be possible to micromanage recipients to ensure that they do not spend it toward other expenses.
Work With a Debt Lawyer About Coping With Unaffordable Housing
A South Florida debt lawyer can help you address your debt if it is still spiraling out of control even though HUD pays a portion of your rent. Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Miami, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
npr.org/2024/09/19/g-s1-23570/renters-cash-vouchers-u-s-housing-apartments-hud-federal
