“You always hear, ‘Okay, we got this money to redo the area,’ but once the money gets here, what happens?” said Hattie Huey, a Charlotte mother of three. She wants to buy a house but can’t afford one on a $1,200-a-month salary from a local church.
Charlotte is a case study of a city facing the fallout of delayed affordable-housing projects promised to neighborhoods badly in need of new homes. Dozens of cities are in similar straits, trying to right troubled construction deals that failed to produce housing despite millions in HUD funding.
Local housing officials will have to do it with less to spend: Congress last month cut the HOME program’s budget by $600 million — nearly 38 percent — citing mismanagement. Housing advocates criticized the move, estimating that the program will produce 31,000 fewer homes this fiscal year than in 2010.
“When Congress cuts block grants, everyone gets cut,” said Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “Both the agencies that are doing a good job and those that are not are hurt equally.”
HUD officials declined to comment for this report. In the past, the agency has repeatedly defended the HOME program, saying that it has produced more than 1 million units of housing over two decades and that most projects are successful.
Some critics in Congress, however, maintain that HUD cannot account for the money it spends or the projects it has underway. A Washington Post investigation in May found that the department had routinely failed to track the progress of construction and that hundreds of HOME-funded projects nationwide appeared to be delayed or in limbo. In recent weeks, The Post identified an additional 75 projects that had drawn and spent $40 million with little or nothing built.
“HUD is expending tax dollars without proper oversight or convincing data to show the money has been put to good use,” Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on insurance, housing and community opportunity, said in a statement. “That’s not an acceptable situation, especially in today’s budget environment.”
A ‘frustrating’ mission
In Charlotte, housing director Pamela Wideman cited six successful HOME-funded projects in recent years that yielded 348 units, including an overhaul of a troubled public housing complex and the completion of a development for seniors. She said she worries that anticipated losses to the city’s $2.5-million-a-year HOME budget will mean less money for new construction and down-payment assistance for low-income families hoping to buy a house. The need is great: Local housing experts say the supply of affordable rental units is expected to decline in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County over the next 20 years.
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