Commentary: Housing Opportunities Have Never Been Better Here, Unless You Happen to Be Poor| SAHA Boss Buffeted by HUD, Victoria Courts Story Reflects Changing Policy
Legal Services E-lert
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LSC-funded Bexar County (Tx.) Legal Aid Association Inc. Executive Director Brendan E. Gill criticizes the demolition of San Antonio’s oldest public housing projects, saying, "My biggest concern is the long list of people waiting for public housing." Since 1993, there has been a 25 percent decrease in the public housing units owned by the San Antonio Housing Authority. This demolition is part of a federal initiative to tear down public housing projects and place public housing residents in private housing through rental assistance and section 8 vouchers. Many landlords are unwilling to accept section 8 vouchers, making it difficult for people to find affordable housing. LSC-funded Legal Services of Eastern Missouri attorney Dan Glazier, writing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, similarly notes, "Contrary to other trends, this is not a ‘bullish’ time for a poor person seeking a decent place to live [in St. Louis]." He adds, "Every day our office gets countless calls from low-income people, many with small children, who have no choice but to live in squalid apartment conditions, sometimes without heat or running water, or are forced to double up with relatives in overcrowded units or to live on the streets or in shelters." Glazier notes that "the loss of ‘bricks and mortar’ low-income housing is a significant blow to housing availability for poor persons." Dan Glazier, Commentary: Housing Opportunities Have Never Been Better Here, Unless You Happen to Be Poor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 3, 2000 at B1; Jeanne Russell, SAHA Boss Buffeted by HUD, Victoria Courts Story Reflects Changing Policy, San Antonio Express-News, Dec. 3, 2000, at 1B.