Honorable Diane Feinstein
One Post Street, Suite 2450
San Francisco, California 94104

August 3, 2006

Dear Senator,

I am writing on behalf of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco to urge your support for a budget supplemental that would make up for this year’s $600 million shortfall in public housing operating funds.  In June, HUD notified public housing authorities that due to increased utility costs, they will only receive a pro-rated amount of 85.5% of the need for operating costs in 2006.  Additionally, if more money is not allocated for 2007, the pro-ration is anticipated to be even lower, at 78%.  

These shortfalls will have dire consequences for San Francisco’s 6,000 public housing households, over half of whom are senior and disabled.  The San Francisco Housing Authority will lose $7 (a 24% cut) million dollars in 2006 alone.  This will mean cuts to valuable services, such as security, and an increasing backlog of repair needs and vacant units.  

Nationally, public housing funding has declined by $1 billion since 2001.  If Congress does not act aggressively, continuing budget cuts could lead to shuttering of properties and displacement of the poor from the very housing programs that were developed to serve them.  

This is why we urge you to take action to ensure that Congress enact an FY06 operating fund supplemental of $600 million, which would allow housing authorities to receive 100% of operating costs. Also, Congress must adjust upwards the President’s 2007 request for operating funds to $4.5 billion so that devastating funding shortfalls are not faced again next year.  

In the next month, hundreds of San Francisco’s public housing residents will be contacting you for your help in this matter.  We hope you will take their urgent concerns seriously.  

I will also be contacting your office to arrange for a meeting with tenants and community organizations to provide you with more information about how you can ensure that San Francisco’s public housing is preserved.  I wholeheartedly thank you for your support on this extremely pressing matter.

Sincerely,

Sara Shortt
Director,
Subsidized Housing Programs