4 BEDROOMS?:

US plans to slash many rent vouchers (Scott S. Greenberger, September 1, 2004, Boston Globe)

The federal government is poised to dramatically reduce the value of publicly-funded housing vouchers in Boston and other Massachusetts cities, a move that would force many low-income families out of their apartments and might prompt some landlords to withdraw from the program.

In a state already starved for affordable housing, the prospect of federal payments dropping by as much as a third has united housing advocates, landlords, and city and state officials, all of whom are planning to petition the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to scrap the change. In Boston alone, there are 9,000 households using the federal vouchers to pay part of their rent.

"This is the most significant change in rent levels we've seen in 30 years," said Aaron Gornstein, executive director of the Citzens' Housing and Planning Association, a Boston-based advocacy group. "It seems like an arcane technical change, but it actually has very serious implications for the program." [...]

The agency determines average rents in each of 19 districts and comes up with voucher rates for each. The system groups high-rent cities such as Boston with neighboring cities like Cambridge and Newton, where expensive rents have kept voucher values high. But under the proposed changes, set to go into effect Oct. 1 across New England, Boston would be grouped with lower-rent cities such as Revere and Quincy, bringing the rates down.

Voucher values for a two-bedroom apartment in Boston would drop 15 percent, from $1,409 to $1,203; vouchers for four-bedroom apartments would plunge 27 percent, from $2,084 to $1,516.