[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 127 (Monday, September 27, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S11492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE VA/HUD APPROPRIATIONS BILL

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to express my support for the 
amendment offered last Friday by Senator Kerry to fund 50,000 new 
Section 8 vouchers. Had the Senate voted on this amendment, I would 
have voted in favor of it. I am pleased that Senator Mikulski and 
others have committed to work on this issue in conference.
  The Kerry amendment is particularly important to my home state in 
light of the current affordable housing crisis in California. Eleven of 
the twenty-five least affordable metropolitan areas are located in 
California. The homeownership rate is 47th among the 50 states. More 
than one-third of homeowners and one-half of renters pay more than 
thirty percent of their income for housing in California. On average, 
it takes more than three years to receive a Section 8 voucher in 
California. In Los Angeles, approximately 8,000 families are currently 
on the Section 8 waiting list and it can take as long as eight years to 
get a voucher. That is just too long for a family to wait for 
affordable housing.
  It is clear that in California, and indeed throughout the country, 
there is a definite need for further housing assistance.
  Section 8 housing assistance serves the poorest of the poor, persons 
with incomes averaging approximately $7,500 per year. Last year, 
Congress made available almost 100,000 new Section 8 vouchers. No new 
vouchers had been made available in the past five years. That was an 
important first step--but it is time to do more. In my own state of 
California, almost 13,000 families would receive Section 8 assistance 
under the Kerry amendment.
  Our economy is booming: unemployment is at historically low levels, 
nearly 18 million jobs have been created since 1993, and the inflation 
rate has averaged just 2.5 percent since 1993--the lowest rate since 
the Kennedy Administration.
  In these economic good times, however, the gap between rich and poor 
continues to grow. We must continue to assure that everyone in this 
country has affordable housing.
  I urge my colleagues on the conference committee to provide 
additional Section 8 vouchers to America's families in need of housing 
assistance.
  Mr. President, I also want to talk about the provision in this bill 
that would eliminate HUD's Community Builder program.
  Community Builders act as liaison between HUD and local governments 
and non-profit organizations. They help local authorities identify the 
programs in HUD that best serve the needs of their neighborhoods.
  Many experts have affirmed that HUD is becoming the model of 
reinvention. I believe that HUD's Community Builder program has been a 
key component of HUD's reinvention efforts.
  The Community Builder program is working. Ernst & Young's initial 
audit found that the Builders are knowledgeable about HUD programs, are 
making customer service more efficient, assisting communities, and 
using their expertise to make government work better. A similar survey 
by Andersen Consulting found that ``Community Builders have had a 
positive effect on the ability of [HUD] customers . . . to conduct 
business.''--and recommended an expansion of the Community Builder 
program to cover more communities. In addition, I have received 
numerous letters from elected officials and nonprofit organizations 
throughout California expressing support for the Community Builder 
program.
  Approximately twenty HUD offices would be forced to close if the 
Community Builder program were eliminated--including one in Fresno, 
California.
  I ask that my colleagues on the conference committee work together to 
find funding for this important program.

                          ____________________