Dearborn Section 8 Housing Applicants Outnumber Vouchers 10 to 1

Brian Bayley, the deputy housing director at the Dearborn Housing Commission, has managed public housing programs for 22 years–and this recession, he said, has been a brutal lesson in supply and demand.

“We have so many people on the waiting list for Section 8 right now that there’s the possibility that the people on it will never receive a voucher–at least not from us,” said Bayley. “And we have no plans to re-open the list anytime soon.”

Call it a sign of the times, and a tragic one, at that. As the recession clamped down on southeast Michigan, foreclosures skyrocketed amid jobs losses. This, in return, caused residents who once would not have needed, or been eligible, for public housing assistance to seek help.

Need Outweighs Availability in Dearborn

As it stands, Dearborn’s Section 8 voucher list has 1,233 names on it–all people hoping to secure 96 available rental vouchers.

Section 8, a portable voucher system that allows qualifying residents to rent from a landlord willing to accept a voucher, is only one piece of Dearborn’s public housing system.

The housing authority oversees traditional project based apartments, and also manages four low-cost senior apartment facilities–two of which are subsidized, and two which are not.

Section 8 vouchers are particularly in demand. However, because only 12 vouchers turn over in a given year, receiving housing assistance can be likened to winning the lottery.

Bayley pointed out that the Section 8 numbers versus the availability are perhaps higher than the real need because residents can put their names on waiting lists in many cities, as well as the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, which administers thousands of vouchers.

But, he conceded that in these times, the demand is significantly higher than supply.

Not Just a Dearborn Problem

Public housing programs are managed locally through several housing authorities, but are overseen at a federal level by U.S. Housing and Urban Development.

Under the Section 8 law, two of the most prevalent programs include “project-based” public housing, where large complexes are subsidized by federal dollars, and a decentralized, “tenant-based” voucher system, which allows a recipient to take a voucher to a pre-approved landlord that will accept voucher payments.

But these programs, amid federal budget constraints, are not likely to be funded at the levels to accommodate everyone on a waiting list, and according to Bayley, the administration funds that are paid to authorities to administer programs are not likely to be funded at 100 percent.

This can be problematic because if an applicant can secure a voucher–even from MSCHDA–the city where they want to move has to have the money to administer the voucher. That’s money Dearborn doesn’t have right now, said Bayley.

In Dearborn, many calls enquiring about getting on the list are fielded every day, Bayley said.

“I can’t say how many calls we get in a day, but it’s a lot, and it’s more than we got 10 or five years ago,” he said.

Changes Reduced Units

The move away from big public housing complexes, or project-based housing, in favor of Section 8 vouchers has created a dearth of subsidized units in several cities throughout the United States.

Jim Schaafsma, and attorney for the Michigan Poverty Law Center, said the number of public housing units has declined, but never before have resources been so dwarfed by demand.

“The amount of publicly-subsidized housing that we have doesn’t even come close to meeting the demands we have right now,” he said.

Dearborn’s program is not especially large, and though it could apply for more Section 8 vouchers, the skeleton crew that oversees subsidized housing would be hard-pressed to be able to handle the influx.

“The program is labor-intensive,” he said. “There are inspections that must be performed and other work, and we don’t have the staff.”

And in Bayley’s experience, there always seems to be names on a waiting list, even in the best of times.

“We are always going to have poor people who seek help,” he said. “That’s never going to change.”