Housing Authority Faces Major Federal Funding Cuts

Federal funding is already stretched thin when it comes to Pennsylvania's housing authorities. Montgomery County is no different. Still feeling the hurt from the county's Housing Authority is now reviewing what to do with even less.

According to Herald-Mail.com, the state is facing deeper cuts to federal funds, "prompting them to shed employees, cut back rent vouchers or put off repairs to housing they own," according to the report.

"The cuts leave some housing authorities without enough money to meet existing lease agreements with private landlords, although HUD has suggested that it will cover those deficits, said Joel Johnson, executive director of the Montgomery County Housing Authority, which is among those authorities facing that dilemma," said the report.

As Patch reported February, the Montgomery Counth Housing Authority operates in 57 municipalities in the county, and have 2,600 active leases, serving that many households with support.

"These are families with children, elderly, disabled," Johnson told Patch.

According to Herald-Mail.com, "Montgomery County’s housing authority is tapping reserves, leaving about 15 percent of its staff positions unfilled, reducing hours and putting off things like replacing light bulbs in the units it owns."

"We won’t be responding to the low priorities as fast because our staff is already stretched thin," Johnson told Herald-Mail.

The county’s housing authority operates seven locations in the county, with 615 total public housing units.

“A cut would be on the operating subsidy, the money we get to operate the building,” said Johnson. “We have no plans on closing any [of the housing locations], we’d scale back some services.”