After Scrutiny, Chicago Housing Authority Cuts Value Of ‘Super Vouchers’

After Scrutiny, Chicago Housing Authority Cuts Value Of ‘Super Vouchers’

By Michelle Manchir, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Chicago Housing Authority voucher recipients will no longer receive enough assistance to place them in the city’s most luxurious high-rise buildings under a new policy, the agency announced Sunday.

The policy targets “super vouchers” that allow low-income recipients to receive up to 300 percent of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent, which for the Chicago area is $826 for a one-bedroom apartment. The new limit will be 150 percent, according to the release.

The policy change comes barely a month after the agency came under scrutiny for its use of the vouchers to put families in apartments where rent can start at $2,300 a month. In July, Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock of Peoria called for an investigation to ensure the program is not wasting tax dollars.

Also last month, the Tribune reported that the CHA recently started expanding its voucher program again after five years, during which it steadily socked away hundreds of millions of dollars instead of spending the money to house the poor. In November, the CHA had a waiting list of more than 40,000 families for both vouchers and public housing, records show.

In a statement Sunday, the CHA said its new policy aims to “expand housing options for low-income families in a fiscally responsible way.”

The CHA said its “exception payments,” or the extra-funded vouchers, affect less than 2 percent of its overall voucher portfolio. Those vouchers aim to “provide CHA families the ability to choose where they want to live and enjoy the great diversity that Chicago communities have to offer.”

In a statement about the new policy Sunday, CHA Chief Executive Michael Merchant said “we believe adjusting the policy strikes a critical balance between providing housing options for voucher participants and fiscal responsibility.”

The new policy will affect about 260 families, the CHA said, and all of them will have a least one year to move.

AFP Photo/Scott Olson

Interested in national news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

Trump at Trump Tower

Former President Donald Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to post a bond to cover a $454 million civil fraud judgment or face the risk of New York state seizing some of his marquee properties.Trump, seeking to regain the presidency this year, must either pay the money out of his own pocket or post a bond while he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron's February 16 judgment against him for manipulating his net worth and his family real estate company's property values to dupe lenders and insurers.

Keep reading...Show less
Chuck Todd

Chuck Todd

Two days after NBC News' Friday, March 22 announcement that former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel had been hired by the network as a political analyst, NBC's Meet the Press host Kristen Welker interviewed the ex-GOP leader Sunday, grilling McDaniel about past statements she's made disregarding the 2020 presidential election results.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}