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DuBois-Walton: Aiding Project Longevity.
Alleged gang-bangers rounded up in the city’s new anti-gun violence initiative have a new incentive to stay straight — a chance to jump the 1,000-person waiting list for subsidized housing.
That’s because the housing authority board has voted to set aside 20 new subsidized Section 8 vouchers for people caught up in the city’s new crime-fighting initiative, Project Longevity. Under Project Longevity, the police call groups of alleged gang members in to a meeting and warn them to stop shooting — or feel the wrath of law enforcement. Cops vow to arrest everyone possible in the group, whether for violation of parole or probation, owing money to the IRS, or even violating a housing authority lease. They also offer the gangbangers carrots like extra help with job-training, job-seeking, education.
The housing authority board vote last Tuesday introduced a carrot to complement the stick. By a unanimous vote, four commissioners agreed to start opening doors to gang members who would otherwise be barred from public housing.
Housing authority rules currently pose barriers to people with criminal records: Applicants who have committed a misdemeanor offense in the past three years, or a felony in the past 10 years, are not eligible for public housing.
The board voted to ease those regulations for up to 20 gang members taking part in Project Longevity. Applicants will be screened by the prison reentry initiative at City Hall, according to Karen DuBois-Walton, the housing authority’s executive director.
DuBois-Walton said there are three crimes the housing authority cannot overlook. Federal guidelines bar lifetime sex offenders and people convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine in public housing from accepting publicly subsidized housing. And the city’s housing authority won’t accept anyone convicted of arson. In cases where people were convicted of other crimes, the federal Office of Housing and Urban Development has recommended local housing authorities launch new efforts to help them return from prison.
New Haven had already begun to do so. It freed up 12 spots in public housing complexes for people returning from prison, letting them jump long waiting lists. Since the program launched in 2010, two people have been evicted, DuBois-Walton said.
The 20 new spots approved Tuesday would be covered by Section 8 vouchers, not apartments in public housing complexes. The housing authority has leased out 3,300 Section 8 vouchers, which subsidize low-income tenants’ rent in qualifying privately owned housing. DuBois-Walton over 1,000 families are currently waiting for those spots. The city housing authority is now going to open up 20 spots just for people in Project Longevity, DuBois-Walton said. If those people didn’t get on the expedited waiting list, “they would be at the back of the line.”
DuBois-Walton said in opening up a new waiting list for ex-offenders, the housing authority aims to balance the needs of special interests with the needs of the general population. The housing adds to an array of supports the city aims to offer people in Project Longevity in exchange for agreeing to lay down their guns. The aim is to break the cycle of recidivism, reduce gun violence, and save lives.
About 100 prisoners return to New Haven every month, according to the city.
Reached after the meeting, Amy Eppler-Epstein, a lawyer who addresses housing needs for New Haven legal aid, said she supports the latest authority decision to open up the slots.
“I have seen the housing authority set aside a small but notable number of apartments for a variety of programs and policy reasons over the years that are all really trying to address important needs in our community,” she said. Examples include victims of domestic violence and foreclosure.
“While I understand that there is a long waiting list and I know how desperate that need is, I personally think it’s really great that they are trying to be a proactive participant in our community in solving some of the pressing problems that we see.”
Also at last week’s meeting, the housing board voted to open up 12 Section 8 vouchers for families involved in the state Department of Children and Families reunification program. These are families in two situations, DuBois-Walton said: Either DCF took the children out of the guardians’ custody and aims to reunite the family; or the family risks being split up due to an urgent housing need. In either case, the vouchers would make the difference between kids getting sent to foster care or staying with their family.
Besides these two new waiting lists, the city housing authority also offers special waiting lists to some project-based Section 8 housing complexes, including supportive housing, DuBois-Walton said.
The item passed with little discussion at the housing commissioner’s regular meeting Tuesday.
Oroviding the social services that are required when disadvantaged people can't find good quality housing is generally many times more expensive to the State than just providing the housing is.
However, the City of New Haven can not be responsible for all of the costs in the State of Connecticut. This must be done at a regional and state level. What are the Section 8 policies like in surrounding towns?
Can the courts become more involved, as they have been in Westchester?