policy-corrections FOR MATHGUY18 ONLY
firework
graded_policy_3043.docx8
SECTION 8
· Running head: not formatted correctly / must use Times New Roman font, size 12
Dominique, you have a lot of the information required for this paper, however, it is scattered, redundant and poorly written. I started to grade your paper but the sentence structure is not sufficient for grading and you have many grammatical errors. You also need to cite your sources more frequently. Your References page is not formatted correctly and you have not used enough scholarly, peer reviewed sources.
Unfortunately, if I grade your paper today, you would not receive a passing grade on it. I am giving you one week to make the corrections. If you are able to do so (and I hope you will visit the writing lab and possibly solicit the help of a writing tutor) then I will give you a grade on this paper. Remember however, that the following week you will need to add the 3 or four responses for your second paper, which I will grade in week 8. Your second paper is due the 24-hours before the week 8 class.
If you are unable to make the corrections by next Sunday, unfortunately you will only receive the points below. I suggest that you make several appointments with the writing lab for the remainder of the semester to ensure that your papers are up to the writing standards of a master’s level program. If you need to schedule an office visit with me, please do so on Monday or Tuesday.
Housing Voucher Program
Simmons College
Dominique L. Swayze
February 18, 2017
The Problem of Housing in America
The issue of housing is a very contentious one in the United States (cite). The housing voucher program is a matter blown out of proportion during the time of the great depression. The Housing Voucher Program did not exist during the Great Depression. The tough economic times that accompanied this duration of time saw a lot of people lose lost their homes during this tough economic time. Thus, the policy is known as Section 8. This policy would then morph into the Housing Voucher Program as it is known today. You must provide a history of what happened between the Great Depression and the development of the Housing Choice Voucher program. However, you must also move this discussion to the appropriate paragraph – this paragraph should be only talking about the problems associated with housing in America. Describe the problem, who is impacted, how many people were impacted over time, etc. Move the remainder of your discussion about the policy to a section labeled ‘Introduction of Housing Policies’ or something like this. Under this heading, write about housing in the US from the Depression until now –What policies were created (chronologically) and by whom? Finally, you will end your paper with a description of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program….what it is, when it was created, for whom, and what are its goals. You will then need to discuss the policy’s funding and administration. If you have these responses in this paper, they need to reorganized under the appropriate headings so they make sense to the reader. The main aim of the program is to help people in the United States pay for housing.This is not correct; everyone in the US is paying for housing and the program is not for everyone. There ae eligibility guidelines and they are very specific. The program targets individuals who cannot afford to pay for accommodation in the private residential sector and helps them find homes in this area and also helps them to offset the payments for the housing in question there are many more requirements than not being able to afford market-rate rent…most people might say they cannot afford the rent …you must be very specific and your information must be accurate. (McCarty, 2007).
Before the great depression, the issue of federal assistance on housing was very rare, to say the least.there was no federal housing program at this time However, the historical events that accompanied this duration of time made such an exercise entirely necessary. Thus, before the Section 8 program was initiated the federal government launched the housing assistance program. Later this program evolved to include a subsidy program which increased the production of housing for low-income families. However, it is important to note that with the support program the affected people had little choice on their actual house. The selection of the homes in question was an exclusive reserve of the housing authorities tasked with the dispensation of the subsidy program. The program led to a lot of dissatisfaction among the affected people. As a result of this dissatisfaction, the subsidy program was formed into the voucher program that is in place today. You will need to create an outline. Under each heading, you will need to discuss only the things that pertain to the heading and these must be in a logical, sequential order so that you are not jumping back and forth from the Depression era to today.
The primary beneficiaries of the program are low-income families. Due to their low income, they may find it tough to pay the rent that is required on their houses. As such, the program steps in and helps them with this payment. However, financial status is not the only criterion that needs to be met to qualify for this program. There are also other population spectrums covered under the paradigms of this program. Examples include seniors as well as persons living with disabilities this is not a complete sentence…(McCarty, 2007). Thus, the aim of the program is to help needy families, people living with disabilities and the elderly in finding decent and sanitary housing in the private market. The participants of the program are allowed to find their housing units as long as these homes are in line with the requirements outlined by the program. However, it is also important to note that once the beneficiaries have found the housing unit of their choice the owner of the property has to agree to payment of the rent under the program.
The Agency that Administers the Program
The agencies tasked with the administration of the Housing Voucher Program are the Public Housing Agencies commonly abbreviated as PHAs. These are agencies which are available at the state level and are tasked with the administration of the program. The beneficiaries of this program usually receive a voucher. Once an individual receives a voucher, they have a total of 60 days to find suitable housing. However, they may use this voucher for their current housing unit or find a new housing unit provided that the group in question is in line with the provisions of the program. As such, the voucher usually caters for up to 70% of the rent utilities needed by the beneficiaries. The remaining 30% has to be catered for by the recipients themselves from their pocket. As such, in most cases, the recipients are expected to provide for rent and utilities summing up to at least $50. The voucher covers the rest of the payments. However, there is a limit to the degree of coverage that can be received under the voucher program. This limit is called the payment standard and outlines the maximum amount of coverage that each beneficiary is likely to receive under the voucher program. The housing agency usually sets this specification after taking into account some factors such as the prevailing economic conditions and the general renting rates in different parts of the country (The United States, 2011).
Another important issue in the administration of the policy is legibility for the vouchers. It is important to note that this is a program which is an exclusive reserve of American citizens. However, there are some extenuating circumstances in which non-citizens might qualify for benefits under the program. In such an instance the immigration status of the applicant has to be in line with all the legal provisions in the United States. However, cases of immigrants being beneficiaries of the program are very limited. This means that the citizenship status of an applicant is a huge prerequisite to getting the benefits from the program. The laws are structured in a manner such that there are provisions for an immigrant to profit from this program yet these regulations are very hard to realize. The associated hurdles with this program have made the number of immigrants seeking to benefit from it very little. Instead, citizens are the ones who mostly apply for benefits under the program since their path to the benefits is streamlined.
Funding
The federal government mainly funds the Housing Voucher Program. The implication here is that the federal taxes paid by the American citizens are integral to the sustenance of the program. These funds are channeled through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (cite). From this department, these funds find their way to the concerned Public Housing Agencies. It is these agencies that then funnel this money to the citizens in the form of vouchers. The number of vouchers given to each organization in a given year is usually a derivative of the number of vouchers used by the office in question in the previous year (The United States, 2011).
To understand the gravity of the program and its social relevance, it is important to gain a perspective on the issue of homelessness in the United States. Current statistics are that on any given night there are about 564,000 people experiencing homelessness in the United States. Out of this demographic, about 6.4% happen to be children. Out of the same demographic about 8.3% are veterans who have served the United States in the military in foreign countries and about 48% classified as either being disabled or unable to work or both (Gillard, 2012). These numbers are very instrumental in outlining the undertone of the Housing Voucher Program. The fact that there are so many people experiencing homelessness in the United States on each given night and the fact that most of them are helpless in their current situation clearly shows the relevance of the program. Thus, this program is very instrumental in bringing about a sense of relief to these people who are in desperate need of it. The current status of the program is that it has about 4.8 million beneficiaries across the United States who can now afford decent housing as a result of the program.
Evolution of the Policy
The Housing Voucher Policy in its current state can be traced back to section eight of the Housing Act of 1937. The housing assistance programs started in the United States during the period of the great depression. This was a period when economic conditions were hard, and the government put in place measures to help people afford a decent sense of housing. However, in the 1960s the federal government formulated the subsidy program to help in the creation of low-income housing and help low-income families to afford their rent. The predecessor of the current program was an amendment in the year 1965 of section 236 of the Leased Housing Program of the greater U.S. Housing Act. This subsidy program has evolved into the voucher program that is currently being employed in the country (Oregon, 2016).
References
Gillard, A. (2012). Homelessness. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
McCarty, M. (2007). Section 8 housing choice voucher program: Issues and reform proposals in the 110th Congress. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Oregon. (2016). Housing Choice Landlord Guarantee Program.
The United States. (2011). Housing choice: Voucher program guidebook. Washington, DC: The Office.
