The Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) is considering revamping its
rules, which could allow violent felons to receive Section 8 housing
vouchers within 12 months of their release from prison. SHA says it’s
just trying to make housing available to people most in need, but
neighbors are concerned the change could further burden neighborhoods
already struggling with crime.
Under SHA’s current rules, there is a lengthy waiting period before
a person released from jail can apply for a Section 8 housing voucher.
Right now, a person convicted of murder must wait 20 years before even
applying for a voucher, whereas assault and burglary convictions have a
shorter two-year waiting period. SHA has proposed standardizing the
waiting period to 12 months, although sex offenders and people with
convictions for producing methamphetamines would be barred from
receiving housing vouchers.
Community activists in South Seattle—where the majority of
Seattle’s voucher housing is located—claim SHA provided little
notice of the proposed rule change, and are concerned about an influx
of chronically homeless and ex-convicts into their neighborhood.
Columbia City resident Ray Akers—who sits on the South Seattle
Crime Prevention Council—is outraged over SHA’s plan. Akers says
SHA and the city are only making problems in South Seattle worse by
injecting a larger population of low-income residents. “When did it
become okay to dump on one community?” he asks. “If this is such a
great idea, then let’s just take it and try it out in Queen Anne or
Magnolia first!”
Akers is a bit hyperbolic when talking about SHA’s proposal,
relating the possible introduction of chronically homeless and
convicted felons to the New Year’s Eve murder of Shannon
Harps—who was allegedly killed by a 48-year-old man receiving
state treatment for mental illness. “You’ve [already] got good programs
up and running taking care of all of these populations,” Akers says.
“Why experiment with people with criminal histories who weren’t
allowed?”
According to the director of the SHA Housing and Rental Assistance
Program, Lisa
Cipollone-Wolters, SHA’s new policy is designed to
better help implement proposals from King County’s Committee to End
Homelessness. “We’ve been hearing from housing providers of the need to
have greater access to our housing,” she says. “Right now, it’s a
20-year waiting period if someone’s 18 when [he or she] is convicted
[of homicide],” she says. “When they’re released after 20 years, they
wouldn’t be eligible for a voucher until they were 58.”
Cipollone-Wolters adds that SHA will still retain the right to deny
applications for any “habitual patterns” of behavior.
SHA is holding a community meeting on Thursday, March 20, at 6:30
p.m. at the Rainier Cultural Center to discuss the
policy change.
