More low-income people than ever are waiting in line for help paying their rent, including hundreds in Lewiston and Auburn, because of rising rents.
“I’d say demand for that kind of help is burgeoning, or accelerating,” said Richard Whiting, executive director of the Auburn Housing Authority. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a number like that before.”
The Auburn Housing Authority has a list of 626 people waiting for Section 8 Housing vouchers. That’s in addition to the 590 people already getting help under the federal program. “I wish we could say that it’s a supply and demand problem with housing units, but it has more to do with overall prices,” Whiting said.
His staff is getting ready to purge the list, sending letters to the people who are on it. If they don’t respond, their names will be removed. He hopes to reduce the list to about 320 names.
“It’s a little frustrating, because the names we remove are not necessarily people we’ve helped,” he said. “Besides, the list will be back where it was in a couple of months, but it’s the only way we can control the size.”
Demand is just as high across the river, even though the Lewiston Housing Authority handles the program differently.
That city keeps the waiting list for its 1,082 Section 8 vouchers closed for most of the year, said Executive Director Jim Dowling. Currently, there are about 500 names on it.
“We try to open it when we get down below 300 names on the list,” Dowling said. The last time that happened was in October 2005. The city opened the list for five days, received 500 applications for help and promptly closed it. Dowling doesn’t expect it to open again for another year.
“Poverty is the real cause,” he said. Everyone is paying more for groceries, fuel and heating oil – including landlords. They pass those costs along in the form of higher rents, and that’s just one more cost for renters.
Dowling said the Section 8 program works, but it takes time. “I’ve seen families on vouchers be able to get off in six to eight years,” he said. “It really helps people who are in the most dire circumstances and lets them get back on their feet over a period of years. They can get more education, get a better job and build a better life.”
But that means a slow turnover for people on the waiting list, he said.
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