Budget cuts to HUD operations help fuel a Fifty-four billion dollar spend on new military investments being planned by President Trump. Yeah, the money has to come from somewhere!
There is $6 billion to be taken from Dr. Ben Carson’s Housing and Urban Development department. HUD will have to find other sources of revenue or go without it.
The cut will affect HUD direct rental assistance payments including Section 8 Housing and housing vouchers for homeless veterans. Its going down by $300 million annually.
And the Washington Post reported there could be reductions in Section 202 elderly program money by 10%, Section 811 housing for people with disabilities by 20 percent and Native American housing support by 20 percent.
I think there must be an upside to all this.
Whether these low income housing budget cuts happen or not will be revealed shortly when President Trump releases his budget in the coming weeks.
There is also the idea that federal departments can sustain cuts like this without harming people they serve because of wasteful government spending.
But eliminating waste won’t be enough to cover the shortfall.
Adding to this cloud of uncertainty, a preliminary forecast put forth by the Association of Retired Persons are predicts that a 65 year old person with an annual income of $15,000 will have to pay $8,400 for insurance if Trump / Ryan get their way. Today that bill is less than $2,000 with Obamacare in place.
