OFFICIAL QUESTIONS PUBLIC HOUSING NEED

Cape Girardeau is the largest city in Missouri without public housing, something some residents are proud of. But others want change.

The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has successfully lobbied the city council to study housing needs for low-income residents and consider authorizing the mayor to appoint a housing authority.

The council next month will appoint a Housing Task Force to further study the matter.

But William Tucker, housing director for the East Missouri Action Agency (EMAA) in Flat River, believes public housing here is unnecessary.

The EMAA administers a voucher and certificate program funded by the federal department of Housing and Urban Development. The program provides rent subsidies for persons meeting federal income guidelines.

Those who qualify for the "Section 8" program pay 30 percent of their household income for rent. The remainder of the rent is subsidized by HUD.

Tucker said the voucher and certificate programs are a better way to assist the city's poor than is construction of public housing.

"I'm a fan of the Section 8 voucher and certificate program, which lets the private contractors and landlords do the construction," Tucker said. "It's cheaper, and it makes management of the property the responsibility of the property owner, the landlord.

"Also, the program is portable, which means they can take the voucher and live where they want to live."

But city officials and renters report that some low-income tenants in Cape Girardeau are forced to live in squalid conditions because it's often the only affordable housing they're able to find.

The HUD "Section 8" program provides rent subsidies to 315 families in Cape Girardeau. Public housing proponents say that's not enough. More than 300 additional families meet the HUD income guidelines and are on a waiting list to receive the vouchers.

Michael Sterling, president of the local NAACP, this month told the city council that the waiting list indicates a shortage of available units for low-income families.

But the waiting list for the program means only that there isn't HUD funding for additional vouchers.

Tucker said there is a housing shortage in parts of the city, but the vouchers and certificates can be used anywhere.

He said that a shortage of low-rent housing or units in disrepair in the south part of the city, doesn't mean needy families aren't receiving housing assistance. "There is a lot of HUD housing in the west and north ends of town," Tucker said.

He said the voucher program gives qualified families 60 days to find suitable housing. "Very rarely, unless they have a history of bad rental, do they not have a place within that 60 days," he said.

And yet Tucker conceded the city needs more rental properties for low-income families.

"If we had the funding to certify families, which there's a shortage across the United States, there still is a limited number of affordable housing units available," he said. "That is the problem."

Realtors in the area also report there's limited rental property available in Cape Girardeau for families at any income level.

But is public housing the answer to a perceived shortage in affordable housing? "I'm not a big fan of public housing," said Tucker.

He said there's "no question" the waiting list of families who qualify for housing assistance would grow if the city built public housing.

He said some low-income families from neighboring counties and Southern Illinois likely would move to Cape Girardeau seeking inexpensive housing.

Tucker said he's worked with communities in which public housing was successful. Unfortunately, he said, those cities were the exception.

"The key to public housing is good, solid management, whether it's an executive director or a management-type system," he said. "They're under the false impression that these families being mistreated by landlords, that public housing is going to take care of all their problems. But they're going to have the same problems with public housing.

"It's a business just like with private owners. And with a public housing authority you're in the business of insuring that property, maintaining it, and making sure rent is paid on time."

Al Stoverink, Cape Girardeau's assistant city manager, said no one has a clear grasp of the extent of the need for additional housing assistance.

"The basic question is, to what extent are people's needs for safe and sanitary housing being met?" Stoverink said. "It's just not an easy answer."

Stoverink said there could be advantages to a housing authority, and that appointment of that body wouldn't require the construction of public housing.

"What we have now is almost 400 vouchers being administered by EMAA from Flat River," he said. "From one standpoint it seems to make sense to have that kind of program run by a local board that's closer to that situation."

Stoverink said a local housing authority would be more accountable to the public than are private property owners accepting HUD funds.

He said: "I think you'd see close public scrutiny of what's happening and more accountability than you do in the current situation, where an individual owns an old house out here, has someone in there with a HUD voucher renting it, and he's virtually guaranteed to get his rent. What incentive does he have to do anything to maintain or improve the house?"