Davis calls for rent vouchers for rural low income families
By Jason Green
Columbia Daily Herald Washington Bureau
November 7, 2007

WASHINGTON — A bill introduced by Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., would give rent vouchers to families living in subsidized rural housing to enable them to stay in their homes or to cushion the blow if they are forced to leave.

Davis said the vouchers would ensure that senior citizens and low-income families, usually making less than $10,000 a year, would not spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent.

“We are seeing people moved out of homes that they have lived in for 10 to twenty years, where there may not be low-income homes available,” Davis said in a telephone news conference on Tuesday.

“As a congressman, I can’t in good conscience let that happen,” he said.

If passed, the bill would supplement provisions in the Housing Act of 1949.

The act allows developers to build rural housing, using a 30-year federal loan. It also offers tax credits as an incentive to build.

But as loans are paid off, or pre-paid, then developers are free to increase rents.

In Maury County there are 59 subsidized housing units in four different housing projects — Elmwood Apartments, Mt. Pleasant Village Apartments, Willowbend Apartments and Spring Hill Village.

Davis said there are a total of 97 projects that shelter 1,617 households in Tennessee’s fourth congressional district.

“This is one of the most important things I can do to make sure that these homes are occupied or if residents are forced out, that they have a place to go,” he said.

Davis introduced his bill on Oct. 30. He has one co-sponsor, Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky.

Municipalities with more than 10,000 residents — like Columbia — are not eligible for the rural housing program, falling under other federal housing programs.

By covering some of the rent increases the bill also aims to allow for a “revitalizing” of existing housing without building new housing, Davis said.

Because Congress adjourns this month, Davis said the bill would likely not be heard in the House until spring.