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PHILADELPHIA – PHA, which has earned a reputation for rebuilding distressed neighborhoods for its low-income clients and creating wealth for middle class homeowners, says severe funding cuts from the Bush administration have left the agency no choice but to lay off 22% of its workforce.
The approximately 350 workers were given layoff notices today. PHA Executive Director Carl Greene said the cuts are painful. “The cuts are deep, and they hurt. They hurt our employees, both those being let go and those who remain. They hurt our customers. And they hurt our customers’ neighbors,” he said.
PHA estimates that the cuts will save the agency about $24 million a year in wages and benefits, erasing a large portion of a projected $32 million shortfall. PHA will also realize savings by reducing the size of its vehicle fleet and will soon announce other plans for further cost savings as well as sales of property.
Director Greene said this cutback should not have happened. “PHA is an agency that has earned a reputation for efficiency. We have gone from 2,500 employees in 2000 to 1,600 employees today, and we did that as we increased our resident population by 68%,” he said.
PHA receives virtually all of its revenue from the federal government to provide housing to low-income families, the disabled and the elderly. Households pay slightly less than 30% of their income in rent. PHA has also built hundreds of houses for sale to middle-income families.
Newark, NJ, housing authority Executive Director Keith Kinard and Jersey City’s housing chief Maria Maio, both of whom recently enacted major lay-offs, stood with Greene and emphasized the fact that this is a national crisis for public housing brought on by deliberate under-funding by the Bush administration. Maio has said the repeated cuts have left housing authorities choosing “between plumbers and police.”
The PHA’s Greene said one man has the power to stop the bleeding. “I urge President Bush to reverse course and come up with a new strategy for affordable housing. Stop the cut-and-run policy and restore the value held by most Americans of helping the vulnerable among us,” Greene said.
PHA has set up a one-stop employment counseling and outplacement service for the laid-off workers. The agency credits these men and women with helping build a successful agency and believes they deserve the dignity and respect they have earned.
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