Low-Income Residents in SLO County Lose Housing Rebate

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Nick Wilson
The Tribune

More than 3,000 low-income senior citizens and disabled residents in San Luis Obispo County who rent or own homes will not get a rebate this winter because of a line-item veto by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The San Francisco-based nonprofit Tenants Together has led lobbying efforts against the governor's September veto, which takes away a state housing rebate program that's four decades old.

On average, the program paid $316 per household.

More than 1,000 senior renters and more than 1,000 senior homeowners in the county received the rebate last year, according to Tenants Together. In addition, 971 disabled renters and 47 disabled homeowners in the county received the payment last year.

A San Luis Obispo woman who has helped seniors file paperwork for the rebate supported protests organized by the nonprofit group that occurred recently in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.

"This money has traditionally come toward the end of the year, and often people use it for Christmas presents for their grandkids or new shoes," said Angie King of San Luis Obispo. "I don't like the whole idea of balancing the budget on the backs of the poor."

The qualifications for the rebate included being 62 or older, earning a total income of $44,096 or less, or being blind or disabled.

The program provided about $191 million in funding each year, according to Dean Preston, Tenants Together executive director. About $41 million was for qualifying homeowners and $150 million for renters, according to the state Department of Finance.

The governor vetoed the funding in order to allocate it toward an under-funded budget reserve that's used for unforeseen circumstances, such as fires, said H.D. Palmer, Schwarzenegger's finance spokesman.

"This is one of many difficult decisions that the governor has had to make," Palmer said. "But it was because of a paper-thin budget reserve of about $800 million that's relative to a general fund of $103 billion, which was less than 1 percent."

Palmer said the governor decided on line-item vetoes that totaled $510 million, which included the property tax assistance program. He said homeowners who are seniors and earn less than $35,500 might qualify for a different program that defers state taxes until a transfer of ownership.

Preston said many people had applied for the rebate in the summer and already factored anticipated checks into their budgets. Typically they would receive checks in October or November, Preston said.

Last year, 467,000 renter households statewide received payments under the program and, of those, 183,482 were for individuals who were disabled or blind. Despite the shortfall in the reserve, officials from Tenants Together believe that the cuts were uncalled for.

"These funds are among the last funds that should be cut," Preston said. "The governor has exercised his discretion to cut certain things and not cut other things. The people who received these rebates are the folks struggling the most."

Preston said his organization is encouraging people to contact Schwarzenegger and legislators and to sign a petition on its Web site to get funding restored.

He also hopes the state Legislature will override Schwarzenegger's veto with a two-thirds vote.

"But the first step is gaining public awareness," Preston said.

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