CLEVELAND, Ohio — I have a visceral reaction when I read news like this.
The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority has urgently requested that landlords freeze rents in a desperate measure to buy time, while Washington starves the federal Housing Choice Voucher program, known to some as Section 8, of the dollars it needs to function.
Inflation has driven up the cost of everything — food, gas, utilities — and rent is no exception. Landlords aren’t villains here. They’re facing higher property taxes, insurance premiums and maintenance costs. But when those increases collide with stagnant federal support, the people caught in the middle are families, seniors and those with disabilities, who live one rent check away from losing their homes…