Speaking at a luncheon at the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Summit in Washington, D. C., former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Henry Cisneros said the current affordable housing assistance programs only have funding for one out of four applicants. According to housingwire.com, he said: “In addition, we aren’t focusing on those in the most dire need of assistance. We focus in policy on helping those who are zero to 80% below area median wage, but in practice we ignore those 30% or more below median income, which is a real level of poverty and need. This can’t be sustained.” He adds, “In addition to prioritizing low-income housing assistance, we need to raise the housing tax credit by 50%, in the short term, so these people don’t fall back into poverty and homelessness.” MHProNews has learned independently Cisneros formulated policies as HUD secretary from 1993 to 1997 that led to the highest rate of home ownership in U. S. history. He is currently executive chairman of City View, overseeing multiple funds that focus on urban solutions. ##

(Photo credit: wikipedia.org–Henry Cisneros)