Roanoke residents could lose their government-subsidized housing, and plans for new affordable apartments could be halted by proposed federal funding cuts, city officials said Monday.
President Donald Trump proposed a federal budget last week that, if passed, would cause Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority to lose significant funding, said Executive Director David Bustamante. He spoke during a meeting with the city council on Monday.
“It’s almost cutting our budget in half,” Bustamante said. “The president’s budget cuts our public housing and tenant-based rental assistance, which is the Section 8 program, by 43%.”
The city housing authority owns and manages more than 1,200 units across eight public housing developments, Bustamante said. The authority also administers more than 2,000 housing choice vouchers through the federal Section 8 program.
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“If these cuts were to happen, the issue is not only that they will lose their housing. The impact on the Roanoke community is going to be great,” Bustamante said. “As far as homelessness, child care, schools. We will need to have a lot more of these meetings with a lot more of these providers at the table if these cuts do come through.”
During his first presidential term, a similar Trump budget proposal was thwarted by Congress, Bustamante said. He said he has heard a lot of anxiety from other organizations he works alongside.
“The individuals that we serve are poor, but they’re people,” Bustamante said. “This attack on poor people, it shouldn’t be that way. The attack should be on poverty, not poor people.”
In the current fiscal year, the city housing authority received federal funds including $6.6 million for public housing, $18 million for Section 8 and about $4.2 million for capital improvements, Bustamante said in an email Monday.
Mayor Joe Cobb said he hopes Congress will hold the line. Several members of the city council and housing authority board said people should write letters to their representatives.
“This administration is clearly focused on the most vulnerable, and eliminating the safety net,” Cobb said. “Which creates significant problems, not only for people who are affected directly because of that safety net, but for all localities.”
Vice Mayor Terry McGuire said “the impacts of what you’re describing, if there were such cuts, would be tremendous.”
Councilwoman Evelyn Powers and members of the housing authority board emphasized the snowball effect that reduced housing funds would cause on nonprofits and other entities in the city.
“Right down to our hospitals,” Powers said. “People won’t be able to afford care.”
Councilman Phazhon Nash asked what impact the cuts could have on the housing authority’s plan to create 86 new affordable units at Old Spanish Trail Northwest. Funds are applied for, with a goal to start construction on the $27 million project by fall 2026, staff said.
“What’s the likelihood of the budget to derail that project and bring it to a standstill?” Nash said.
Bustamante said conversations are happening, but it’s too soon to make decisions.
“We have put in a lot of work to develop these 86 units,” Bustamante said. “If our funding is cut by 40-50%, I don’t think it would be very responsible for us to incur a $27 million debt.”
In response to a question by Councilman Peter Volosin, Bustamante said the housing authority has a wait list of about 4,000 people. Housing authority chair Drew Kepley said the 86-unit project would take a small bite out of that wait list, but a bite nonetheless.
“The need we have is tremendous,” Kepley said. “The specter of these budget cuts taking down some of these projects we’re contemplating is really hard to fathom.”
