PIERRE, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) South Dakota’s congressional delegation, Congressman Dusty Johnson along with US Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds, have sent a letter to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Adrianne Todman requesting a waiver in HUD policy.
The South Dakota delegation is concerned because since the passage of the Housing Opportunity Modernization Act a number of tenants in low rent housing units have been subject to eviction, even though they have qualified for many of the previous years for rent subsided housing. Thune, Johnson and Rounds say this policy can lead unnecessarily to a rise in homelessness. They also point out that in South Dakota, many people in rent subsidized housing are elderly with nowhere else to go.
The South Dakota delegation have asked HUD for a waiver of their current policy for rural communities with 5000 or less population where housing alternatives are few and far between, if they are available at all. So far, there has been no response from the department of Housing and Urban Development.