Bush Budget Bungling Burdens Nashville Neighborhoods

Get ready for public housing properties in or near your neighborhood to start looking more run down and to harbor more criminal behavior. BudgetBlog warns us that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a $600 million shortfall in money it needs to fund public housing nationwide. Besides the MDHA staff cuts already locally publicized, cuts to security, maintenance, and repairs are expected. On top of that, the Bush Administration is going to control federal spending by delaying federal payments until October, when they will count toward a different fiscal year. Will that kind of financial irresponsibility lead to even larger HUD shortfalls and bigger neighborhood problems next year?