Trump’s Continued Assault On The Poor, Explained

Last week, President Trump proposed a budget that, if approved by Congress, would essentially wipe out a large portion of government housing assistance (more commonly known as Section 8 housing) meant to serve those who are unhoused or housing insecure. 

Meanwhile, Trump continues to play fast and loose with tariffs, which the president refuses to acknowledge will increase prices on many common household items. And let’s not forget the blatant destruction of the Black middle class at the hands of the mercilessly ruthless Department of Government Efficiency run by Apartheid’s most famous son, Elon Musk. 

Because an oligarchy is not complete unless the poor are underserved, unemployed and unable to live in affordable housing. If approved as it’s presented, this latest budget would gut Section 8 housing, including a “$33.5 billion in proposed cuts to the Housing and Urban Development department, a 44% reduction from current levels,” news site Cal Matters reports. 

It’s important to understand that budgets are rarely approved as is and usually undergo several iterations before they’re passed through Congress, but this latest budget shows where the president’s interest lies. From tax cuts to the wealthy, to his manipulation of the stock market, to attacks on Black and brown federal workers disguised as the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Trump is waging an all-out war on those of us who are less fortunate. 

From The Nation:

The attacks are many-pronged. Rural development grants, food banks, and environmental protection measures have all been slashed in the name of “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs.” Planned Parenthood and other life-saving healthcare services for poor and marginalized communities have been defunded. Homelessness has been ever more intensely criminalized and Housing First policies vilified. The Department of Education, which has historically provided critical resources for low-income and disabled students, has been gutted, while the barbaric conditions in overcrowded immigrant detention centers have only worsened. Billions of dollars in funding for mental health and addiction services have been revoked. Worse yet, these and other mercenary actions may prove to be just the tip of the spear. Tariff wars and potential cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and SNAP could leave both the lives of the poor and the global economy in shambles.

If Trump’s budget is successful, it would destroy several decades of federal housing laws that were set in place to help millions of people who struggle with not only affordable but livable housing.

“By following through on such a huge level with so many proposals that are going to gut assistance to low-income people across the country, including his own party’s states, he’s putting his own members of Congress in a very difficult place,” Matt Schwartz, president of the California Housing Partnership, a nonprofit that champions the rights of the unhoused, told Cal Matters. “The level of carnage that would be involved in doing these things is probably going to send some Republican senators running for the exits.”

Thankfully, the plan is so egregious that some Republican members have already pushed back on the president’s proposal. 

Cal Matters notes that, “the largest single cut in federal housing policy would target the Housing Choice Voucher program. Better known as Section 8, it’s currently administered by the federal government and helps low-income tenants with their rental payments. The White House is proposing shifting responsibility for the administration of that program, which it calls “dysfunctional,” to states, while cutting its funding in half.”

And get this: The Trump administration would also want to place a two-year cap on those who receive assistance. While rent continues to rise and incomes remain stagnant, the proposal is a joke to those who have trouble finding work in this economy, but it also laughs at those who need assistance being able to rectify their circumstances in a laughable two-year time span. 

Not to mention, it would ruin the middle-class landlords who rent specifically to Section 8 families because the income is guaranteed from the federal government. 

That change is “completely out of touch with what people are facing in the housing market,” Alex Visotzky, senior California policy fellow at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, told Cal Matters.  

That isn’t all, Trump wants to cut four other housing voucher programs to save some $27 billion annually.

“You’d be looking at millions of people out on the street virtually overnight,” said Schwartz. “There’s no way states could maintain the same level of assistance.”

SEE ALSO:

Trump Wants To Pay Migrants To Self-Deport

Trump Claims He Won’t Run For President, Again (Probably Because He Can’t)

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