At the Los Angeles home of William Yancy and his wife, Alaine Wiley, this should be a time of celebration: Their oldest child, Alicia, a sharp 16-year-old, graduated from high school early and has earned a scholarship to Tuskegee University.
But Alicia headed off to college last month knowing her proud parents and four siblings might be headed for homelessness, all because Wiley failed to sign a form.
"I don't have nowhere to go but the streets," said Yancy, a former Marine who is disabled by Raynaud's phenomenon and scleroderma, and is blind in one eye. His family was removed from Section 8, a federal subsidized housing program for the poor, and is being evicted.
The Yancys, like others in Section 8 housing, are extremely poor. Nationwide, Section 8 serves about 2 million people. Under the program, members of a household contribute about 30% of their income to rent; the federal government pays the rest.
The failure of Wiley to sign the form put the family out of compliance with regulations of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said David Clark, acting director of Section 8 for the city's Housing Authority.
Yancy filled out and signed the recertification form, which requests income information. His wife also filled out the form but somehow neglected to sign it.
The family has lived in Section 8-supported housing for 10 years and survives on Yancy's Social Security income. Wiley is a stay-at-home mother, caring for Almaya, 2, Destiny, 6, William, 9, and Victoria, 14.
"They just sent a daughter to college," said Linda Williams of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, who is trying to help the family get reinstated in Section 8. "That speaks volumes for this family. They're trying to move to self-sufficiency. This is the type of family you want to help."
Clark said the Yancy case was "really heart-wrenching for our staff," but "we are a program that uses taxpayers' dollars ... and taxpayers expect we are going to abide by certain rules and regulations when we give that money out."
HUD regulations require officials to terminate the family's participation, Clark said.
"If they had signed the form when they had the window to do it, everything would be fine," Clark said. "It's not an entitlement program. They don't have a right to this just because they're low-income."
But HUD officials say the decision to drop the family rests with the local Housing Authority and is not mandated by HUD.
