See below for the
latest impact of Sequestration cuts on housing programs
(New Orleans - More
than 700 people are losing Section 8 vouchers)
HANO Withdraws
Hundreds Of Section 8 Housing Vouchers
Darian Trotter -
March 22, 2013
http://wgno.com/2013/03/22/hano-withdraws-hundreds-of-section-8-housing-vouchers/
Some housing
hopefuls are about to get some unpleasant news.
After long waits,
and finally receiving Section 8 housing vouchers, hundreds of families will soon
find out they’re being placed back on the waiting list.
Darian Trotter
reports on the exclusive details.
“No it don’t
surprise me,” tenant Keanca Doucet said. “Nothing surprises me that goes on back
here with HANO; nothing.”
She’s frustrated, to
say the least, with the Housing Authority of New Orleans.
And given HANO’s
recent move she can expect company.
More than 700
families who’ve recently received Section 8 housing vouchers are finding out
that they will have to get back in line and wait all over again.
How could this
happen? “It’s because of budget cuts and because HANO is currently not able to
subsidize those vouchers,” HANO Public Information Officer Leslie Thomas
said.
In a letter being
mailed to applicants this weekend, HANO explains a number of circumstances,
including an over subscription of vouchers and budget cuts are causing recently
issued vouchers to be withdrawn effective immediately.
HANO does not have
sufficient federal funds to subsidize additional apartments; at the current
time, or the near future.
“It’s important for
me to say the 17,000, plus families who are on the Section 8 program that are
currently being assisted and currently have subsidized vouchers are not being
effected in any way,” Thomas explained.
In other words, only
the 700 families who were in the process of finally finding Section 8 housing
will have to be placed back on the waiting list in their original
order.
WGNO News has
learned some of the applicants had been waiting for as long as 4
years.
“I think it’s wrong,
just like I said the first time,” HANO voucher holder Doris Dawson said. “That’s
not right at all, you know, “What are those people going to do?”
Back at the soon to
be demolished Iberville Housing Projects, help from HANO to move out has been
slow.
Remaining families
have to be out by April 5th.
Trotter asked, “What
are you going to do? Aint nothing to do but wait,” Doucet said. “They have to
put me out cuz I ain’t leaving; I don’t have no money.”
WGNO News has
learned families already receiving assistance take priority.
“We have to wait, so
they have to wait.”
In the letter
applicants will receive between Saturday and Monday — HANO apologizes for any
disruption or disappointment the withdrawal will cause.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
(Alabama)
Sequestration cuts
Huntsville Housing Authority by 5 percent, CEO Michael Landy said
on March 25, 2013 at
3:46 PM, updated March 25, 2013 at 3:47 PM
Click below for full
story...
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama
- Sequestration has hit the Huntsville
Housing Authority by wiping out about 5 percent of its budget for 2014,
executive director and CEO Michael Lundy said today.
The housing
authority commission today approved a $10.1 million budget for the 2014 fiscal
year that begins April 1. Lundy told the commission, however, that the
across-the-board federal budget cuts - known as sequestration - cost HHA about
$1.6 million.
Following the
meeting, Lundy said the authority is operating on about 76 percent of the budget
it needs.
"We are estimating
we're going to lose about $1.6 million," said Lundy, adding that sequestration
is responsible for cutting the HHA budget by about 5 percent. "What that means
for our program is we won't be able to serve as many people."
Lundy said that, as
a result of the cuts, the housing authority will be serving "about 300 less
people than we currently serve now" as part of the federal Section 8 housing
voucher program.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
(Santa Clara County,
CA.)
Housing Authority of
the County of Santa Clara Confirms $21 Million Cut in Section 8 Funding Will
Bring Hardship to County's Poorest Families
1,500 households in
Santa Clara County may lose their housing this year due to a $21 million cut
from the HACSC Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program.
Click below for full
story...
http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/03/25/4721502/impact-of-sequestration-slams.html
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
(San
Diego)
LOCAL HOUSING AID
SUSPENDED BECAUSE OF SEQUESTER CUTS
Click below for full
story...
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/mar/25/tp-local-housing-aid-suspended-because-of/
Lost in the recent
sequester battle in Washington is the hope of more than 30,000 low-income San
Diegans to get federal rent relief after years of waiting.
While current aid
recipients are not affected, future beneficiaries face more than a year of
delay.
When Congress failed
to reverse the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts ordered under the 2011
sequestration budget legislation, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development advised local housing authorities to cut 5 percent from this year’s
Housing Choice Vouchers, or Section 8, program.
Rick Gentry, chief
executive officer of the San Diego Housing Commission, said that cut translates
locally into nearly $7.4 million deducted from this year’s allocation of $147.5
million. Other housing authorities in the county face similar
reductions.
At $850 per month in
average rent support, that means 723 families who will not be served by the
housing commission, at least for the time being.
“The effect of the
sequester will not be abrupt here — it will not be catastrophic and there will
be no families receiving a subsidy harmed or affected at all, at least
initially,” Gentry said.
There are 14,626
households currently receiving aid, and their vouchers are secure, Gentry
said.
Every month, about
50 vouchers are relinquished as recipients move, die or no longer need
assistance. Typically, the vouchers are then transferred to the applicants at
the top of the 30,000-person waiting list, who in some cases have waited seven
years or longer to get aid.
But since Jan. 1,
Gentry said, no new vouchers have been granted because of the sequester. That
moratorium will likely continue for 14½ months, into early 2014, assuming the
sequester isn’t repealed and further budget cuts aren’t adopted.
Federal Cuts Mean
Local Housing Authorities Face Budget Reductions
The Hartford
Courant
March 24,
2013
Click below for full
story...
http://www.courant.com/community/manchester/hc-section-eight-sequestration-20130324,0,477223.story
The effects of
federal budget cuts are hitting home.
The $85 billion in
mandatory cuts known as the sequester is hacking into
housing authority budgets throughout the state and shrinking the value of
Section
8 vouchers that poor people use to pay the
bulk of their rent.
Waiting lists for
the scarce and valuable vouchers will remain long, and housing advocates say
some needy people could be pushed into homelessness.
"It's a horrible
situation for us. It's causing a lot of undue stress around here, I'll tell you
that," Vernon Housing Authority Executive Director Jeffrey Arn said. "We work
all year to help as many people as we can, and we had our program running just
how we wanted it — we were actually growing the program a little bit — and now
we're going to take a huge hit."
HUD has told housing
authority executives to expect 94 percent of the amount they were to get in
housing assistance payments, which go to poor tenants and landlords who rent
subsidized apartments. HUD has also said that the fees housing authorities
receive for administering those payments will be cut by about 31 percent,
forcing the agencies to make tough decisions. Some directors say they may have
to remove people from the program.
The nonprofit
Connecticut Housing Coalition has already heard from people whose recently
awarded vouchers were rescinded, agency Executive Director Betsy Crum said.
Thousands of people in the state are on waiting lists to get Section 8 aid, Crum
said.
(Tennessee)
Sequestration cuts
having impact on public aid agencies
Published March 23,
2013
Click below for full
story...
http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?id=105678
Richard McClain,
Johnson City Housing Authority executive director, said HUD funding for both
public housing and Section 8 rent vouchers administered by the JCHA were both
reduced by 10 percent for March. April’s funding for the authority’s Section 8
vouchers restored that 10 percent cut and April’s funding for public housing has
not yet been allocated.
McClain said HUD
apparently made the March cuts in anticipation of sequestration and he
speculated the federal housing agency “rolled over” unspent funding from its
2012 budget to make up for the March sequestration cut to Section 8.
(County of Los
Angeles)
Federal sequester
hits home for many of L.A.'s poor
Posted: 03/21/2013
09:35:32 PM PDT
Updated:
03/21/2013 09:41:37 PM PDT
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_22845438/federal-sequester-hits-home-many-las-poor
Tens of thousands of Los Angeles County's
low-income renters could see a loss in their housing subsidy because of the
federal sequester, leading to higher rent payments and a spike in homelessness,
according to local officials.
City and county officials are in Washington
D.C. this week lobbying to try to soften the blow of the cuts, pushing for
permission to increase rents so they don't have to throw most recipients off the
program altogether.
"This is absolutely going to hurt the most
vulnerable people in LA county," said Sean Rogan, who heads the L.A. County
housing authority, HACoLA.
Among those most vulnerable are people like
Sylvia Juarez, a 39-year-old single mother of six, who has been on Section 8
housing subsidies for a year, receiving $1,825 in assistance for a three-bedroom
Panorama City apartment after escaping an abusive relationship.
Juarez can work only part-time as a
hairdresser because her two youngest children have health problems, but she
found out last week that she would have to pay $100 more in rent each month,
doubling the amount she pays out of her own pocket.
"With six kids, that would definitely make a
big impact," she said while seeking help at the emergency food bank at MEND-Meet
Each Need with Dignity, in Pacoima.
"It's going to be a struggle but I need the
housing, so I have to figure out a way to get that money," she added. "I have no
choice."
Rogan and Douglas Guthrie, who heads the city
authority, HACLA, are meeting with federal housing officials and members of
Congress this week.
"(The sequester) brings funding for public
housing and Section 8 programs down to the lowest level in their history,"
Guthrie pointed out.
"Los Angeles has the largest homeless
population in the U.S.," he added. "We've put a lot of resources into addressing
that, and made progress, but much of it will be lost because of these enormous
cuts."
He said the sequester slashed funding for
HACoLA's Section 8 program by about $15 million this year.
It has already prevented him from issuing 300
vouchers that would have provided poor families and individuals with an average
of $890 in rent money each month.
In October, Rogan said, he may also be forced
to terminate vouchers held by 500 to 1,800 households.
Trying to prevent that, he met repeatedly
with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials this week,
seeking authority to have all of HACoLA's 22,000 voucher holders pay more toward
their rent.
"I'm effectively asking HUD to allow me to
increase all my voucher holders' rent payments by about 5 percent - which is the
sequestration amount - so I don't have to terminate anybody," Rogan said.
"Spread the pain."
"If it comes down to us having to terminate
vouchers, we've exempted seniors, the homeless and our special needs
population," he added. "We would terminate those who've been on the program the
longest and have received the greatest benefit."
HACLA, on the other hand, is poised to notify
24,000 of its 45,000 voucher holders next week that they may have to pay
$100-$200 more toward their rent each month.
The increase - which is more than 5 percent -
will not kick in for everyone at once. Voucher holders will be hit with the new
rates when they recertify their eligibility for the program.
Guthrie said the hike is needed because
HACLA's Section 8 program will lose $40 million this year. He worries, however,
that many won't be able to afford it.
Those who qualify for vouchers are typically
disabled, seniors, veterans and extremely low-income families and individuals
who subsist on less than $14,000 a year.
Section 8 was intended to help them spend
only 30 percent of their household income on rent.
"For a family paying $200 in rent to see that
rate go up, all of a sudden, to $300 a month - that's, at the very least,
extremely disruptive and we're very concerned," Guthrie said.
"Those who can't afford it may have to find
another place that charges less rent, or move in with family and friends," he
added. "Ultimately, it's pushing people out of the system and potentially into
homelessness."
Larry Gross, executive director of the
Coalition for Economic Survival, a tenants' rights organization, called the
sequester a "one-two punch to the gut of low-income people."
"It's sort of like an economic tsunami, and
the impact is going to be on the most vulnerable," he added. "The Section 8 cuts
are essentially making them walk the plank, and many will fall."
HACLA's Section 8 program director Peter Lynn
said the agency is reaching out to landlords to see if they can negotiate rents
downward, but he conceded this might be difficult.
On top of the cuts to their Section 8, public
housing, and other programs, HACoLA and HACLA will also have to endure cuts to
their administrative budgets - which means layoffs and furloughs for their
already depleted staffs effective this month.
Guthrie said HACLA could shed as many as 80
employees, bringing its staff down to about 700 - only half as many as it had
four years ago. Rogan said HACoLA eliminated 66 positions last year, and could
lose more this year.
Worried about the sequester, Supervisor Don
Knabe asked the Board of Supervisors Tuesday to urge Washington D.C. officials
to protect the county's safety net.
"Our leaders at the federal level must come
to agreement on a balanced, sensible budget," he said. "We don't need more
rhetoric - we need compromise and thoughtful solutions."
christina.villacorte@dailynews.com
twitter.com/LADNvillacorte
(Kokomo,
Indiana)
Housing authority doing more with
less
Posted: Thursday,
March 21, 2013 7:00 am
Click below for full
story...
http://kokomoperspective.com/kp/news/housing-authority-doing-more-with-less/article_0533808a-90ca-11e2-8269-0019bb2963f4.html
There are 1,225 subsidized or fully provided
public housing units in Kokomo. That is a lot of people relying upon government
for one of their primary needs. The Kokomo Housing Authority (KHA) provides the
facilities and administers the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds that
make it possible.
With the arrival of sequestration, the KHA
will have to do more with a lot less.
According to KHA executive director Debra
Cook, her organization took a 20-percent cut in funding in public housing
dollars as well as in Section 8 administration funding. And she has no idea if
this is temporary or if it will get better or worse in coming months.
“Our budget was approved for 2013, but in
January we got 92 percent of what was approved,” said Cook. “In March, we got 81
percent in public housing funds. We don’t know if this is temporary, or if that
is going to be the standard for the rest of the year. It’s hard to do long-range
planning and projects when you’re not sure how the funding is going to
fall.
“We have Section 8 vouchers as well, and we
got 80 percent of the approved budget there. We’re getting hit in public housing
and in administration.”
Cook explained that there was no warning that
the cuts would hit or how deep they would be. HUD sends a letter each month
indicating the funding that will be provided, and that letter often arrives
after the month has begun. Even the HUD office in Indianapolis was left in the
dark on the sequestration impact until it arrived.
;
(California)
Monterey County
housing authority also faces sequestration cuts
By PHILLIP
MOLNAR
Herald Staff
Writer
Posted: 03/21/2013
05:14:21 PM PDT
Updated:
03/21/2013 05:14:21 PM PDT
Click below for full
story...
http://www.montereyherald.com/news/ci_22843735/monterey-county-housing-authority-also-faces-sequestration-cuts
A service that thousands of county residents
rely on will also be hit by federal sequestration cuts.
The Housing Authority of Monterey County said
this week it will lose roughly $850,000 in federal money and are unsure what its
final budget will be for the rest of the year.
"We're operating in the blind," said Lynn
Santos, the authority's finance director.
About $30 million goes into the county each
year by way of Section 8 funds — money given to landlords for individuals who
need assistance paying rent.
Santos said cuts could mean the current
number of tenants it gives assistance to — 3,700 county residents — would be
reduced and the already large waiting list would grow.
"Clearly cuts of this size are not
sustainable when you consider that the 2014 budget could include additional
cuts," she said.
The only thing the authority knows for sure
is 31 percent of its Section 8 administration fees, which primarily pays for its
82-person staff and office expenses, will be cut.
The amount for administration this is $2.8
million, but Santos warns that number could lower when they get a 2013 budget
from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.
HUD also gives the housing authority $550,00
for public housing units and $367,000 for its Pueblo Del Mar project at Fort
Ord.
(Joliet,
Illinois)
Housing Authority of
Joliet could be hit by sequestration cuts
By Bob Okon
bokon@stmedianetwork.com March 21, 2013 6:38PM
Updated: March 21,
2013 10:23PM
The Housing
Authority of Joliet has warned workers of possible layoffs because of the impact
of the sequestration budget cuts in the federal government.
The cuts amount to
at least $500,000, said Interim Chief Executive Officer Michael Simelton. But it
could be much more after the total impact is calculated, he said.
Management will meet
with unions to determine if there are alternatives to layoffs, Simelton
said.
One alternative
sought by management, he said, would be for employees to begin paying something
toward health insurance premiums. Workers now do not make a contribution toward
health insurance, he said.
And, Simelton said,
“There are going to have to be some furloughs.”
The federal cuts are
coming in the form of housing subsidies. The government sets formulas based on
income to determine how much residents pay for public housing. The remainder of
the money is supplied by the housing authority, and most of it comes from the
federal government.
But the government
has notified the housing authority that subsidies for public housing are going
down to 73 percent of what the tenant does not pay, Simelton said. That
percentage had been at 92 percent.
For Section 8
housing, the federal subsidy will go down to 69 percent. It had been at 80
percent, Simelton said.
Massive
sequestration budget cuts will shred the housing safety net
By Lynda Carson -
March 1, 2013
Click below for full
story...
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/01/18732959.php
(Texas)
100 El Paso families
lose Section 8 housing aid
Posted: 03/21/2013
12:00:00 AM MDT
Click below for full
story...
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_22835762/100-families-lose-section-8-housing-aid
Because of federal budget cuts, the El Paso
Housing Authority says it is dropping 100 families from its Housing Choice
Voucher (Section 8) program effective March 31.
Those families will be allowed to move into
public housing.
Letters notifying the 100 families who live
in private housing and their landlords went out March 1. They were signed by
Gerald Cichon, CEO of the El Paso Housing Authority.
"Between now and December 2013, an additional
200 housing choice vouchers will be cut through attrition," the authority said
Wednesday in a statement. "This means that as families naturally leave the HCV
Program, the vouchers will not be reissued to the families on the HCV wait
list."
The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program
permits families to receive subsidy vouchers that they can use to live in homes
or apartments belonging to landlords who participate in the program. The average
monthly HCV-Section 8 subsidy is $504, and it can range from $20 to $700 per
family, depending on the size and income of the family.
Shane Griffith, spokesman for the authority,
said 5,200 families and 1,900 landlords are in the program.
Griffith stressed that none of the 100
families who are being dropped from the HCV/Section 8 program will be turned out
into the street. In selecting which families to drop first, Griffith said the
authority is following its policy of terminating those who've been in a program
the longest.
[[[The authority manages one of the largest
affordable housing programs in the nation for low-income families. It has a $75
million budget, about 450 employees, 6,500 public housing units, and 5,300
Housing Choice (Section 8) Vouchers.]]]
;
(Iowa - March 20,
2013)
Federal cuts hit
home
http://muscatinejournal.com/news/local/federal-cuts-hit-home/article_0c4c413c-91c8-11e2-b248-001a4bcf887a.html
MUSCATINE, Iowa —If
you’re one of the families that needs Section 8 housing, sequestration has more
than likely just pulled up the “welcome” mat.
That’s the most
acute effect that across-the-board spending cuts are having on local government
— namely, at the Muscatine Municipal Housing Agency.
“We are 99 percent
federally funded,” said Dick Yerington, the city’s housing administrator. “These
are the worst cuts we’ve seen in 35 years. It’s not a pretty thing.”
Yerington said he’s
already trimmed $162,000 — about 7 percent of his department’s $2,205,400 budget
— for the 2013 calendar year. About half those cuts — $83,000 — are in Section 8
housing assistance payments.
Currently, 364
low-income families are in the program, Yerington said, but the cuts will mean
that, through attrition, only about 340 families can be served.
[[[Reducing the Section
8 payment standard for two-bedroom and larger units, which the city council will
consider during its meeting this evening]]]
;
(Texas)
Orange Housing
Authority braces for cuts
March 20,
2013
http://therecordlive.com/2013/03/20/orange-housing-authority-braces-cuts/
The Orange Housing
Authority is bracing for what could be a bumpy ride as they look to the future
to determine what cuts may come from the Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
Through
communications with HUD, the Orange Housing authority has learned they could see
an eight percent cut to their public housing funding and a six percent cut on
Section 8 funding.
As a precaution, OHA
officials have already implemented a plan. They are not issuing any new vouchers
and the list to get on public housing has been closed since July.
(Street Spirit Newspaper)
Sequestration Will
Shred the Housing Safety Net
By Lynda Carson - March 2013
Click
below for full story...
http://www.thestreetspirit.org/sequestration-will-shred-the-housing-safety-net/
(Massachusetts)
Worcester
loses $675,000 in federal funds
By Nick Kotsopoulos TELEGRAM &
GAZETTE STAFF - Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Click below for full
story...
http://www.telegram.com/article/20130319/NEWS/130319605/1116
WORCESTER
— Several local programs that receive federal funds through the city are facing
reductions in their allocations for the final quarter of this fiscal year
because of federal budget sequestration.
Since the cuts will have to be
implemented over just a three-month period, City Manager Michael V. O’Brien said
they will have a four times greater impact on programs than had the cuts been
made at the beginning of the year.
Automatic, across-the-board spending
reductions triggered by sequestration are expected to amount to an 8.2 percent
cut in federal funding coming to the city, he said.
The manager said that
would equate to more than $675,000 cuts to the following programs: community
Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership, Emergency Solutions Grant,
Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS, and Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard
Control.
The programs that will be affected by the funding cuts include
food pantries, affordable housing programs, after-school programs, social
service case management and homelessness prevention, he
said
(Indiana)
Federal
sequestration fallout affecting GHA funding issues
Monday, March 18,
2013
Greencastle Banner-Graphic
Click below for full
story...
http://www.bannergraphic.com/story/1950691.html
On
March 1, sequestration went into effect, and government agencies across the
nation began feeling the backlash.
The Greencastle Housing Authority
(GHA) is one those agencies. Housing Authorities across the nation are losing
significant funding to operate their agencies.
On March 8, HUD sent
letters to all Housing Authorities informing them that administrative funding
would be cut to 68.5 percent, and Housing Assistance Payments would be cut to 94
percent.
This means that GHA will receive fewer dollars in calendar year
2013, or only 68.5 percent of CY 2012 allocated funds, to operate the Voucher
Program in Putnam County.
Due to GHA's current debt to HUD, resulting
from operation of the previous A-Way Home Shelter, GHA is operating at a deficit
and may be forced to only be open four days per week rather than the current
five days.
That will mean that current clients on the Voucher Program may
see fewer hours that they are able to come into the GHA office for assistance or
to sign required HUD documents. Any persons currently on the Voucher Program do
not need to worry about losing their voucher.
A public notice will go out
if funding for Housing Assistance Payments is reduced further, GHA officials
said.
Sequester
could decrease public housing aid
Chillicothe Metropolitan Housing
looking at possible 5 percent cut
Mar. 19, 2013 8:28 PM
Click
below for full story...
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20130319/NEWS01/303190019/Sequester-could-decrease-public-housing-aid
CHILLICOTHE
— The federal sequester could affect the Chillicothe Metropolitan Housing
Authority as the agency braces for 5 percent cuts that might result in a
decrease in the number of families receiving assistance through its public
housing program.
The CMHA provides rental assistance to low-income
families as part of its Section 8 housing voucher program, which the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development oversees. Cheryl Buck, Section 8
program manager for CMHA, said the program is funded to help 515 families and
that a formula is used to determine the amount each family can
receive.
However, she said the cuts could cause CMHA to serve 47 families
fewer than
expected.
Interest
high, outlook bleak for Section 8
March 18. 2013 10:56PM
Click
below for full story...
http://psdispatch.com/news/local-news/360193/Interest-high-outlook-bleak-for-Section-8
The
Luzerne County Housing Authority received 966 requests for Section 8 rental
assistance during a recent 11-day window allowing residents to apply for the
first time in two years.
Authority Executive Director David Fagula said
new applicants should expect a lengthy wait for rental subsidy — in some cases
years — because the federal government isn’t providing enough funding this year
to cover people already in the program.
“The funding numbers don’t look
good,” Fagula said.
The authority, which serves all county municipalities
except for the four cities, is federally authorized to fill 1,115 Section 8
slots, but 81 aren’t being accessed by renters because of federal funding cuts,
he said.
Rental subsidy for the 1,034 current participants will cost
about $5.7 million this year, and the authority is projected to receive $5.5
million, Fagula said.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to call anyone new in
for the rest of the year because we’re already spending more money than we’re
expected to receive,” Fagula said.
The authority may be forced to eject
some of the current participants later this year if nobody leaves the program,
he said.
Other housing authorities throughout the country have been
notifying Section 8 participants their rental subsidy might be cut off because
of federal budget cuts.
Fagula said he opted to seek new applicants
because residents had been banned from requesting service since March 2011, when
700 applications were received during a three-week enrollment period. He limited
the latest enrollment to 11 days because he expected overwhelming response due
to the
economy.
