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Common Council to vote on Section 8 compromise tonight

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The debate over a federal affordable-housing policy continues as the Madison City Council prepares to vote on compromise legislation at its special meeting tonight.

Section 8 is a law that gives low-income renters a voucher to pay for 30 to 40 percent of their rent. It provides those living in low-income housing the ability to live anywhere they want, as long as the landlord agrees to accept the Section 8 voucher as viable income.

The issue has driven a wedge into the already fragmented common council.

Under the compromise, any landlord receiving any type of city funding would be required to accept the Section 8 voucher.

Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2, has been working with tenants and landlords from the Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin for a year to find a compromise.

“The most important part of the compromise is that any landlord who is currently renting to a tenant can’t stop renting to them after they receive the voucher,” Konkel said.

Nancy Jensen, Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin’s executive director, said the compromise looks promising, and the landlords are hopeful it will pass at the meeting.

“Section 8 was created in the ’60s, when all the projects were being built. They were a spectacular failure that exacerbated poverty,” Ald. Tom Powell, District 5, said. “Now people are allowed to move all over the city or the county.”

Several years ago, Section 8 was brought to the City Council, where the ordinance did not pass.