Budget Cuts Threaten Housing Aid; Massachusetts May to Lose Section 8 Vouchers.

Byline: Emily Shartin

Mar. 28--Kimberly Hardy knows she's one of the lucky ones.

Almost 12 months ago, after years of federal housing assistance to help cover the rent on her Framingham apartment, she was able to buy a home of her own in Worcester.

Hardy works in administrative support at Framingham State College, where she is also a student.

She said she is unsure where she'd be without the Framingham Housing Authority, which has helped her and other recipients of federal Section 8 housing vouchers make the transition to home ownership.

"I don't think the dream would even have been possible," she said. But that dream threatens to become even more elusive for the region's most disadvantaged residents, local housing officials say.

If a new, pared-down federal budget is approved during deliberations with Congress this summer, housing officials say it will become harder to move people off of the already-lengthy waiting lists for rental vouchers. In the worst-case scenario, they say, residents now relying on subsidies could see them taken away.