DANVILLE – For more than a year, Danville Mayor Scott Eisenhauer has been leading a charge to reduce the number of Section 8 vouchers in the city, and on Thursday, the Danville Housing Authority board will consider a resolution that would keep the housing authority from issuing vouchers beyond a level deemed unacceptable by the city.

Greg Hilleary, Danville Housing Authority executive director, said the resolution doesn't really change anything, because the current number of active Section 8 vouchers is below the 397 that Eisenhauer has been pushing.

Although the housing authority has the ability to issue up to 655 vouchers, how many it actually issues depends on the level of funding it receives from the federal government, and that changes continually.

Eisenhauer has maintained that 655 is too high, and the housing authority has maintained that it's not been at that level in years.

Currently, Hilleary said, 325 regular Section 8 vouchers are being used in the city. The housing authority issues them to qualifying people who then use them to rent in the private market, and a portion of the rents are paid by the authority.

According to Hilleary, an additional 44 specialized vouchers are in use currently, but 32 are for veterans and the remaining 12 are called family unification vouchers and are used to reunite families separated due to housing situations.

Eisenhauer said he's not concerned with the vouchers for veterans or family unification but with the number of regular vouchers in the city. He said he wants that number to be at 397 or lower. He said that number is more in line with the average number of vouchers in other cities across the state.

Demanding that the authority commit to reducing voucher levels, Eisenhauer refused last year to sign off on the housing authority's five-year funding plan that it's required to submit to federal HUD officials. Also, the city charted its own course for reducing vouchers and other public housing changes last year when it wrote its own consolidated plan that must be submitted to federal housing officials every five years. That plan establishes 397 as the voucher number preferred by the city.

On Feb. 28, Eisenhauer signed off on the housing authority's five-year plan, after meeting with Hilleary and representatives of the housing authority board and discussing the level of Section 8 vouchers.

According to Hilleary, the mayor questioned the housing authority's intent to apply for more vouchers, and Hilleary explained that it would only be applying for more veteran and family unification vouchers.

Eisenhauer said officials at the Illiana Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Danville have excellent oversight of the veterans assisted housing program.

"Jennifer Gerrib has done an excellent job in establishing that program and in monitoring that program and as long as they continue to be involved, we will not turn away any (veteran) vouchers," Eisenhauer said. "And family unification is specific to certain types of family needs and are an outreach program of some of our existing social agencies. We want to be able to continue to support those social agencies."

As a result of that meeting, the housing authority created the resolution that the board will consider on Thursday.

Hilleary said the housing authority will do the best it can to stay within the parameters desired by the city and use the funding it's allocated by the federal government.

The resolution specifically states that the authority's intent in applying for additional vouchers is to serve veterans and family unification purposes, and that the authority's objective in "utilizing all funding for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers as needed" means using funding within the "recommended parameters" defined by the city's plan.

Although Hilleary said it doesn't change anything, because the housing authority's regular Section 8 voucher total is currently under the 397 level, Eisenhauer said it's a "huge step."

"This is exactly what I've been calling for and exactly what the community has been calling for," he said. "And for the housing authority to finally take the steps in order to ensure reduction, from 620 to 397, is the first of many steps we will be taking to reshape how public assisted housing is offered in this community."