GOSHEN -- After facing severe budget shortfalls in spring and summer, the Goshen Housing Authority is caught up on paying landlords and hopeful that Congress will provide more funding to federal subsidized housing next year.

"We've made our payments. It's taken quite a bit of work," said Bob Brenneman, executive director of the government agency that helps about 300 poor people find places to live.

In June, the housing authority was unable to reimburse all the landlords for rent of GHA clients.

Since then, adjustments to utility allowances helped provide more cushion for the housing authority. It also got a waiver to lower rent standards, freeing up some more money, at least temporarily, said Brenneman.

The authority also had to raise minimum rent from $25 to $50 for the poorest clients. "It made them find another $25 ... we had to make that adjustment," Brenneman said.

The federal Section 8 housing voucher program was underfunded for 2009, Brenneman said.

While 2010 funding hasn't been finalized by Congress -- the bill is in a House/Senate conference committee -- "both bills are higher levels of funding than what the previous year was, but not at the level some of our industry from the housing side think that it needs to be at," Brenneman said. Still, he thinks the final funding will be closer to what's needed.

Mayor Allan Kauffman said the GHA budget remains tight, but pointed out, "Things are tight for everyone right now."

In the meantime, a subsidiary of the authority is working on a long-delayed housing complex to be built south of the intersection of Peddlers Village Road and Elkhart Road.

"We expect the construction to start after the winter, like March," Brenneman said. That project is funded through the U.S. Treasury Department as part of the federal stimulus program, Brenneman said.