DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO: Advocates for elderly and disabled people denounced recent state cuts to housing benefits yesterday at a news conference outside the state building.

The state budget crisis should not be shouldered by “its most vulnerable citizens,” said Ann E. Menasche, an attorney for the San Diego office of Disability Rights California.

Speakers at the event, part of a statewide effort to bring attention to the issue, attacked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for using a line-item veto to kill tax rebates for low-income and disabled Californians.

The Senior Citizens Property Tax Program – also known as the “renters'rebate” – allows qualifying people to recoup some of their rent. –M.S.