By Douglas Rice, Barbara Sard, Martha Coven[1]
September 28, 2007
http://www.cbpp.org/9-28-07hous.htm#_ftn2
This fall, Congress will seek to finalize its appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008, including the Transportation-HUD bill, which funds “Section 8” Housing Choice Vouchers and other affordable housing programs. Section 8 vouchers are the nation’s leading source of housing assistance for low-income elderly, people with disabilities, and families with children, helping approximately 2 million households to secure modest, affordable rental housing in the private market.
Congress will have two key issues to resolve in the Section 8 voucher portion of the HUD appropriations bill: how much money to provide to renew existing vouchers and how to distribute those funds among the 2,400 state and local housing agencies that administer the program. These decisions will be made against the backdrop of a potential presidential veto. The President insists that Congress not exceed the overall level of discretionary funding he proposed in his budget earlier this year — a level that would entail significant cuts in many domestic programs — and the White House has threatened to veto both the House and Senate Transportation-HUD bills if they exceed these spending limits.[2]
The decisions about the voucher formula and funding levels that Congress makes this fall — and the President’s decision about whether to veto the HUD appropriations bill — will therefore have significant implications for tens of thousands of low-income people across the nation who are struggling to afford decent housing.
| Senate Budget | House Budget | House Bill, if renewals funded at Senate Level |
Bush Budget | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Funding for Voucher Program | $16.6 billion |
$16.3 Billion |
- |
$16.0 billion |
| Voucher Renewal Funding | $14.9 billion |
$14.7 billion |
- |
$14.4 billion |
| Administrative Expense Funding | $1.35 billion |
$1.35 billion |
- |
1.35 billion |
| Incremental Voucher Funding | $105 million |
$30 million |
- |
None |
| Number of authorized vouchers funded (excluding incrementals) | 2,012,000 |
1,976,000 |
1,991,000 |
1,941,000 |
| Number of vouchers used by families in 2007 that would not be funded in 2008 | No cut |
55,000 |
44,000 |
80,000 |
| Number of housing agencies with unfunded voucher renewals in 2008 | None |
1,300 |
1,100 |
1,600 |
| Pro rata cut in 2008 Voucher renewals in 2008 | No cut |
3.2 % |
2.1 % |
5.3 % |
| Voucher funding formula used | Agency funding based on actual leasing and costs during most recent 12 months |
Same as Bush Budget |
Same as Bush Budget |
Agency funding based on 2007 funding level |