Money For Federal Housing Voucher Program Drying Up

The end could be near for a federal program that provides housing vouchers for some 60,000 families and individuals fleeing homelessness or domestic violence.

Funding for Emergency Housing Vouchers is expected to dry up by the end of next year, the Associated Press reported, citing a letter from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The loss of the program would leave tens of thousands scrambling to pay their rent, per the report. It would be one of the largest one-time losses of rental assistance in the country.

“To have it stop would completely upend all the progress that they’ve made,” Sonya Acosta, policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told the publication. “And then you multiply that by 59,000 households.”

Then-President Joe Biden launched the program in 2021 as part of the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act, allocating $5 billion to help pull people out of homelessness, domestic violence and human trafficking. Funding was expected to last until the end of the decade.

Ballooning rents, however, meant the $5 billion will end far sooner. Last month, HUD sent letters to groups dispersing the money, advising them to “manage your EHV program with the expectation that no additional funding from HUD will be forthcoming, ” according to the AP.

Congress could decide to allocate additional funds to the program, but it seems unlikely at a time when the Republican-controlled body is focused on reining in federal spending.

In New York, housing voucher programs have also faced problems and delays. The city opened a long-closed rent-voucher portal in June and 600,000 New Yorkers rushed to apply for Section 8, which is distributed by the New York City Housing Authority. Nine months after the application window closed, only 318 had succeeded.

Another voucher program, the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement, has been “plagued with problems,” according to a recent state audit.