Federal Government Late on Section 8 Payments

The federal government shutdown has been over for weeks, but the ramifications are hitting Section 8 landlords hard.

The government failed to deliver funds designated for Section 8 housing vouchers at the start of the month, Bisnow reported. The delay leaves more than 500 public housing authorities in the lurch and may create a shortfall between $700 million and $800 million for operators.

Public housing agency association groups learned of the funding shortfall on Monday. Housing authorities in New York City, Georgia, Boston and Boca Raton are among those affected.

“Following notice from HUD that payments to Section 8 landlords would be delayed this month, NYCHA is assessing interim options and will distribute funding as soon as it becomes available from HUD,” NYCHA said in a statement, adding it expects funding in the next week.

“HUD is working to make these awards to PHAs to ensure no disruption in program services,” a spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Urban Development said in a statement. The agency also took the federal government’s typical line of blaming Democrats for the historic 43-day shutdown.

Usually, payments go out on the first of the month or the next business day if the first falls on a weekend or holiday, as it did this month. But there’s already been multiple instances this year of payment delays to Section 8 voucher landlords, rattling rent-stabilized owners in New York.

HUD did release funding for the Housing Choice Voucher program, but didn’t cover much of the supplemental subsidies. Shortfall payments, which housing authorities utilize when regular voucher allocations fail to cover landlords’ contracted rent payments, were delayed.

The funding delay comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by a coalition of 20 states, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, against the Trump administration over policy changes to HUD’s Continuum of Care program.

— Holden Walter-Warner