HUD adds 60,000 more families to rolls

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 13, 2000

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo awarded rental assistance vouchers that will help 60,000 low-income families live in housing they otherwise could not afford. Cuomo awarded the voucher to about 500 housing authorities in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.

The $347 million in "Fair Share" section 8 rental assistance vouchers were Awarded, based upon community needs. Almost 700 housing authorities submitted applications, requesting more than 111,000 vouchers.

"The demand for affordable housing continues to skyrocket," Cuomo said.

"Rents are rising faster than inflation, waiting lists for assisted housing are getting longer, and every month, more than 5 million American families who do not receive federal housing assistance have to choose between paying the rent or paying other bills. Congress needs to do more so that all needy families could find decent, affordable housing."

Under the program, qualified recipients generally pay no more than 30% of their income as rent, while HUD picks up the remainder of the tab. Families may live in any community where an affordable unit can be found that meets housing quality standards, and where the owner is willing to participate in the section 8 program.

At HUD's urging, for the first time since 1994, the Congress did not restrict the vouchers awarded to use by various subgroups of the section 8 eligible population, giving authorities greater flexibility to respond to local needs.

After almost 20 years of steady increases in the program, Congress, from fiscal year 1994 through 1998, refused to appropriate funds for any new assistance vouchers. The hiatus ended last year, when Congress approved funding for 50,000 "welfare-to-work" vouchers, followed this year by the vouchers awarded Aug. 31. However, the new vouchers were only half the total requested by the president for the last two years.

For fiscal year 2001, the president has requested another 120,000 new vouchers. To date, neither the House nor Senate has said they will appropriate funds for any new vouchers.