Background
Popularly known as the "Section 8" program, the Housing Choice
Voucher Program is the federal government's primary initiative for
helping very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled afford
decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Since housing
assistance is provided on behalf of the family or individual,
participants are able to find their own housing, including
single-family homes, townhouses and apartments.
The participant is free to choose any housing that meets the
requirements of the program and is not limited to units located in
subsidized housing projects.
Housing choice vouchers are administered locally by public housing
agencies (PHAs). PHAs receive federal funds from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to administer the voucher program.
Over the years, the cost of the housing choice voucher has continued to
increase and today consumes over 60 percent of HUD's budget.
Rep. Maxine Waters introduced H.R. 1851 on March 29, 2007, with
Committee Chairman Frank, Ranking Housing Subcommittee Member Biggert,
and Rep. Shays as original cosponsors. On May 25, 2007, the House
Financial Services Committee passed the bill by a margin of 52 to 9.
What the bill does
H.R. 1851 reforms the Section 8 funding formula to make it more
efficient, revise the rent calculation process for Section 8 and public
housing to expand work incentives and reduce administrative costs;
increase flexibility to use vouchers for homeownership; amend voucher
targeting rules to increase voucher opportunities for lower income
working families in rural areas; and authorizes an expansion in the
number of families receiving vouchers by 20,000 a year for each of the
next five years.
Additionally, the bill passed by the Committee contains provisions to:
- Allow vouchers to be used to purchase manufactured homes on leased land.
- Require
HUD to issue guidance to ensure that the 50,000+ vouchers created for
persons with disabilities continue be reserved for such persons.
- Permit
housing agencies to exceed their limit on the number of voucher holders
they can serve in order to encourage more efficient use of voucher
funds
- Increase the percentage of reserves housing agencies can retain for the voucher program
- Provide for full funding for the cost of housing agencies accepting voucher holders from other communities.