The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities released a report earlier this week that outlines three possible scenarios for funding changes to the Housing Choice Voucher program ("Section 8"). Each scenario would result in a drastic reduction in the number of low-income families served by housing assistance.
The report states that while both the House of Representatives and the Senate Committee on Appropriations have approved separate bills to fund the voucher program with slight reductions in 2011, several proposals to reduce overall funding for non-defense discretionary programs threaten cuts in voucher funding that could cause tens of thousands of low-income families to lose rental assistance. If the process for finalizing funding for 2011 follows one of the three possible paths, the Housing Choice Voucher program would see a substantial loss in funding for vouchers that would affect anywhere from 38,000 to 475,000 low-income families. Depending on the funding scenario, the CBPP projects a loss between 532 and 6,536 vouchers in Minnesota.
All of this comes at a time of when more low-income families are in need of assistance and homelessness and poverty rates are on the rise. The Housing Choice Voucher program serves about 2 million low-income families. The families served by this program are among the most vulnerable in our society - children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Faced with the loss of housing assistance, these families have few, if any, options.
For more information, see the full report: Proposals to Cut Domestic Programs Threaten Loss of Housing Assistance for Thousands of Low-Income Families
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