Section 8 Housing Vouchers - Blog Post

Last week, HFA staff and industry experts came together at NCSHA's HFA Institute to discuss the latest changes to the Section 8 Program, including the NOFA process and PBCA guidance.

On November 18, President Obama signed into law the conference agreement on H.R. 2112, providing funding for HUD and USDA housing programs in FY 2012. The House had passed the bill by a vote of 298 to 121 and the Senate passed it by a vote of 70 to 30.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity held a hearing October 13 entitled “The Section 8 Savings Act of 2011 (SESA): Proposals to Promote Economic Independence for Assisted Families.” Although the Subcommittee released a new draft of SESA at the beginning of October, the hearing focused almost exclusively on the Moving-to-Work (MTW) demonstration program.

On October 19, NCSHA participated at HUD’s request in a conference call HUD held for more than 100 stakeholders across the country as a follow-up to the October 12 White House Convening on affordable housing NCSHA attended and described in its October 14 blog. NCSHA was one of four organizations HUD invited to make presentations during the call on their efforts to achieve the highest funding level possible for HUD programs.

This morning, the Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and passed its FY 2012 T-HUD Appropriations bill. The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to markup the bill tomorrow afternoon. According to a summary of the bill, the bill would slash the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program to $1 billion. This is a $607 million, or 38 percent, cut compared to the FY 2011 enacted funding level of $1.6 billion and it is $200 million less than the level included in the House T-HUD Subcommittee-passed FY 2012 bill.

On September 8, the Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and passed its FY 2012 appropriations bill. The bill slashes the HOME program by 25 percent compared with FY 2011, funding it at $1.2 billion, and Housing Choice Voucher administrative fees by 24 percent compared with FY 2011, funding it at $1.1 billion. The bill funds HUD at $38 billion, 7 percent or $3 billion less than FY 2011 and 9 percent or $3.7 billion less than the President’s request.

On July 18, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a plan, Back in Black, which he says would achieve $9 trillion in savings over the next ten years. According to a summary of the savings, $1 trillion would come from reforming tax expenditures; $4 trillion would be cut from discretionary spending, including $1 trillion from the Department of Defense; over $2.6 trillion would come from entitlement program savings; and $1.4 trillion in savings would come through interest payment reduction.

On June 23, the House Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity Subcommittee held a hearing on its discussion draft of the Section 8 Savings Act of 2011 (SESA). SESA includes many of the provisions included in the December 2010 draft of the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA).