President Biden has proposed adding 200,000 new Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers in his Fiscal Year 2023 budget proposal to Congress. If enacted, this would be the largest increase since the program began in 1974; and would be a big step towards making sure those who need rental assistance can get it.
The budget requests $71.9 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in FY 2023. This is $11.6 billion more than this year’s funding for HUD programs.
Although the administration proposes a large bump for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, most other HUD programs would get only small increases or funding at last year’s level. There are also a few programs where modest cuts are proposed.
Section 8 Vouchers Are a Big Priority
The president is requesting $32.1 billion for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. This is enough to renew all current vouchers. It also includes enough funding to serve 200,000 more households.
The new vouchers would give priority to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking. Households experiencing homelessness would also be given priority.
Those with the Lowest Incomes Get More Support
Here are some of the HUD programs where increases proposed for FY 2023:
- Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) would increase by 11% to $3.6 billion. HAG supports shelters, transitional housing, and services for people experiencing homelessness.
- The Public Housing Capital Fund would see a 10% increase to $3.7 billion. The Capital Fund pays for major repairs and upgrades to Public Housing like roof or boiler replacement.
- The HOME Investment Partnerships program would increase by 30% to $1.95 billion. HOME is a grant provided to state and local participating jurisdictions. It can be used in many ways to create and subsidize affordable housing for people with the lowest incomes.
Small Increases for Many Programs
These HUD programs would get funding similar to last year’s FY 2022 level:
- Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance would get $1 billion more than last year, but the extra funds are to cover increased costs to renew current rental assistance contracts.
- Community Development Block Grants would only get $3.8 billion for CDBG in FY 2023; which is $1 billion less than last year. However, $1.5 billion of that was for earmarks requested by members of Congress. These funds are for special projects in their home districts. So, this is still $400 million more than last year if you do not count the special earmarks.
Several programs would see small increases:
- Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS ($455 million).
- Housing Counseling ($65.9 million).
- Fair Housing Enforcement ($86 million).
Cuts for Programs Serving Seniors and Persons with Disabilities
The administration is proposing cuts to a small number of programs. Some of these programs build and support rental housing for vulnerable populations like seniors or persons with disabilities:
- The Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program would receive $966 million; a $67 million cut.
- The Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program would receive $288 million; a $64 million cut.
- Funds for lead paint abatement and removal would be reduced by $15 million to $400 million.
Removing Barriers to Affordable Housing
President Biden’s FY 2023 budget asks for $35 billion to promote the development of thousands of new affordable homes. $25 billion of this would go to state and local Housing Finance Agencies as Housing Production Grants. These funds would be used to build and rehabilitate affordable rental housing.
$10 billion of these funds would provide grants to remove barriers to building new affordable housing. This includes funding for housing-related infrastructure and making zoning changes that support more rental housing.
How Likely are New Vouchers?
The president’s budget proposal starts the government funding process. It lays out the administration’s priorities and provides a blueprint for federal spending next year.
The House and Senate appropriations committees will now work on their own funding bills. The specific budget numbers are sure to change as members of Congress push for their own priorities.
Last year, President Biden also proposed adding 200,000 new rental assistance vouchers in his first budget. When the final appropriations for HUD were signed into law, the program only saw an increase of 25,000 new vouchers.
This was still the largest one-year increase since the program started. Although there is another chance that President Biden’s proposal gets trimmed down this year, any amount of new vouchers would be able to help more low-income households afford their rent.