Housing Assistance

Atlanta Poised to Pass Protections for Voucher Holders
The city council will vote on a proposal to require publicly subsidized landlords to lease units to recipients of housing assistance vouchers.

North Texas HOA Effectively Bans Section 8 Recipients
Housing and civil rights advocates warn that the community’s rule instituting fines on landlords who rent to housing voucher recipients will disproportionately affect Black families.

New York City Issues Nearly All Its Housing Vouchers
After a slow start to the program, the city has distributed 91 percent of the housing vouchers issued through the American Rescue Act. Now housing agencies must help recipients actually find housing.

What Is Area Median Income?
Frequently used to determine eligibility for housing assistance programs, Area Median Income measures the midpoint of an area’s income distribution.

Study: Housing Market Instability Requires Robust Policy Response
A report from the Urban Land Institute calls for a multi-faceted approach to stabilizing the housing market and protecting tenants and homeowners.

Opinion: The Housing Crisis Isn't Going Away With the Pandemic
As the housing crisis rages on, the housing assistance infrastructure put in place during the pandemic can provide a model for long-term aid programs.

Opinion: Biden's Housing Plan is 'Both Necessary and Excellent'
The housing programs proposed in the reconciliation bill could help millions of Americans who desperately need housing assistance and begin to mitigate the damage of a stagnant housing supply.

D.C.'s Flexible Rent Subsidy Helps Families Avoid Homelessness
The program gives households a rent subsidy that can be used flexibly over time, making it a valuable tool for workers with fluctuating incomes.

HUD Secretary: Administration Must Restore Depleted Staff
To take on President Biden's ambitious housing goals, the agency needs to restore the staff lost during the Trump era.

Debt Piles Up for Low-Income Renters
As the end of federal and state eviction moratoriums looms, renters who fell behind on payments during the pandemic now face "staggering" amounts of debt.

Housing Vouchers Prove an Effective Tool Against Homelessness
The Biden administration plans to expand the federal housing voucher program, which currently provides rental assistance to 2.3 million U.S. households.

Cincinnati Program Helps Renters With Security Deposits
For low-income renters, security deposits can be a hurdle they cannot overcome. Cincinnati's “renters’ choice” program aims to help with that challenge by providing alternatives to traditional security deposits.

Strengthening the Safety Net With Universal Housing Assistance
The Urban Institute simulated a model to predict the cost of a universal housing assistance program to support those who face homelessness.

Local Public Housing Agencies Resist HUD's Proposed Section 8 Rule
A proposed rule to disqualify all families living with an undocumented person from receiving federal housing aid is available for comment. We know a few people who oppose the rule.

Seven Ideas for Tackling the Housing Crisis
One expert's take on the housing crisis and which policy solutions might best counter it.

HUD's Proposed Rule Would Displace 55,000 Children
Efforts by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to "purge" undocumented immigrants from public housing would hurt a lot of legal residents and citizens.

Study Reveals Ineffectiveness of Work Requirements for Housing Assistance
Work requirement programs achieve very little in helping housing assistance recipients find work, according to a recent study.

Federal Shutdown Threatens Rental Assistance Program
The ongoing shutdown of the federal government could begin to have terrible consequences for some of the nation's most vulnerable populations.

Austin's Waitlist for Housing Vouchers Only Opens Every Four Years
A chance to participate in a lottery, which gets winners on a waitlist for federal housing assistance, pops up on the calendar as frequently as the Summer Olympics.

Annual Funding For Housing Vouchers Already Spent in Dallas
The Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) spent all the money it receives from the federal government for funding housing assistance programs in June. DHA officials says the funding situation was caused by increasing rents.
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