NEWS HEADLINES

Funding Shortfall Threatens 500,000 Project-Based Sec. 8 Apartments

WASHINGTON, D.C.—More than 500,000 project-based Sec. 8 apartments—many of them occupied by elderly and disabled Americans—are at serious risk of being lost from the nation’s affordable housing stock because the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Office of Management and Budget failed to request enough funds to meet the program’s obligations in fiscal year 2008, the National Housing Trust announced today.

The National Housing Trust has appealed to Congress to fully fund the program and avert a housing crisis that will affect tens of thousands of working families and seniors. A letter was submitted to congressional appropriators on behalf of more than 50 organizations representing affordable housing lenders, state and local housing agencies, investors, tenant groups, and owners.

Congress is poised to pass an appropriations bill with a project-based Section 8 funding shortfall of $2.5 billion. If full funding is not provided, HUD will be unable to guarantee a full year of payments to Sec. 8 property owners. Without such a guarantee, thousands of property owners who can economically leave the Sec. 8 program will do so at the first opportunity, leaving working families and seniors facing substantially higher rents or displacement.