The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) is calling for a significant expansion of the federal Housing Choice Voucher program during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Through the recent CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability) Act, Congress appropriated $17 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including $1.25 billion for tenant-based rental assistance that provides additional funds for public housing agencies for vouchers.
“However, the need is so great it remains unmet,” says CLPHA leaders in a letter to members of key Congressional committees. They urge legislators to expand the voucher program in the HEROES Act that’s making its way through the legislative process.
The voucher program serves only one out of four eligible households, and the need is expected to get much worse as approximately 40 million Americans have lost their jobs during the COVID crisis.
“If we’re talking about how we’re going to address rental housing needs, we think that the voucher programs should be front and center,” says CLPHA executive director Sunia Zaterman.
She points out that vouchers are more cost effective than other shorter-term rental assistance and public housing authorities have the capacity and experience for an expansion.
“We think it’s important not to reinvent the wheel,” Zaterman tells AHF. “We’ve got the programs and infrastructure in place and ready to receive substantially more funding to address this rental crisis that we’ve been talking about for many decades.”
During recent discussions about how to address the growing housing need, a “false dichotomy” can emerge between serving renters and serving landlords, with some proposing direct assistance to landlords and others to renters, according to Zaterman.
“I do think the voucher program addresses both sides of that and already has built in protections for both the landlord and for the tenant,” she says.
Housing advocates have long been citing the need for additional resources, but CLPHA says the time is now given the order of the magnitude of the funding and the rental assistance needed. “People are taking it seriously,” Zaterman says. “It will be a top-line issue for everyone certainly on the Senate side as they move forward.”
To learn more, read CLPHA’s letter.
