SECTION 8 HOUSING VOUCHERS

The Housing Choice Voucher Program allows very low income families to rent or purchase safe and sanitary housing. The biggest and most well-known program is the Section 8 program, which provides rental assistance to very low income families through rental vouchers. Section 8 is a fantastic program that allows people living on very low incomes more housing choice and flexibility in choosing where they would like to rent.

The Section 8 program does a great deal of good and has the potential to do even more; however, the program does face difficulties. First, there is stigma attached to the vouchers. Theoretically people can rent anywhere using Section 8 vouchers, but the stigma attached to Section 8 vouchers often relegates low income people to high-poverty areas. Secondly, government funding for the voucher program is insufficient, leaving many eligible people without vouchers. Finally, the skyrocketing cost of rental housing in recent years has resulted in many Section 8 recipients being unable to use their vouchers because they are unable to find housing they could afford even with the voucher assistance. The utilization rate of Section 8 vouchers, which is the percentage of people granted vouchers that actually use them, dropped from 95% to 76% over the last 15 years. 24% of vouchers allocated aren't and can't be used because rental housing prices are still too high for very low income people to afford.

The lower utilization rate of Section 8 vouchers has led Congress and President Bush to propose cuts to the programs funding. As you can see, however, the problem is not a lack of need or desire for use, but rather a roadblock toward use by thousands of people who desperately need the help of vouchers to afford housing. Therefore, housing and homeless advocates are working to prevent cuts to the program and to revise the criteria so that more people can use the vouchers they are allocated.

Back to Federal Policy homepage