Administration Seeks Deep Cuts In Housing Vouchers and Conversion of Program to a Block Grant

Publication Date: March 2004

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Will Fischer; Barbara Sard

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: Income diversity; Household income; Housing assistance; Housing subsidies

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Administration’s new budget would cut funding for “Section 8” housing vouchers in 2005 by more than $1 billion below the 2004 level. The budget would cut the Section 8 program further in subsequent years.

The budget also would make radical changes in the program’s structure. It would replace the voucher program with a block grant to local housing agencies (labeled the “Flexible Voucher Program”) and, in so doing, repeal basic protections for low-income families that were developed on a bipartisan basis and have undergirded the program for decades. The block-grant proposal also would leave the program vulnerable to substantial further funding erosion over time.