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14.871
The housing choice voucher program is the federal government's major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Since housing assistance is provided on behalf of the family or individual, participants are able to find their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses and apartments. The participant is free to choose any housing that meets the requirements of the program and is not limited to units located in subsidized housing projects. The program serves the most economically vulnerable families in the country, including families with disabilities, elderly families, formerly homeless veterans, and families with children, through federal assistance voucher payments in the provision of meeting their rental housing needs. HUD regulations merged the former Section 8 Rental Voucher program (14.855) with the former Section 8 Certificate program (14.857). Section 502 of the Public Housing Reform Act states that a purpose of the legislation is "consolidating the voucher and certificate programs for rental assistance under Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (the "USHA") into a single market-driven program that will assist in making tenant-based rental assistance more successful at helping low-income families obtain affordable housing and will increase housing choice for low-income families". The HCVP is administered by local public housing agencies (PHAs) authorized under State law to operate housing programs within an area or jurisdiction. The PHAs receive federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to administer the voucher program. The PHA accepts a family’s application for rental assistance, selects the applicant family for admission, and issues the selected family a voucher confirming the family’s eligibility for assistance. The family must then find and lease a dwelling unit suitable to the family’s needs and desires in the private rental market. The PHAs sign Housing Assistant Payment contracts with the landlords, and housing subsidy is paid to the landlord directly by the PHA on behalf of the participating family. The family then pays the difference between the actual rent charged by the landlord and the amount subsidized by the program. Under certain circumstances, if authorized by the PHA, a family may use its voucher to purchase a modest home.
This chart shows obligations for the program by fiscal year. All data for this chart was provided by the
administering agency and sourced from SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, and Treasury.gov.
For more information on each of these data sources, please see the
About the data page.
The program projects to serve 2.2 million families. The program served 2.2 million families.
The program projects to serve 2.2 million families.
The program projects to serve 2.2 million families
The HCV program has proven to be effective at meeting the housing needs of our most vulnerable citizens compared to other approaches. For example, in October 2016, HUD published the results of the Family Options Study. Launched in 2008, the study’s goal was to determine which housing and services interventions work best for families with children experiencing homelessness. Reports published in July 2015 and October 2016 presented evidence regarding the effects of giving families in emergency shelters priority access to housing choice vouchers, rapid rehousing, or project-based transitional housing. The study team followed the families for 3 years and measured outcomes in five domains of family well-being: (1) housing stability, (2) family preservation, (3) adult well-being, (4) child well-being, and (5) self-sufficiency. The study determined that the HCV program was the most effective intervention of the approaches tested. HCV intervention reduced most forms of residential instability by more than one half, reduced food insecurity, and improved multiple measures of adult and child well-being.
HUD is making $21.5 billion available for tenant-based assistance, which means the assistance is not permanently associated to a unit or project, but rather to an individual family.
The FY23 Enacted Bill made $30.32 billion available for the Tenant Based Rental Assistance program. This funding level includes $23.7 billion in Housing Choice Voucher contract renewals, including $200 million HAP set aside and up to $7.5 million for Tribal VASH Grants and Renewals, $2.8 billion in administrative fees, $337 million in tenant protection vouchers, $607 million for Mainstream Vouchers, $50 million for VASH vouchers, $30 million for FUP vouchers, and $50 million for new fair share vouchers. The program served approximately 2.3 million families during fiscal year 2023.
The FY24 Enacted Bill made $32.3 billion available for the Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program. This funding level includes $28.4 billion in Housing Choice Voucher contract renewals, including $200 million HAP set aside and up to $7.5 million for Tribal VASH Grants and Renewals, $2.8 billion in administrative fees, $337 million in tenant protection vouchers, $742 million for Mainstream Vouchers, $30 million for FUP vouchers, and $15 million for new fair share vouchers. The program served approximately 2.3 million families during fiscal year 2024.
Single Audit Applies (2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F):
For additional information on single audit requirements for this program, review the current Compliance Supplement.
OMB is working with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and agency offices of inspectors general to include links to relevant oversight reports. This section will be updated once this information is made available.
