Section 8 (housing)

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Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (often simply known as Section 8), as repeatedly amended, authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of approximately 3.1 million low-income households. It operates through several programs, the largest of which, the Housing Choice Voucher program, pays a large portion of the rents and utilities of about 2.1 million households. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development manages the Section 8 programs, described further in this summary.

The Housing Choice Voucher Program provides "tenant-based" rental assistance, so an assisted tenant can move with assistance from one unit of at least minimum housing quality to another. Section 8 also authorizes a variety of "project-based" rental assistance programs, under which the owner reserves some or all of the units in a building for low-income tenants, in return for a Federal government guarantee to make up the difference between the tenant's contribution and the rent specified in the owner's contract with the government. A tenant who leaves a subsidized project will lose access to the project-based subsidy.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Administration have a special Section 8 program called VASH (Veterans Administration Supported Housing), or HUD-VASH, which gives out a certain number of Section 8 vouchers to eligible homeless and otherwise vulnerable US armed forces veterans.[1]

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[edit] History

Federal housing assistance programs started during the Great Depression to address the country’s housing crisis. In the 1960s and 1970s, the federal government created subsidy programs to increase the production of low-income housing and to help families pay their rent. In 1965, the Section 23 Leased Housing Program amended the U.S. Housing Act. This subsidy program, the predecessor to the modern program, was not a pure housing allowance program. Housing authorities selected eligible families from their waiting list, placed them in housing from a master list of available units, and determined the rent that tenants would have to pay. The housing authority would then sign a lease with the private landlord and pay the difference between the tenant’s rent and the market rate for the same size unit. In the agreement with the private landlord, housing authorities agreed to perform regular building maintenance and leasing functions for Section 23 tenants, and annually reviewed the tenant’s income for program eligibility and rent calculations.

In the 1970s, when studies showed that the worst housing problem afflicting low-income people was no longer substandard housing, but the high percentage of income spent on housing, Congress passed the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, further amending the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 to create the Section 8 Program. In the Section 8 Program, tenants pay about 30 percent of their income for rent, while the rest of the rent is paid with federal money.

The Section 8 program initially had three subprograms — New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation, and Existing Housing Certificate programs. The Moderate Rehabilitation Program was added in 1978, the Voucher Program in 1983, and the Project-based Certificate program in 1991. The numbers of units a local housing authority can subsidize under its Section 8 programs is determined by Congressional funding. Since its inception, some Section 8 programs have been phased out and new ones created, although Congress has always renewed existing subsidies.

The 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Public Law 110-161) enacted December 26, 2007, allocated $75 million dollars funding the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) voucher program, authorized under section 8(o)(19) of the United States Housing Act of 1937. This new program combines HUD Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance for homeless veterans with case management and clinical service support which is provided by Veterans Affairs administration at its own medical centers and also in the community.[2]

[edit] Summary

Currently, the main Section 8 program involves the voucher program. A voucher may be either "project-based" (where its use is limited to a specific apartment complex; public housing agencies (PHAs) may reserve up to 20% of its vouchers as such[3]) or "tenant-based" (where the tenant is free to choose a unit in the private sector, is not limited to specific complexes, and may reside anywhere in the United States (including Puerto Rico) where a PHA operates a Section 8 program, PHAs are required to send tenants portion, unless proven budget restrictions prevent them).

Under the voucher program, individuals or families with a voucher find and lease a unit (either in a specified complex or in the private sector) and pay a portion of the rent (based on income, but generally no more than 30% (40% being the maximum at time of lease-up) of the family's income).

There is an asset test in addition to earned income. Over a certain amount, HUD will add income even if the Section 8 tenant doesn't receive any interest income from, for example, a bank account.[4][5] HUD calls this "imputed income from assets" and in the case of a bank account, HUD establishes a standard "Passbook Savings Rate" to calculate the imputed income from the asset.[6][7] This makes the tenant's contribution higher since their gross income is made higher.

The PHA pays the landlord the remainder of the rent over the tenant's portion, subject to a cap referred to as "Fair Market Rent" (FMR) which is determined by HUD. FMR is determined by several factors, including:

The landlord cannot charge a Section 8 tenant more than FMR and cannot accept payments outside the contract which would cause the total rent to exceed FMR.

In addition, landlords, though required to meet fair housing laws, are not required to participate in the Section 8 program. As a result, some landlords will not accept a Section 8 tenant. This can be attributed to such factors as:

Depending on state laws, refusing to rent to a tenant solely for the reason that they have Section 8 may be illegal[citation needed]. Landlords can use only general means of disqualifying a tenant (credit, criminal history, past evictions, etc.).

However, other landlords willingly accept Section 8 tenants, due to:

Whether voucher or project-based, all subsidized units must meet HQS, thus ensuring that the family has a healthy and safe place to live. This improvement in the landlord's private property is an important by-product of this program, both for the individual families and for the larger goal of community development.

Applicants may apply for a Section 8 housing voucher at any county or city housing authority office in their state, and use it anywhere statewide once they receive it. However, priority for vouchers is often reserved for those who reside in the service area of that housing authority.

In many localities, the PHA waiting lists for Section 8 vouchers may be thousands of families long, waits of three to six years to access vouchers is common, and many lists are closed to new applicants. When wait lists are briefly opened (often for just five days), which may occur as little as once every seven years, there can be as many as 100,000 applicants for 10,000 spots on the waitlist, with spots being awarded on the basis of weighted or non-weighted lotteries, with priority sometimes given to local residents, the disabled, veterans, and the elderly.[9][10] There is no guarantee that anyone will ever receive a spot on the waiting list.

Families who participate in the program must abide by a series of rules and regulations, often referred to as "family obligations," in order to maintain their voucher, including accurately reporting to the PHA all changes in household income and/or family composition so the amount of their subsidy (and the applicable rental unit size limitation) can be updated accordingly. In recent years, the HUD Office of the Inspector General has spent more time and money on fraud detection and prevention.[citation needed]

[edit] Earned Income Disallowance

There is a provision for disabled people who have a Section 8 subsidized dwelling to have their rent frozen for a specified time if they are working part-time below a certain amount of money. This is called the Earned Income Disallowance or Earned Income Disregard (EID) and is stipulated under US 24 CFR 5.617, "Self-sufficiency incentives for persons with disabilities—Disallowance of increase in annual income". This was enacted as part of Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (QHWRA) (Sec. 508(b); 42 U.S.C. 1437a(d). This requires Public Housing Authorities and some owners, in calculating rent, to temporarily “disregard” increased income earned when certain public housing residents and disabled participants in certain housing assistance programs return/go to work or job-related programs. The idea is to foster self-sufficiency for those who are on subsidies and disability and other assistance.[11][12][13]

[edit] Criticism

Section 8 has been criticized for enabling low-income criminals to reside in suburban communities they would not otherwise be able to afford, and subsequently pursue law-breaking lifestyles in more affluent neighborhoods. The result is that crime has allegedly become more evenly spread out across U.S. metropolitan areas, without any net decrease. This was the core thesis of an article published in The Atlantic in 2008, in which journalist Hanna Rosin linked Section 8 to a crime wave in Memphis, Tennessee.[14] However, Rosin's article was later heavily criticized as badly flawed in an article published on the Web site of The American Prospect.[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Department of Housing and Urban Development and VA's Supported Housing (HUD-VASH) Program
  2. ^ HUD, "Overview of HUD-VASH Vouchers" - US Department of Housing and Urban Development
  3. ^ HUD, "Project Based Vouchers" "Project-based vouchers are a component of a public housing agencies (PHAs) housing choice voucher program. A PHA can attach up to 20 percent of its voucher assistance to specific housing units if the owner agrees to either rehabilitate or construct the units, or the owner agrees to set-aside a portion of the units in an existing development."
  4. ^ Steinberg, Jessica, Esq., "The Income and Assets Test for Section 8 Housing", Legal Network News, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), Winter 2004. "If a family’s net assets are worth more than $5000, the family must count toward annual income the greater of either (1) all income derived from the assets, or (2) a percentage of the total value of the assets based on the passbook savings rate, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) each year. The PHA will never count the full cash value of the asset toward annual income."
  5. ^ HUD, "Housing Choice Voucher Program Guidebook", Chapter 5: Eligibility and Denial of Assistance, p.5-24. January 10, 2008 version. "Calculation When Assets Exceed $5,000: When net family assets are $5,000 or less, use the actual income from assets. When family assets are more than $5,000, use the greater of: Actual income from assets; or A percentage of the value of such assets based upon the current passbook savings rate as established by HUD. This is called imputed income from assets."
  6. ^ "Passbook Savings Rate - Section 8"
  7. ^ HUD, "Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook". "Public Housing Passbook Savings Rate" Another conforming change is related to the passbook savings rate. The Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook suggests that PHAs use a new rate of 2% to be consistent with Multi-Family Housing's passbook savings rate policy. However, as the Office of Housing is updating the passbook savings rate, therefore, PHAs should continue to implement PIH's current policy regarding the passbook savings rate until further notice."
  8. ^ "Landlord Key To DCHA Section 8 Voucher Program", Dane County Housing Authority, Monona, Wisconsin.
  9. ^ http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_17060183
  10. ^ http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Co_Co_County_Housing_Office_Flooded_with_Section_8_Apps.html
  11. ^ HUD, "Admission and Occupancy FAQ Frequently Asked Questions : Treatment of Income (24 CFR 5.609)"
  12. ^ Jordan, Melanie, "Rent Freeze Basics for Public and Subsidized Housing Tenants Who Go to Work: A Guide for Mass. Community Service Providers Resource Guide 11", Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI), University of Massachusetts Boston and Children's Hospital Boston, January 2007
  13. ^ "DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT : 24 CFR Parts 5, 92, 200, 236, 574, 582, 583, 891, 982 Docket No. FR–4608–F–02 RIN 2501–AC72 : Determining Adjusted Income in HUD Programs Serving Persons with Disabilities: Requiring Mandatory Deductions for Certain Expenses", Federal Register, v.66, no.13, Friday, January 19, 2001.
  14. ^ Hanna Rosin, "American Murder Mystery," in The Best American Crime Reporting 2009, eds. Otto Penzler & Thomas H. Cook, 249-276 (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), 255-256.
  15. ^ Greg Anrig and Harold Pollack, "False Accusation," The American Prospect, 30 July 2008.

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