The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) recently released a report detailing the usage of Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV). The report finds that in 2010, 2,083,187 families in the United States used HCVs yet only 91 percent of the National authorized vouchers were utilized. More importantly, the percentage of authorized vouchers being used has declined since 2004 which, as indicated by CBPP, represents the loss of assistance for over 113,000 low-income families. This is particularly troubling in a time when 9,354,142 low-income renter households are considered to have severe housing cost burdens or are paying more than half their monthly cash income towards housing costs. CBPP also estimates that in 2011, housing agencies that administer HCVs will have enough voucher funding to serve up to 95,772 more families than in 2010. In light of this, CBPP has called upon Congress to enable and encourage these administering agencies to use more of the available funding by enacting the funding policy improvements within the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA).
To read the full report click here.
