Public Housing
Results per page: 50 | 100
Results by year: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006
-
Off the Charts Blog: In Case You Missed It...
May 17, 2013
-
Sequestration Could Deny Rental Assistance to 140,000 Low-Income Families
April 2, 2013
The budget cuts known as “sequestration,” initiated on March 1, will likely force state and local housing agencies to cut the number of low-income families using Housing Choice Vouchers to afford housing by roughly 140,000 by early 2014.[1] This represents a sharp break from Congress’ bipartisan commitment — … -
Policy Basics: Federal Rental Assistance
January 25, 2013
What Is Federal Rental Assistance? Federal rental assistance enables 5 million low-income households to afford modest homes. Three major programs — Housing Choice Vouchers, Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance, and Public Housing — assist about 90 percent of these households. Other programs serve households with special needs, including the “202” and “811” Supportive Housing Programs for the Elderly and for People with Disabilities; Housing … -
Policy Basics: Introduction to Public Housing
Updated January 25, 2013
What Is Public Housing? Public housing is one of the nation’s three main rental assistance programs, along with “Section 8” vouchers and project-based rental assistance. Public housing developments provide affordable homes to 2.2 million low-income Americans. Where Is … -
Methodology: State Fact Sheets on Federal Rental Assistance
Updated December 19, 2012
Data on renter households in each state are CBPP tabulations of the 2011 American Community Survey (ACS). The number of renter households includes households renting for cash rent and no cash rent, excluding households living in group quarters. Total households is the sum of renter households and all households that own their homes, with or without a mortgage or other loan. Monthly household income is the … -
National and State Housing Data Fact Sheets
Updated December 19, 2012
Federal Rental Assistance About 35 percent of all U.S. households – or 41 million households – are renters. Federal rental assistance programs enable more than 4.9 million low-income households in U.S. to rent modest housing at an affordable cost. About 56 percent of these households are headed by people who are elderly or have disabilities; … -
Non-Defense Discretionary Programs Will Face Serious Pressures Under Current Funding Caps
Revised December 6, 2012
President Obama and Congress achieved $1.5 trillion in discretionary program cuts over the next ten years primarily by setting tight caps on annual discretionary funding in the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011.[1] Congress adhered to those caps in 2012 in writing its appropriations bills for that year, but has yet to enact final … -
Bill to Simplify Housing Program Administration Contains a Few Promising Proposals, But Numerous Problematic Ones
November 15, 2012
Legislation that Senators Mike Johanns (R-NE) and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced in September (S. 3538) seeks to reduce administrative burdens and complexities for small local agencies that operate the federal low-income housing programs. These public housing agencies (PHAs) would realize administrative savings under the bill, but it … -
Testimony of Will Fischer, Senior Policy Analyst, Before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
August 1, 2012
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am Will Fischer, Senior Policy Analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Center is an independent, nonprofit policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of federal and state policy issues affecting low- and moderate-income families. The … -
Senate Funding Bill Improves on President's Budget Request for Rental Assistance
May 22, 2012
The Senate Committee on Appropriations has approved funding legislation for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that improves upon President Obama's budget request for fiscal year 2013 in several ways, including: Providing $17.5 billion for the renewal of Housing Choice Vouchers, $250 million above the Administration's … -
President's Proposal to Raise Rents on Some of the Nation's Poorest Households Would Cause Serious Hardship
March 20, 2012
The President’s budget proposes to raise the rents charged to more than 500,000 of the nation’s poorest families. It would do this by raising to $75 a month the “minimum rent” charged to the poorest families in the rental assistance programs that the Department of Housing and Urban Development administers and eliminating state … -
President’s Budget Not Sufficient to Renew Rental Assistance Fully for Low-Income Households
March 14, 2012
The President's fiscal year 2013 budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is at least $1.7 billion below the amount needed to fully renew rental assistance provided this year under HUD's three major rental assistance programs for low-income households: the Housing Choice voucher, public housing, and Section 8 … -
HUD Rental Assistance in Rural and Urban Areas Fact Sheet
February 13, 2012
http://www.cbpp.org/files/RentalAssistance-RuralFactsheetandMethodology.pdf -
Contrary to "Entitlement Society" Rhetoric, Over Nine-Tenths of Entitlement Benefits Go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households
February 10, 2012
Some conservative critics of federal social programs, including leading presidential candidates, are sounding an alarm that the United States is rapidly becoming an “entitlement society” in which social programs are undermining the work ethic and creating a large class of Americans who prefer to depend on government benefits rather … -
Proposal to Greatly Expand “Moving To Work” Initiative Risks Deep Cuts in Housing Assistance Over Time
January 10, 2012
A recent proposal from Representative Gary Miller (R-CA) to permit an unlimited expansion of the Moving to Work (MTW) demonstration, which now exempts 35 housing agencies from nearly all federal housing laws and regulations so they can experiment with alternative ways of administering low-income housing aid, risks deep cuts to housing … -
Proposed Change in HUD’s “Minimum Rent” Policy Could Raise Rents for Several Hundred Thousand Poor Families
Revised November 28, 2011
Leadership of the House Financial Services Committee recently circulated draft legislation that could increase rental costs for several hundred thousand extremely poor families that receive federal housing assistance. Families in every state could face rent increases that could total $300 a year or more (see Appendix 1). The change … -
Testimony: Will Fischer, Senior Policy Analyst, Before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity
October 13, 2011
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am Will Fischer, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Center is an independent, non-profit policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of federal and state policy issues affecting low- and moderate-income families. The Center's housing work … -
Expansion of HUD’s “Moving-To-Work” Demonstration Is Not Justified
September 27, 2011
Proposals before Congress would sharply expand HUD's Moving-to-Work (MTW) demonstration, which allows HUD to grant broad waivers of federal statutes and regulations to agencies that administer the public housing and Section 8 voucher programs in order to test experimental policies. An expansion of MTW is not justified: it would reduce the … -
Letter from 810 Groups Urging Senate Banking Committee to Act on Section 8 Reform Legislation
September 21, 2011
-
House Bill’s Deep Cuts in Public Housing Would Raise Future Federal Costs and Harm Vulnerable Low-Income Families
September 16, 2011
A House Appropriations subcommittee last week voted to reduce funding for public housing in 2012 by $1.4 billion, or 20 percent, below the 2011 level. This reduction, which would come on top of significant reductions in public housing capital funding over the past decade, would expose low-income households in public housing to … -
Testimony: Barbara Sard, Vice President for Housing Policy, Before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Support
June 23, 2011
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am Barbara Sard, Vice President for Housing Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Center is an independent, nonprofit policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of federal and state policy issues affecting low- and moderate-income families. … -
State-By-State Fact Sheets: Federal Rental Assistance
Updated May 4, 2011
This page is no longer being updated. For the most recent data on federal rental assistance please see this page. For each state, the linked fact sheet has data on each of the major federal rental assistance programs and the unmet need for housing assistance. The sources of the various data in the fact sheet for each state are explained here. To view the … -
Impact of the House Republican FY 2012 Budget on Housing and Community Development Programs
April 26, 2011
-
Converting Funding of Some Public Housing Developments to Section 8 Subsidies Would Help Preserve Needed Units
March 25, 2011
The Obama Administration’s 2012 budget proposes a demonstration project to fund a limited number of public housing developments through the “Section 8” rental assistance program rather than the public housing program. These conversions should help preserve the nation’s stock of public housing by giving … -
Off the Charts Blog Post: Keeping Public Housing in Good Repair
March 25, 2011
-
House Spending Bill Renews Most Low-Income Rental Assistance but Would Undercut Efforts to Reduce Homelessness and Meet Other Critical Housing Needs
March 7, 2011
Legislation that the House of Representatives recently passed to cut funding for non-security discretionary programs in the current year (fiscal 2011) would provide adequate funding for several major low-income rental assistance programs — for renewal of Housing Choice vouchers and Section 8 project-based rental assistance … -
Local Estimates of Public Housing Capital Fund Cuts Under House GOP Bill
March 7, 2011
The 2011 funding proposal (H.R. 1) that the House of Representatives passed on February 19 would reduce public housing capital funding by nearly $1.1 billion, or 43 percent, compared to the 2010 level. This cut would prevent local housing agencies from carrying out needed repairs to public housing developments, such as replacing boilers or fixing roofs. To … -
Off the Charts Blog Post: “Nightline” Exposé on Public Housing Tells Incomplete Story
January 28, 2011
-
Comparison Between Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) and Current Law
December 9, 2010
-
Podcast: Transforming Rental Assistance
April 27, 2010
Will Fischer, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center, discusses the President’s plan to preserve affordable housing. Duration: 4:22
-
Obama Budget Includes Major Plan to Preserve Needed Affordable Housing
March 16, 2010
The President’s $350 million Transforming Rental Assistance (TRA) initiative, outlined in his fiscal 2011 budget, would enable local housing agencies and private owners to more easily preserve affordable housing, in part by giving them more adequate and sustainable funding to operate it. As a result, TRA would help preserve an estimated … -
Sharp Expansion of HUD’s “Moving-To-Work” Demonstration Raises Serious Concerns
January 22, 2010
A proposal before Congress would sharply expand HUD’s Moving-to-Work (MTW) demonstration. Unless important limitations are added, this expansion would reduce the number of families receiving housing assistance by shifting funds out of the Section 8 housing voucher program. It also would expose more low-income families to … -
Investing Climate Revenues in Subsidized Housing Energy Efficiency Would Cut Emissions and Lower Federal Costs
July 7, 2009
The federal government spends more than $3 billion per year on utility costs in public housing and privately owned subsidized housing. Investments that increase energy efficiency in subsidized developments can lower those expenditures and generate long-term federal savings that would offset much of the up-front cost. Those … -
Testimony: Will Fischer, Senior Policy Analyst, at the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
June 4, 2009
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am Will Fischer, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Center is an independent, nonprofit policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of federal and state policy issues affecting low- and moderate- income families. … -
Decade of Neglect Has Weakened Federal Low-Income Housing Programs
February 25, 2009
A large and growing number of low-income renters face unaffordable housing costs. Federal housing programs have proven effective in enabling millions of low-income households to obtain stable, decent housing, but a funding squeeze and various actions taken by Congress and the Bush Administration have weakened these programs considerably, just when the need is rising.… -
Preserving Safe, High Quality Public Housing Should Be a Priority of Federal Housing Policy
Revised October 8, 2008
This report, based on significant new research, examines the state of public housing in the United States today and discusses federal policy changes that have greatly improved public housing over the past decade, as well as the deteriorating funding situation that is undermining this progress. It then outlines several policy … -
House Bill Makes Significant Improvements In “Hope Vi” Public Housing Revitalization Program
Revised January 30, 2008
On January 17, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 3524, the HOPE VI Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2007, by a vote of 271 – 130. The bill reauthorizes the program for 7 years, while making a number of important improvements. Historically, HOPE VI — which provides grants to public housing agencies to … -
Public Housing Squeezed Between Higher Utility Costs and Stagnant Funding
October 11, 2006
The nation’s public housing units provide affordable homes to about 1.1 million low-income households, approximately half of which are headed by people who are elderly or have disabilities. The local housing agencies that administer these units are required by federal law to rent them to low-income families at rents the families can afford. Those rents are often inadequate to … -
Inspector General Reports on HUD’s Moving To Work Demonstration Raise Serious Questions
July 13, 2006
A series of reports by HUD’s Inspector General have found serious flaws in the implementation of the Moving to Work (MTW) housing demonstration, including ineffective oversight by HUD and poor use of funds by some local housing agencies. These findings, considered together with other risks posed by MTW, suggest that …




