President Trump has repeatedly promised to “make America affordable again.” But for those Americans most in need, his administration’s latest budget plan would dramatically shrink the federal rental aid that helps keep millions of people housed.
In its request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the White House called the current system of federal rental assistance “dysfunctional” and proposed essentially ending Section 8 and other housing voucher programs. Its plan calls for cutting rental aid by about 40% and sending that money to states “to design their own rental assistance programs based on their unique needs and preferences.”
It would also impose a two-year cap on rental assistance for able-bodied adults, which it said would ensure an even bigger share of federal subsidies went to the elderly and disabled.
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In a statement, HUD Secretary Scott Turner called the budget request “bold” for reimagining aid programs that have become “too bloated and bureaucratic to efficiently function.”
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Already, federal rental aid falls far short of need. It’s available for only about a quarter of all people eligible for it. “Cutting that really feels like cutting into bone,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
The president’s budget is only a suggestion, since Congress holds authority over spending and will create its own budget. {snip}
Some congressional Republicans have already targeted healthcare and food aid for next year’s budget, but “I don’t think Congress has the appetite to enact cuts to the housing programs,” says Kevin Corinth, with the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He sees the White House getting a kind of “free pass” to propose more ambitious HUD cuts that likely will not actually happen.
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While the White House budget blueprint would significantly shrink federal rental aid that helps millions of people, it said states could choose to pitch in with their own funding to make sure the same number of people are covered.
The plan does give states more flexibility on how they can use that smaller pool of money, by sending it in the form of block grants. Welfare funding works this way. Over time, however, many states have diverted much, if not most, of that money to things other than cash aid for poor families.
Housing advocates noted all this would be disruptive not only for tenants, but also for the millions of landlords who receive federal rental aid.
Another part of Trump’s budget calls for shrinking HUD funding for homelessness by 12% and putting a two-year cap on people’s eligibility for aid. It also proposes a fundamental shift in how homelessness funding is allocated that would bypass thousands of local nonprofits and give the money directly to states.
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This change would also upend decades of federal policy by moving money away from permanent housing and toward shelters and shorter-term housing.
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Beyond rental aid cuts, the White House budget for HUD would eliminate a program that creates more affordable housing, and another that funds nonprofits to enforce fair housing laws.
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