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On November 18, the President signed the final fiscal year (FY) 2012 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriations bill into law. The legislation provides $18.91 billion for Housing Choice Vouchers, which is $500 million above the FY 2011 enacted level (but approximately $300 million below the Administration’s proposed level of $19.2 billion) and includes:

• $75 million for an estimated 11,538 new HUD-VA Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers for homeless veterans, an increase of $25 million from FY 2011;
• No funding for the Family Unification Program; and
• $17.24 billion for Section 8 renewals.

The legislation includes no funding for any sort of Housing for Homeless Persons Demonstration, as included in the President's FY 2012 Budget Proposal.

Efforts are currently underway in the House to move forward with various reforms of the Section 8 program. On Thursday, October 13, the House Housing Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity held a hearing entitled “The Section 8 Savings Act of 2011: Proposals to Promote Economic Independence for Assisted Families.” The hearing accompanied the release of the second draft of the Section 8 Savings Act (SESA), which includes many changes from previous efforts begun by the 111th Congress.

The Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) and SESA are the two most significant efforts to reform Section 8 to come out of the House recently. A chart covering the basic information about each proposed reform bill can be found here.

About the Section 8 Program
The Section 8 program provides rental assistance for low-income households, with 75 percent of funds being targeted at households living at or below 30 percent of area median income (AMI). Section 8 tenant-based assistance follows participating individuals and families, regardless of whether or not they move over the course of their subsidy. Participants in the program pay 30 percent of their incomes toward housing costs, with the program paying the remainder up to a set maximum amount. These vouchers are the leading form of low-income housing assistance, serving over two million households, including families with children, elderly households, and people with disabilities.

About SEVRA and SESA
There has been an ongoing attempt to reform the Housing Choice Voucher program in this and previous congresses. The previous effort, known as the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) would streamline the Housing Choice Voucher program and permanently address a formula problem that led to the loss of 150,000 vouchers over three years. Under SEVRA, funding for vouchers would be based on each public housing agency’s actual spending for vouchers in the previous year. Any public housing agencies with large unspent balances would have some of their reserves reallocated to agencies that could immediately assist families on their waiting lists. If a public housing agency faced a shortfall, it could temporarily borrow from the following year’s allotment. The bill would also reform the financing of “portability” moves, so that families could more easily exercise their right to move with a voucher and agencies could save burdensome paperwork and avoid cash-flow problems.

The current Congress has proposed a different model for reforming Section 8, known as the Section 8 Savings Act (SESA). Initially introduced by the House Financial Services Committee, SESA incorporates many of the changes proposed by the December, 2010 version of SEVRA, but has some unique aspects, as well. Like SEVRA, SESA extends project-based voucher contracts to be extended an additional five years, up to 20 years; however, SESA does not make any additional changes to budget authorities or areas that can be authorized for PBVs. The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity held a hearing in June entitled "Legislative Proposals to reform the Housing Choice Voucher Program" where they discussed SESA and additional changes to be made. The Committee is expected to hold another hearing on SESA in September.

Reform of the Housing Choice Voucher program for the first time in ten years will help the program continue to provide affordable housing to millions of households, while using federal resources more efficiently. For a more in-depth analysis of the two proposals, please see "Comparison of Section 8 Voucher Reform Proposals" below.