Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Reform Proposals

Representatives Maxine Waters (D-CA), Judy Biggert (R-IL), Barney Frank (D-MA) and Chris Shays (R-CT) introduced the Section Eight Voucher Reform Act, which would streamline the Housing Choice Voucher formula and permanently address a formula problem that led to the loss of 150,000 vouchers over 3 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, they could temporarily borrow from the following year’s allotment.

The bill also reforms the financing of “portability” moves, so that families can more easily exercise their right to move with a voucher and agencies can save burdensome paperwork and avoid cash-flow problems.

SEVRA simplifies the rules governing the calculation of rents in public housing, project-based Section 8 properties, and the voucher program. Tenants would still be required to pay 30 percent of their income toward the rent, but the bill would streamline the process for determining tenants’ incomes and deductions. Income of families on fixed income would only have to be recertified every 3 years.

SEVRA also includes some modest changes in housing inspection rules designed to ease burdens on agencies and encourage landlords to offer apartments to voucher holders.

Latest News: On Thursday, July 12, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1851, the Section Eight Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA). The bill passed the House with strong bipartisan support with a vote of 333-83. SEVRA would correct the voucher funding formula which has resulted in approximately 150,000 lost vouchers since 2004, and it would authorize 20,000 new Section 8 vouchers every year for the next five years. The bill also makes some changes to ensure that voucher tenants are not displaced, and it simplifies the way rents are calculated while continuing the cap on residents’ rents at 30% of adjusted income. During the debate, several amendments offered by Republicans, including ones time limits on vouchers and work requirements on those receiving them, were defeated.

The Senate will take up its version of a Section 8 reform bill, but it is unclear when.