Los Angeles Suspends New Section 8 Applications, Approvals Amid Federal Uncertainty

Citing federal budget uncertainty, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles announced last week that it has stopped accepting new applications for Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs), commonly referred to as Section 8 vouchers that subsidize rents for tens of thousands of city tenants.

In statements to the Los Angeles Times, the organization explained that it made the move because it does not expect Congress to appropriate enough federal funding to continue support for the program this year. As of now, this is only a pause on any new application activity and does not impact those already using a Section 8 voucher in the city.

This week, the group’s HCV director, Carlos Van Natter, said that the changes are likely to lead to a rise in homelessness in Los Angeles.

“The biggest impact would be that we could end up having more folks become homeless,” Van Natter told a local CBS News affiliate on Tuesday.

He added that the authority became aware of the funding issue in December, estimating cuts of $47 million to $114 million. This quickly indicated to the authority that Section 8 would not be sustainable through the end of 2025.

Changes needed to be made “to make sure we don’t get to that point because our highest priority is not terminating the assistance of people already on the program,” he said.

He added that the outcome seems likely. Current beneficiaries are not impacted, and the authority will continue to support the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program to assist unhoused veterans.

But alongside the suspension of new applications also comes the cancellation of the authority’s waiting list for voucher assistance. An estimated 3,300 families currently in the process but not yet approved for vouchers will not be able to move forward.

“That is the sad reality, [the] step we have to take at the moment,” Van Natter said. “There could be others that come. We have families that have vouchers on the street looking for units. At this time, families can continue to search for units, but it could come to pass in the future that we have to suspend those as well.”

Adding to the uncertainty is the potential for a partial federal government shutdown on Friday. This became more likely on Wednesday when Senate Democrats said they would not support a funding plan passed by the House of Representatives earlier this week.

“We have seen some proposals that could help us,” Van Natter told the outlet. “We’ll see by Friday — the continuing resolution March 14 is the deadline. If we get sufficient funding, we might not have to take the drastic measures that we are doing right now.”

Funding problems at the organization were reportedly exacerbated last year when the Biden administration “took back $38 million in reserves from the authority to help fund local agencies elsewhere in the country that were then experiencing shortfalls,” Van Natter told the LA Times.

Since the vouchers subsidize rents, the program is reliant on budget increases since rents steadily increase each year.

Last week, a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers unveiled a proposal to bolster the Section 8 program. It would aim to “improve the federal government’s largest rental assistance program by attracting and retaining participating landlords,” the lawmakers said in an announcement.

“Additionally, it increases funding to the Tribal Department of [HUD] Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program, uses neighborhood-specific data to set rents fairly, reduces inspection delays, and refocuses HUD’s evaluation of housing agencies,” they explained.

A path forward for the bill remains unclear, particularly as the debate over funding the federal budget takes up the most oxygen in Congress right now.