Housing Choice Vouchers

The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program is the nation’s largest low-income rental assistance program. Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and administered locally by public housing authorities (PHAs), Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers serve approximately 2.2 million households, including over 700,000 that are served by CLPHA member PHAs.

The HCV program supports the lowest-income families who struggle to secure safe, affordable housing in the private market. At least 75 percent of new voucher holders must have incomes that are below 30% of their area’s median income.

Latest News

10.2.26

CLPHA Urges HUD to Use the Best Available Data to Calculate Fair Market Rents and Inflation, Keeping Vouchers Available for Families in Safe, High-Quality Housing

Yesterday, CLPHA urged HUD to use the best available data to calculate Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and inflation in order to keep vouchers available for families in safe, high-quality housing in a letter sent to HUD. CLPHA asked HUD to make changes to FY 2027 FMRs methodology announced in the Federal Register on September 1, 2026.

CLPHA's analysis of member agencies found that two-bedroom FMRs rose just 2 percent on average from FY 2026 to FY 2027, and nearly a third of members saw their FMRs decline. Some of the steepest reductions hit high-cost markets, including Salt Lake City (–7.6 percent), Washington, DC (–6.9 percent), San Jose (–6.1 percent), and San Diego (–5.9 percent). Thirty member agencies now have FMRs below their FY 2025 levels, and 11 have seen declines two years in a row.

These cuts come as PHAs face historic funding shortfalls and have already halted voucher issuance and reduced payment standards at HUD's urging. In the letter, CLPHA laid out a clear, concrete, and compelling picture of how FMRs have fallen behind market realities—and how this gap has effectively reduced member area payment standards and program sizes, imperiling housing stability and opportunity for the low-income families and communities that PHAs serve. To support fair, adequate, and consistent funding using the best available data, CLPHA urged HUD to implement the following measures:

Explain and reconsider the reduced weight on private rental data in the notice and update high-volatility markets more frequently.
Validate and refine the new utility inflation factor.
Reassess the trend factor forecast models without delay.
Fund and streamline FMR reevaluations.
Protect PHAs and families from FMR decreases and align RFIFs with actual market conditions.
Restore local discretion to implement Small Area FMRs (SAFMRs).
Provide more time between publication of FMRs and effective dates in the future, so that there is adequate time for comments and thorough review prior to new methodology going into effect.

Steps CLPHA Has Taken on FMR Reform

Yesterday's letter builds on CLPHA's FY 2026 comments, which also called for more frequent FMR updates, funded reevaluations, and local discretion over SAFMRs. Both letters stressed that FMRs also drive Renewal Funding Inflation Factors (RFIFs), so lagging FMRs mean inadequate renewal funding. In 2026, more than half of CLPHA members received a 0 percent inflation factor. Reforming FMRs and RFIFs is a key part of CLPHA’s 2026 Legislative and Regulatory Priorities.

CLPHA will keep pushing HUD for FMRs that reflect real local rents. Accurate FMRs help PHAs get the funding they need to keep serving families with vouchers. They also help families afford safe, quality homes in neighborhoods with good opportunities.

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10.1.26

HUD to Convert All Leased Emergency Housing Voucher Families to Tenant Protection Vouchers

Major Win for CLPHA Members and the Families They Serve

After more than a year of unyielding advocacy by CLPHA and its partners, HUD announced yesterday that it will authorize Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPVs) for all families leased under Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs) as of September 30, 2026. This is a major win for CLPHA members and the residents they serve. Many of CLPHA’s members faced ending assistance for families who had only recently left homelessness. Yesterday’s announcement gives those households a path to stable housing. The rule implements provisions of the 2027 government funding law, which continues HUD funding of EHVs through December 11, 2026.

HUD will email each PHA its EHV-TPV award on October 1, and PHAs may submit corrections by October 15. Agencies must convert all eligible families to EHV-TPV by December 31. Awards include one month of December 2026 funding, so families aren't left without assistance between the end of the CR and new funding. Families already moved from EHV to HCV or PBV are not eligible. EHV-TPVs stay active while the family remains in place and renewal funding is available, but they cannot be reissued once the family leaves the program.

CLPHA encourages members to review the full notice for details on portability, payment standards, and administrative requirements. CLPHA will continue to keep members informed as implementation moves forward. Members with questions for HUD can contact [email protected] or their local HUD field office.

How CLPHA Achieved This Success for Its Members

Protecting EHV households has been a top CLPHA priority since it was announced that EHV funding would run out before the 2030 deadline. CLPHA’s 2026 Legislative and Regulatory Priorities called on Congress and HUD to “provide funding to support EHV households at risk of losing assistance” and to “fully fund Tenant Protection Vouchers and establish a clear process for EHV household transitions.”

In May 2025, CLPHA urged congressional appropriators to provide TPV authority for EHV families. CLPHA also joined a coalition of national housing organizations to advocate for this new authority. CLPHA then mobilized House and Senate appropriations staff and key Congressional offices to ensure Congress understood the dire need for sustainable funding and a clear path to stability for families with expiring EHVs. Congress agreed with CLPHA and our partners by allowing EHVs to transition to TPVs and be funded from $600 million that was made available to TPV program in the most recent government funding law.

In early May 2025, HUD released its annual HCV funding notice that included an incorrect reading of how TPVs should be funded. CLPHA and 12 other national organizations pushed back later in May in a joint letter to HUD Secretary Turner and Assistant Secretary Hobbs. The coalition stated plainly that “it is indisputable that these funds were appropriated for the purpose of issuing TPVs to families with EHVs and warned that HUD’s reading “would create a funding cliff that would leave tens of thousands of families without the assistance they rely on to stay stably housed.” The letter also reminded HUD that “TPV funds are not, and have never been, intended to fill agencies’ short-term financial gaps,” and urged the Department to “quickly publish guidance about how housing agencies can apply for TPVs for households that still have EHVs.”

HUD’s announcement yesterday reflects that the position held by CLPHA and our partners was a clear reading of the law. CLPHA has tracked every step of this effort, and members can find all prior alerts and resources on CLPHA's EHV resource page.

Key Dates

October 1, 2026: HUD will send notice by email of each PHA’s EHV-TPV award. These numbers are based on July 2025 VMS or current IMS/PIC data and include the same administrative fees as HCVs.
October 15, 2026: Deadline to email [email protected] to let HUD know if award numbers aren’t right. EHV-TPVs should equal the number of leased EHV families as of September 30.
December 31: Deadline for converting all eligible EHV families to TPV.

HUD will send final award notices ahead of the December EHV-TPV HAP disbursements. HUD will also announce details soon for a webinar that reviews the notice and walks PHAs through the conversion process and CLPHA will share the date and registration information with members as soon as they are available.

9.8.26

Seattle Times Spotlights King County Housing Authority's Successful Voucher Program for Highline College Students

From The Seattle Times:

After Bilal Ali graduated from high school, he wasn’t able to think about college. His father had just died, leaving him on his own, and he was scrambling to support himself.

When he turned 21, he feared he was missing his chance to get a degree entirely and he enrolled at Highline College in Des Moines. But he still had to work overnight to afford the rent for the two-bedroom apartment in Renton he shared with six older men and he was struggling with so little sleep. Looking back, he doubts he could have finished.

Then, an innovative housing program at the community college changed everything.

Since 2020, Highline College has paired students facing homelessness with housing vouchers provided by the King County Housing Authority, covering their rent for up to four and a half years or until six months after they graduate.

There are 34 community colleges and 37 housing authorities in Washington alone, yet Highline’s is the only program of its kind in the country, experts said.

Fifty students have obtained two- or four-year degrees or certificates in the program’s first five years.

Highline staff argue the results so far show the program is worth the investment.

Community colleges — which serve a broad range of people, including high school students and single parents — can be an affordable path for many to get better jobs. But their students are more likely to struggle with housing. A recent study found 14% of Washington community college students were homeless. At Highline College, it’s 18%.

...

Highline College and King County Housing Authority got the idea for the program from a similar partnership in Tacoma. The housing authority there decided to end that program in 2022, but the one at Highline kept going. It’s even expanded from 40 vouchers to 70.

Tacoma and King County have a federally designated special status that allows them to set aside Section 8 housing vouchers for students.

King County administers the rental assistance similarly to its Section 8 housing assistance program: Students find an apartment where they can use the voucher and pay up to a third of their income toward rent. The voucher covers the rest.

But unlike other government-funded housing vouchers, these are time limited and directly tied to the students’ progress in school.

Students have to go to school full time, pass their classes and meet quarterly with an adviser to make sure they’re on track to graduate — either with an associate degree or a bachelor’s of applied science.

Read The Seattle Times' full article.