Posted on November 3, 2015 by Douglas Rice in Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, By Douglas Rice Two important new studies reinforce the already strong case for restoring the rest of the 100,000 Housing Choice Vouchers cut by the March 2013 sequestration and using a large share to reduce homelessness, as the President has proposed. Funding increases in 2014 and 2015 have enabled state and local housing agencies to restore roughly a third of the lost vouchers, but the need for housing assistance continues to grow, and the studies highlight vouchers’ effectiveness in reducing homelessness and producing other short- and long-term gains for families. In the 2016 funding legislation that policymakers will negotiate over the next several weeks, they should include sufficient funding to renew all vouchers that families are using this year, provide an additional $470 million to restore the remaining vouchers cut by sequestration, and target these vouchers to reduce homelessness and meet other urgent needs.
