{"id":131645,"date":"2026-01-13T14:01:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/131645\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T14:01:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:01:19","slug":"section-8-housing-assistance-in-jeopardy-from-proposed-cuts-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/131645\/","title":{"rendered":"Section 8 housing assistance in jeopardy from proposed cuts, restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article<\/a> was produced by Capital & Main. It is published here with permission.<\/p>\n

More than 5 million people\u00a0rely on Section 8, the nation\u2019s largest housing assistance program<\/a>, to help pay their rent. Without it, many low-income families would be priced out of Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City and other expensive housing markets.<\/p>\n

But tenants across the nation stand to lose access to Section 8 vouchers under proposals by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress that would slash funding, limit the number of people who could receive assistance and, critics say, fuel the homelessness and housing crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One proposal by House Republicans, which would fund the Section 8 program at 2025 levels with no increase to account for rising rents, could result in more than 400,000 fewer people receiving Section 8 vouchers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive-leaning think tank. Another proposal by Senate Republicans would provide more funding than the House bill, but not enough to keep up with rent hikes, and could still result in 250,000 fewer people receiving Section 8 assistance. Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed a more draconian plan to slash the program\u2019s funding by 43%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Congress has until Jan. 30, when the November stopgap measure to reopen the government expires, to determine whether or how deeply to cut the Section 8 program.<\/p>\n

Under the Section 8 program, voucher-holders pay about a third of their income to rent market-rate apartments and the government covers the rest. That assistance can be life-changing, especially in cities like LA, where a renter needs to make more than $74,000 per year to comfortably afford the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment, according to\u00a0apartmentlist.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

About 85,000 households in Los Angeles County receive rent subsidies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Theresa Winkler, 62, uses Section 8 vouchers to rent a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo by Robin Urevich\/Capital & Main)<\/p>\n

Among those receiving subsidies is Theresa Winkler, 62, who counts herself lucky to have used her voucher to rent a modern, one-bedroom apartment in downtown LA two years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you not love this building?\u201d Winkler said as she showed off the washer-dryer, kitchen appliances and a sunny spot where two large pet turtles swim in an aquarium. \u201cIt\u2019s quiet, and there\u2019s security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Safety is important for Winkler, who used to live in a building for formerly homeless individuals. About a year after moving in, she said she was hospitalized after a neighbor with mental health and substance-use issues wandered into the room where she\u2019d lived previously and attacked her. Now, she said, she enjoys peace and quiet.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, only about a quarter\u00a0of households whose incomes are low enough to qualify for Section 8 can participate because funding has long been insufficient, according to the Congressional Research Service.<\/p>\n

Another longstanding issue: Despite anti-discrimination laws<\/a> in California, Washington, D.C., and 23 other states, many landlords won\u2019t accept housing vouchers, often because they\u2019re wary of government bureaucracy or because of the stigma associated with government assistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Capital & Main\u00a0investigation<\/a>\u00a0of 65 properties owned by some of LA\u2019s largest landlords found that many flout anti-discrimination laws, including a 2024 California measure that prohibits rejecting tenants with housing assistance solely based on\u00a0credit history<\/a>.\u00a0Only one company\u2019s leasing agents<\/a>\u00a0categorically rejected people seeking Section 8 housing in many of its buildings.\u00a0But many others\u00a0said they would deny rentals to people with housing assistance based solely on credit history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cutting back on federal Section 8 spending would only add to the obstacles, making it harder for families to obtain vouchers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Either the House or Senate proposals would represent \u201cone of the most severe funding shortfalls in history\u201d for the Section 8 program, said Eric Oberdorfer, director of policy and legislative affairs at the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, a trade group for housing authorities and community development agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Video courtesy of Capital & Main)<\/p>\n

Regardless of what Congress does, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed its own massive changes to Section 8 eligibility.<\/p>\n

In July, the agency, led by Secretary Scott Turner, proposed federal rule changes that could imperil housing for millions of people who currently receive assistance, according to Will Fischer, deputy director of housing policy for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The largest reduction would come from a proposal to allow local housing authorities to limit the amount of time a family could receive aid and require able-bodied recipients to work in exchange for housing assistance. Another new rule would bar families with undocumented members from receiving housing aid.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deborah Thrope, deputy director of the San Francisco-based National Housing Law Project, a tenant advocacy group, fears the new rules would cause people to lose their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe administration is gutting the federal housing programs,\u201d Thrope said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in a statement that \u201ctime limits will encourage work and self-sufficiency for able-bodied residents and help expand the number of eligible families who can be served through HUD rental assistance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new requirements would \u201cput an end to the cycle of dependence on government handouts,\u201d Lovett said. \u201cGovernment subsidies were never meant to be a hammock. Instead, they are designed to be a trampoline that restores dignity and pride.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Turner is a Baptist minister and former professional football player who has signaled a shift in HUD\u2019s focus from aid programs for Americans to self-help and faith in God. His agenda mirrors elements of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation\u2019s blueprint for a second Trump term that criticized HUD programs that \u201ctend to perpetuate the notion of bureaucratically provided housing as a basic life need\u201d and housing assistance that \u201ctoo often\u201d has led to \u201cintergenerational poverty traps.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That new approach to housing under the Trump administration is apparently front and center on the HUD website, where the home page features a Turner quote set against the backdrop of a suburban cul-de-sac. <\/p>\n

\u201cGod blessed us with this great nation, and together we can increase self-sufficiency and empower Americans to climb the economic ladder toward a brighter future,\u201d the quote reads.<\/p>\n

Last year, during the Biden administration, the most prominent language on\u00a0HUD\u2019s homepage<\/a>\u00a0was \u201cHelping you meet your housing needs. HUD provides housing support and uplifts communities. Let us guide your next steps to the right place.\u201d That was followed by a link to the agency\u2019s housing programs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Locked Out\u2019 series<\/p>\n

This article is part of a series<\/a> produced by Capital & Main.<\/p>\n

\u25b6 Part 1: <\/a>This big LA landlord turned away people seeking Section 8 housing
\u25b6 Part 2:<\/a> How some of LA\u2019s biggest apartment owners avoid Section 8 tenants
\u25b6Part 3: <\/a>Credit History Remains an Obstacle for Section 8 Tenants, Despite Anti-Discrimination Law<\/p>\n

Data is scant\u00a0on the effects of work requirements on people who depend on housing assistance, said Claudia Aiken, director of new research partnerships at New York University\u2019s Furman Center. But such requirements \u201cdrastically reduce program participation\u201d in food assistance, Medicaid and welfare programs, she said on a webinar in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thrope, with the National Housing Law Project, said the other HUD proposal to bar undocumented family members from sharing subsidized apartments with U.S. citizens or permanent resident relatives could cause some 20,000 households to lose their homes.<\/p>\n

The idea of the current rule is to \u201ckeep families together,\u201d Thrope said, adding that the administration\u2019s proposal could disproportionately affect cities like Los Angeles and New York with large immigrant populations.<\/p>\n

Under existing rules, undocumented people \u2014 who are ineligible for housing assistance \u2014 are allowed to live with family members who are eligible. But, if for example, a family of five includes one undocumented member, the family\u2019s aid is reduced by one-fifth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The HUD spokesperson didn\u2019t respond to Capital & Main\u2019s questions about whether the rule might increase homelessness in areas where many immigrants live, saying only that \u201cillegals should not be in public housing. HUD-funded housing is for American citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

In downtown LA, Winkler is a longtime member of a group of formerly unhoused people who lobby on issues of housing and homelessness. She worries that budget cuts would only make the city\u2019s housing problems worse.<\/p>\n

The years she spent on the streets still haunt her, she said, recalling how recent rains<\/a> brought back frightening memories of surviving outdoors during wet weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have severe PTSD. When the storm was coming in, I almost had a breakdown,\u201d she said. Budget cuts, she said, \u201cwouldn\u2019t solve anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capital & Main<\/a> is an award-winning nonprofit publication that reports from California on the most pressing economic, environmental and social issues of our time, including economic inequality, climate change, health care, threats to democracy, hate and extremism and immigration.\u200b<\/p>\n

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