$5 Billion Rental Assistance Fund Set to Run Out of Cash

A “quiet panic” has set in among housing authorities across the US as a $5 billion fund that helps people on the verge of homelessness pay rent is set to run out of money — with no plan in place to replace it.

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development sent letters to local housing authorities in early March informing them that the Emergency Housing Voucher program is expiring with “the expectation that no additional funding from HUD will be forthcoming,” reports Ben Christopher for News From The States.

“For the housing authority staff who received the letter, it remains unclear whether the program is winding down simply because it has run out of funds on its own accord or whether it represents a policy shift from the Trump administration, which has been on an aggressive and often uncoordinated cost cutting tear across the federal bureaucracy,” writes Christopher. 

The program supports roughly 60,000 renters and specifically targets the people in most dire need: “people currently living on the street or in shelters, those just on the verge of homelessness and anyone fleeing domestic violence or human trafficking.” 

Read News From The States’ detailed report below.