100,000 Families At Risk of Housing Hardships

"More than 100,000 low-income families could lose their rent subsidies next year under a spending bill passed...by a Senate committee and recently approved by the House, housing advocates said." If the Congressional Budget Office study that is cited by housing advocates is correct, "it could be the first time in the 30-year history of the federal housing voucher program that Congress has failed to renew all existing vouchers. At that rate, the same sum of money would mean 114,000 fewer vouchers in the coming year." Housing advocates say that "rapidly rising costs combined with high unemployment had pushed up the costs of subsidies beyond the increase approved by the House. The cost of a voucher increases when rents go up and income levels decrease....To ensure that all vouchers were paid for, Congress has in previous years often appropriated more money than necessary....The new formula requires an extremely accurate prediction of costs to keep all vouchers renewed."

Thanks to Connie Chung