Federal funding cuts have forced the King County Housing Authority to remove more than 4,000 low-income households from its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program waiting list. Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers are the principal form of housing assistance to poor households and individuals in the rising Seattle-King County rental market.

"This is a sad day in King County for low-income seniors, people with disabilities and poor working families,” said Stephen Norman, executive director of the Housing Authority. “We truly regret having to eliminate so many households from our waiting list. However, federal budget cuts have just about eliminated our ability to help families not already enrolled in the program. Further reductions in federal funding for the program are anticipated over the next several years, and we cannot, in good conscience, continue to offer false hope to households who are waiting in line for assistance. There is no chance that the families in the bottom three-quarters of the waiting list will receive a voucher in the foreseeable future.”

Families cut from the waiting list were notified of their status by letter this week.

Currently, about 8,100 households in King County use the federally funded voucher program to pay for their housing. More than 5,100 households were on the Section 8 waiting list when the federal cutback began. Users of vouchers typically pay about 30 percent of their income for rent, with the voucher covering the remainder of the rental cost for a modestly priced unit. Due to funding limitations, the voucher program assists only a fraction of households that are eligible for it.

"The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is absolutely critical to King County, Seattle and the rest of the country,” said Mr. Norman. “KCHA will continue to push hard for full funding so that the housing needs of our community can be met.”

KCHA and other housing authorities have been facing an unprecedented decrease in federal support for the Housing Choice Voucher program. In January, KCHA was informed that the budget for its Section 8 program had been cut $3.5 million by Congress. Last week, KCHA was successful, with assistance of Sen. Patty Murray, in getting $755,000 in funding returned to the budget. This reduces the budget gap for the year to $2.7 million. This gap is being closed by eliminating rent increases, lowering the amount of subsidy being provided to each participating household and retiring vouchers when a household leaves the program.

In the event that additional funding is restored next year by Congress, KCHA is retaining the top 1,000 households on the list. Although no family still on the waiting list will receive assistance this year, KCHA is hopeful that at least some of these households could get a voucher within the next few years.

Other housing assistance opportunities for poor families in King County are limited or already at full capacity. The average wait for a public housing unit, for example, is 18 months. Without a decent, affordable place to live, the families cut from the waiting list face homelessness, impossibly high rent payments and dependence on food banks and charities to feed their families. Many will be forced to live in substandard or overcrowded housing, doubling or even tripling up with friends or relatives.

Federal cuts to the program also affect the region’s ability to deliver on the 10-year plan to end homelessness. The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is a key component in the regional strategy to end, not merely manage, homelessness. With market rents so much higher than wages, already homeless households and poor households that are stressed to the financial breaking point are unlikely to obtain adequate shelter without the assistance of the federal subsidy.

KCHA administers a range of quality affordable rental and homeownership programs for residents of King County. The Authority serves more than 17,000 families, elderly and disabled households on a daily basis.