Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) announced today that the Interior Appropriations Act of 2010, enacted into law on Oct. 30, restored a funding shortfall for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, following Webb’s request.
Sen. Webb highlighted the funding shortfall and pushed for a provision in the legislation in an Oct. 20 letter to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. If the shortfall had not been addressed, an estimated 10,000 families nationwide, including over a thousand families in Virginia, could have lost their homes before the end of the year.
“More than a thousand Virginians in the Hampton, Roanoke, Richmond, and Portsmouth areas were at risk of losing their homes,” said Sen. Webb. “I’m pleased this funding for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program will ensure that these families keep a roof over their heads.”
The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s single largest low-income housing program. It provides monthly rental assistance to around 2 million low-income households each year, and is administered by public housing agencies (PHAs). For PHAs in Virginia, the funding shortfall largely resulted from rising rents and falling tenant incomes.
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