Although traditional public housing may be more familiar to the public, since the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) has become the primary vehicle for the federal government’s efforts to provide an adequate supply of low-income housing. In the HCVP, families receive a federal rental subsidy to assist them in locating and being able to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing on the private market.
The HCVP is generally administered by the local Public Housing Authority (PHA).1 Therefore, it is important when embarking on any representation or advocacy involving the HCVP to determine and locate the local PHA with jurisdiction over the region in which your work is directed. The PHA must adopt a written Administrative Plan that establishes local policies for administration of the program in accordance with HUD requirements. The Administrative Plan must be made available for public review; contact your local PHA and get a copy of its plan to keep as a reference for all disputes you may have under the HCVP program.2
The plan will address selection and admission of new tenants, establishment and administration of the waitlist, extensions and suspensions of the voucher search period, occupancy policies, termination or denial of assistance based on criminal activity and other grounds, promotion of new areas for low-income housing, assistance to families claiming to have been illegally discriminated against in housing, disapproval of owners, absence of family members from the unit, informal review procedures, repayment of monies owed by family back to PHA, Housing Quality Standards, inspection guidelines, and more.3
- 1See generally 42 U.S.C. § 1437f; 24 C.F.R. pt. 982.
- 2 Hous. Auth. of New Orleans, Housing Choice Voucher Program Administrative Plan (2021); see Agency Plans, Hous. Auth. of New Orleans (last visited Apr. 17, 2021) (collecting other HANO plans).
- 3See 24 C.F.R. § 982.54.