In Miami-Dade, a funding shortfall has caused a freeze on new Section 8 rental vouchers, leaving hundreds of low-income tenants in limbo. A federal order led local officials to halt new applications after a $77 million shortfall was identified. Despite receiving about $330 million aimed at administering roughly 20,000 vouchers, the area's rising rent and changes in HUD funding have exacerbated the crisis. As a result, the waitlist of nearly 5,000 people remains stagnant, reflecting a broader nationwide issue in balancing available funding and the increasing cost of housing.
Hundreds of people waiting for rent vouchers in Miami-Dade will have to wait even longer as county administrators face a federal order to stop considering most new applications for the Section 8 program.
County administrators this week said that rising rents and funding decisions by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) caused the shortfall in a county-administered program.
Right now because of the shortfall, nobody is coming off of the waitlist," said Clarence Brown, the division director overseeing Section 8 programs in the county's Housing and Community Development Department.
In a Feb. 26 letter to Miami-Dade, a HUD official said the county's Section 8 program was expected to fall short of its anticipated federal allocation this year.
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