[Jeanfromfillmore]

Public Housing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) runs three primary housing programs that provide assistance to low-income citizens: the public housing program (through the Operating Fund and the Capital Fund); Section 8 Project Based Assistance; and Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. Under the President’s budget, total estimated spending will be $37 billion in FY 2011. These programs subsidize the rent of about 4 million low-income households annually. According to the Office of Management and Budget, housing assistance programs are scheduled to spend $235 billion overall over the next five years.
Each of these programs is run through quasi-governmental agencies at the local level, known as Public Housing Authorities (PHAs). The approximately 4,200 PHAs around the country manage, operate, and generally oversee the administrative functions of federally funded public housing. Although the programs differ slightly, they all serve basically the same population of low-income people. In general, eligibility is limited to those with incomes at or less than 80 percent or 50 percent of the median income average for their county or metropolitan areas. Tenants pay approximately 30 percent of their income toward the rent, while the government covers the balance.
Because no time limits or work requirements are associated with any of these programs, recipients have no incentive or urgency to find employment or leave the rolls. A HUD study done in 2007 found that public housing recipients spend twice as many years as voucher recipients in the program with an average of 7.46 years.[17] The same study showed that 28 percent of public housing recipients and 14 percent of voucher recipients spent more than 10 years in the program. When elderly and disabled recipients are excluded, households of able-bodied recipients without children spent an average of 7.9 years in public housing compared with 4.2 years for those with children. These numbers are significantly lower for the same families receiving vouchers at 3.5 years and 3.4 years, respectively.[18]
Public Housing Operating Fund and Capital Fund. Both of these funds send money to the PHAs to pay the operating and management costs of public housing. The FY 2011 budget estimates $9 billion in spending for these public housing structures and units, which received an added boost of $4 billion in the 2009 stimulus package. These funds reportedly are going toward capital needs as well as to “support energy efficient, green communities.”[19] Overall, about 1.2 million households live in these public housing units.
Section 8 Project Based Housing. Begun in 1974, this form of public housing currently serves about 1 million households and is on a trajectory to spend $8.7 billion in 2011. The PHAs enter into contracts with owners of privately owned buildings to subsidize a certain number of units that are offered to families at a reduced rent according to their incomes. In the 1980s, the program came under criticism for costing too much and limiting recipients to living in communities with high poverty. As a result, Congress ended the funding of new contracts and pivoted toward a new program concept of providing families with vouchers to enable them to find their own housing.[20] The 1 million units currently funded are based on original contracts and renewals.
Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. The largest federal housing program, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, is run through HUD’s tenant-based rental assistance account. Low-income to very low-income families are given vouchers to use in the private housing market to subsidize their rent. About 2 million households receive vouchers. Funding for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program has increased continually over the past decade. President Obama’s FY 2011 budget would increase funding by more than $3 billion from $15.7 billion in FY 2011 to $19.1 billion.