January 12, 2017
Contact: Alison Bell
667-207-2140
[email protected]
Regional Housing Organization to Close Waiting List for
Applications for Housing Vouchers
Demand for Housing Choice Voucher program assistance has outpaced
supply of federally funded vouchers
BALTIMORE, MD – The Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership (BRHP), a nonprofit entity
overseeing the distribution of federally funded vouchers for affordable housing, will stop taking
applications for the vouchers as of 5 p.m. on March 31, 2017, the group announced today.
The difficult decision to halt applications for Housing Choice Vouchers comes as BRHP has a
waiting list of more than 10,000 families seeking vouchers. BRHP has concluded that it cannot
provide vouchers to all of the people already on the waiting list due to limited availability of the
vouchers. BRHP currently provides approximately 3,500 families with housing vouchers, paying
rental assistance on their behalf. In 2016, the program provided about 400 additional families
with Housing Choice Vouchers and anticipates helping approximately the same number of
additional families annually in 2017 and 2018.
“We made the hard decision to close the waiting list so we would not create false expectations
for families already on the list or those who will want to apply in the future,” said Alison Bell,
BRHP executive director. “Unfortunately, there are likely people on our waiting list who may
never receive a voucher and the opportunities available through our housing mobility program.
The federal government gave our program a limited number of vouchers, and although we
would love to be able to provide assistance for many more families, we are only able to serve as
many as the federal government funds.”
BRHP officials said the organization would not consider reopening the voucher waiting list until
at least 2020.
The Housing Choice Voucher program (formerly known as the Section 8 program) is a federally
funded and locally administered initiative that helps low-income families, people with
disabilities and the elderly afford housing in the private market. The program provides a housing
subsidy on a participant’s behalf to private market landlords to help pay a portion of the rent.
The waiting list has never before closed, and the list has been seen over the years as a measure
of demand for affordable housing. The waiting list for the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program is
separate from all other affordable housing waiting lists. Placement on the waiting list does not
affect a family’s eligibility for any other affordable housing program.
Baltimore families seeking housing can still apply for homes in the city’s public housing
complexes, although there is a very lengthy waiting list for such housing as well. And new
developments being planned will create additional affordable housing units for low-income
families and individuals.
“There is clearly an affordable housing crisis in Baltimore and the need far outpaces the
availability of affordable, safe housing,” Bell said. “We urge the federal government to consider
additional support for the housing voucher program to meet this urgent need both here in
Baltimore and around the country.”
BRHP is the regional administrator for the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program, under contract
with the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC). The Baltimore Housing Mobility Program
was created by the historic Thompson v. HUD housing desegregation class action law suit. The
suit was filed on behalf of 14,000 African American public housing residents in Baltimore and
sought to eradicate the legacy of nearly a century of government-sponsored racial segregation
in the Baltimore region that has left thousands of poor African American families locked in
neighborhoods of concentrated poverty.
A partial settlement was reached in 1996, and the program began serving families in 2003. A
final settlement of the law suit was approved in November 2012. That settlement set a limit of
approximately 4,400 vouchers for the program. The program currently provides vouchers to
about 3,500 families and has until the end of 2018 to reach its limit.
The program provides a HUD-funded Housing Choice Voucher, along with pre-move counseling,
post-move counseling, and security deposit assistance. Vouchers can be used in Baltimore City,
Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County, or Howard County,
and program families are dispersed in low-poverty areas throughout the program’s regional
jurisdiction. Program services were provided by a contractor, Metropolitan Baltimore Quadel,
through 2014, and some know the program as “MBQ.” BRHP began providing all program
services directly in 2015.
Research backs up the benefits of housing mobility programs. The 2015 landmark study by Raj
Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and Lawrence Katz showed that children whose families moved
under the Moving to Opportunity demonstration saw improved outcomes as adults. They found
that poor children raised in low-poverty areas have higher earnings as adults, higher marriage
rates, higher college attendance rates, and lower risk of teenage births. Studies also show that
the presence of low-income residents in prosperous areas like the greater Baltimore region does
not affect property values. Other studies show that children of all income levels benefit from
attending schools that are racially and economically integrated.
Interested families can pick up an application at the Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership’s
office, located at 20 South Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, Suite 801. Office hours are
Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Families can also download an application at
www.brhp.org or can call BRHP’s application line at 667-207-2102 to have an application
mailed. Mailed applications must have a postmark of March 31, 2017, or earlier. More
information about the closure can be found at www.brhp.org/wait_list_closing.