This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and 开云体育.
Facing a reduction in federal funding, the Vermont State Housing Authority will stop issuing new rental assistance vouchers to low-income households on its lengthy waitlist, and has begun rescinding vouchers from about 50 Vermonters currently searching for an apartment to use them.
鈥淲e have a plan to curtail our spending and to protect families that are receiving rental assistance,鈥� said Kathleen Berk, executive director of the Vermont State Housing Authority, the state鈥檚 largest administrator of the federal Section 8 program.
The housing authority faces a roughly $1 million funding reduction for the remainder of 2025, Berk said, which came as something of a surprise earlier this month. That funding gap is the result of a budget cut to a specific voucher program that serves disabled individuals, along with the lack of an annual inflation increase to keep up with rising rents, which Berk said had historically been included in yearly appropriations for rental assistance.
That means VSHA鈥檚 $39 million annual budget for vouchers won鈥檛 go as far. The funding loss means the housing authority must trim about 489 vouchers from its rolls, Berk indicated. That鈥檚 about 12% of the 3,897 vouchers the housing authority currently administers.
Because future funding is generally tied to past spending, Berk fears this year鈥檚 reduction in vouchers could lead to a 鈥渄ownward spiral鈥� in the number of Vermonters getting rental aid in years to come.
As Vermont sees housing prices escalate and homelessness increase, federal housing vouchers play a key role in sustaining housing for low-income people who can鈥檛 afford market-rate rents. Voucher recipients pay a third of their income toward rent; a local agency administering the federal program pays for the rest.
The need is great. At 3,379 applicants, the state housing authority鈥檚 waitlist for vouchers nearly matches the number of households who currently have them. The waitlist has been closed since late January, when the housing authority first anticipated federal cuts.
The housing authority does not plan to take away vouchers from people who currently have them, Berk emphasized. Instead, it hopes to reduce its load primarily through attrition 鈥� by not giving out new vouchers when someone retires one. It is taking a few additional steps to hasten that process, as outlined in a to community partners sent out on Wednesday.
The authority will stop taking referrals for special rental assistance programs for veterans, young people exiting the foster care system, and because of their lack of housing. It will also pause an initiative that allows people who live in homes where a subsidy is attached to take their voucher and move elsewhere after a year. (The housing authority does plan to keep moving new tenants into these subsidized units when they become vacant.)
That move struck Jess Horner, program director at John Graham Housing and Services in Addison County, as particularly alarming. John Graham has 18 of these subsidy-attached apartments, which they often rent to people who are 鈥渉ard to house,鈥� she said. The organization offers wraparound support to help these renters become successful, and then the tenants can take their housing subsidy and move elsewhere.
Cutting off their ability to move their voucher creates a bottleneck, Horner said.
鈥淭hese units are going to be occupied by the folks who are in them now until voluntary exit, death, or eviction,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hich means that there aren鈥檛 any opportunities for other people to try their hand at an affordable unit.鈥�
Some of the state housing authority鈥檚 cost-cutting measures mirror moves taken by the Burlington Housing Authority in January, after HUD first signaled a possible funding reduction. BHA acted proactively, suspending vouchers from some 70 households looking for housing and taking a staunch stance against allowing rule-breakers second chances.
Now, the Burlington Housing Authority 鈥� the state鈥檚 second largest, behind VSHA 鈥� is not making additional policy changes, according to executive director Steven Murray.
鈥淚鈥檓 patting myself on the back, because we got a lot of heat for what we did,鈥� Murray said.
Berk said she does not wish the state housing authority had taken action sooner. In the past, she has secured special funding from HUD to help fill shortfalls when voucher costs have increased unexpectedly 鈥� something she might pursue again, she said.
But given that the Trump administration as it currently exists 鈥� cutting federal rental aid by about 40% and diverting that money to states to spend as they see fit 鈥� she isn鈥檛 sure she ought to trust the past.
鈥淭here are unprecedented times,鈥� Berk said. 鈥淭o what extent prior experience helps is questionable 鈥� but we鈥檒l continue to fall back on that.鈥�
