Hawai‘i County is set to receive $430,906 in federal funding to support affordable housing and keep families in their homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, Sen. Brian Schatz, member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced the state of Hawai‘i will receive $2.4 million to preserve the housing choice voucher program (section 8 housing). The funding will help Hawai‘i’s public housing authorities maintain normal operations and offset increases in housing voucher costs from lost or reduced wages of voucher holders due to the coronavirus that could otherwise lead to terminating rental assistance.
“No family should lose their home during the pandemic,” Schatz said. “This funding will help ensure that public housing authorities have the resources to maintain housing support for our most vulnerable communities.”
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Approximately 13,000 households are assisted by section 8 housing in Hawai‘i. Currently, voucher holders have to pay 30% of their income towards rent, and the voucher pays the difference. If tenants lose their job or their income is reduced significantly amid the coronavirus pandemic, this new funding will pay the difference.
The funding is part of the $1.25 billion allocated for the Housing and Urban Development’s Tenant-Based Rental Assistance program in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The amount administered to each public housing authority is below:
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