Gallego Fights for More Affordable Housing Opportunities in Arizona
PHOENIX – Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-03) sent a letter to Acting Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Adrienne Todman urging the Department to provide much-needed relief to under-resourced public housing authorities (PHAs), including those in Arizona.
The allocation of Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) depends on several historical factors, resulting in the current allocation of HCVs favoring older cities over cities with more recent and rapid population growth and leading to drastic voucher shortages in fast-growing states like Arizona. For example, Phoenix, the country’s 5th largest city, was authorized to administer just 7,487 vouchers for the past fiscal year, with only around 25% of eligible households receiving vouchers.
“Phoenix is just one example of a systemic issue with the HCV program across Arizona and the rapidly expanding American Southwest, and it highlights the importance of expanding access to these urgently needed vouchers,” Rep. Gallego wrote. “This fiscal year’s budget includes a $2.1 billion increase over the previous year’s enacted funding for the HCV program, and it is critical that the Department urgently surge resources to the PHAs representing cities that have grown the most in recent years, particularly those Arizona communities with both large populations and rapid growth.”
“To that end, I respectfully request that you exercise your authority, pursuant to existing statutes, to allocate more vouchers to historically underserved cities,” he concludes.
Full text of the letter can be found HERE.
“The Housing Choice Voucher program is one of the most effective tools in addressing housing affordability challenges in Phoenix. Authorizing additional vouchers will help correct voucher disparities and assist the City of Phoenix in significantly enhancing its ability to keep pace with the needs of our community for our current and future residents. There has never been a greater need for affordable housing than the present,” said Titus Mathew, Director of the City of Phoenix Housing Department.
Rep. Gallego previously pushed HUD to redistribute unused HCVs to under-resourced cities. He also introduced the Housing Vouchers Fairness Act to increase the number of vouchers allocated to states such as Arizona.
To learn more about Rep. Gallego’s work on housing, read his report: Ensuring Affordable Housing & Access to Homeownership.