Gallego Pushes HUD to Provide More Housing Assistance to Arizona
PHOENIX, AZ –Today, Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-03) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge calling for the Department to reallocate unused Housing Choice Vouches (HCVs) to under-awarded, fast-growing areas, such as Arizona.
“In Arizona, cities like Phoenix, Tucson, and Mesa have seen tremendous population growth in recent decades. However, the supply of HCVs has not come close to meeting the demands of these metropolitan areas. For example, Phoenix, the country’s 5th largest city, was authorized to administer only 7,487 vouchers for the past fiscal year and only around 25% of eligible households receive vouchers,” Gallego wrote.
He continues, “some public housing authorities (PHAs) do not effectively utilize their annual funding, leaving hundreds, if not thousands of vouchers on the table. By allowing unused voucher resources to be redistributed we can increase the total number of vouchers available in rapidly growing, under-resourced cities, incentivize PHAs to maximize their voucher usage, and ensure that voucher resources are not wasted.”
He concludes the letter by asking:
- What steps is HUD taking to address the shortage of vouchers allocated to PHAs representing the fastest growing cities in America?
- What can Congress do, including through additional authorities or funding, to allow HUD to distribute HCVs more equitably?
- What actions has HUD taken in recent fiscal years to award vouchers to historically under-resourced PHAs?
Full text of the letter can be found HERE.
Last month, Rep. Gallego wrote to HUD calling on the Department to do more to address the housing affordability crisis facing states like Arizona and to increase financing of multifamily housing.
Also last month, he celebrated the groundbreaking of Garfield II, a new 60-unit affordable senior community. Rep. Gallego requested funding directly for Garfield II as part of his fiscal year 2024 Community Project Funding requests.