Douglas Rice
Center on Budget
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Past articles by Douglas:
Child Care and Housing: Big Expenses With Too Little Help Available
Stable, affordable housing and high-quality, affordable child care are essential to families’ economic stability, parents’ ability to work, and children’s healthy development, but many low-income families struggle to pay for child care and housing. → Read More
Trump Budget Would Slash Rent Aid for Struggling Seniors, Families, Others
In his 2020 budget, President Trump proposes again to radically reduce the federal role in helping low-income seniors, families with children, and others to pay rent and make ends meet. → Read More
New Homelessness Count Shows There’s Still Work to Do
The sobering findings of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) latest annual count of homeless people — that homelessness remains a persistent problem and some communities are losing ground — show that federal policymakers have much to do to help address this serious problem. → Read More
Budget Caps, Not Rent Aid, Forcing HUD Budget Cuts
While Congress has made deep funding cuts in recent years in some HUD programs that provide critical support for low-income households, they were due to rigid funding caps, not housing voucher program costs. → Read More
Senate HUD Funding Bill a Huge Improvement Over House Bill, But Concerns Remain
Before leaving for August recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a 2018 funding bill for the Departments of Transportation and of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that includes a substantial increase for rental assistance for low-income households. Yet the increase may not be enough to keep pace with rising rents in the largest rental assistance program — Housing Choice Vouchers… → Read More
Will House Avert Cuts in Rental Aid?
When a House subcommittee considers the 2018 funding bill for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) tomorrow evening, a key question will be: will it sustain the rental aid that now enables 4.8 million low-income households — nearly all of which include seniors, people with disabilities, or children — to afford decent, stable homes? → Read More
Trump Budget Cuts 250,000 Housing Vouchers
We’ve already noted that President Trump’s budget would eliminate more than 250,000 Housing Choice Vouchers next year. It also would force families using vouchers to pay much more in rent and sharply limit their access to housing in safe neighborhoods with quality schools and other opportunities. Let’s take a closer look: → Read More
Trump Budget Would Increase Homelessness and Hardship in Every State, End Federal Role in Community Development
President Trump’s 2018 budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposes deep cuts in rental assistance for families and other aid for the nation’s poorest urban and rural communities, which would shrink the supply of affordable housing and increase homelessness and other hardships across the country. → Read More
Vouchers Work: Strengthening Families and Communities
This is the next post in our “Vouchers Work” blog series, which provides the latest facts and figures about the Housing Choice Voucher program, the largest rental assistance program to help families with children, working people, seniors, and people with disabilities afford decent, stable housing. → Read More
Trump Budget Will Increase Homelessness, End Federal Role in Community Development
President Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposes deep cuts in every state in rental assistance for families and other aid for the nation’s poorest urban and rural communities, which would increase homelessness and other hardship across the country. → Read More
Leaked Trump Budget Would Slash Housing Aid
The Trump Administration’s fiscal year 2018 budget request for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will likely propose deep cuts in rental assistance for families, as well as other aid for the nation’s poorest urban and rural communities, a Washington Post report has confirmed. → Read More
Every State Will Likely Lose Housing Vouchers, Unless Congress Boosts Funding
We’ve updated our year-end report urging policymakers to provide a large funding boost to renew housing vouchers in 2017 so that we could show the potential impact that funding shortfalls could have in every state (see the table below). Without the funding, the number of low-income families receiving help to pay the rent will fall sharply this year. → Read More
More Than 100,000 Families Could Be Frozen Out of Housing Vouchers for 2017
If policymakers don’t provide a substantial funding boost to renew housing vouchers in 2017, most housing agencies will have to cut the number of low-income households they assist at a time when large and growing numbers are struggling to afford rent, we explain in a new paper. → Read More
Charting the Impact of Federal Rental Assistance
Federal rental assistance reduces hardship and promotes children’s long-term success by helping over 5 million low-income households afford modest homes, our latest chart book shows. Below are a few examples. Rental assistance: → Read More
Rental Assistance to Families with Children at Lowest Point in Decade
The number of families with children receiving federal rent subsidies has fallen by over 250,000 since 2004 and is at its lowest point in more than a decade, despite rising need. → Read More
Drop in Veterans’ Homelessness Highlights Vouchers’ Effectiveness
Homelessness in Los Angeles has dropped by 30 percent among veterans even while rising for residents overall, the New York Times reports — progress that local officials attribute to housing vouchers for veterans. “Where we invest, we see results,” says the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s executive director. That’s an important message for federal policymakers, who can ren → Read More
Congress Should Act to Reduce Child Homelessness in 2017
As Congress begins work this week on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2017 budget, it should place a high priority on meeting the President’s request for $88 million to fund 10,000 new housing vouchers for homeless families. → Read More
Unless Policymakers Act, Funding for Federal Rental Assistance Will Hit 40-Year Low
Federal budget caps under the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), which have already caused deep cuts in housing assistance funding, could force even deeper cuts in coming years. If the caps are left unchanged and if housing assistance programs’ share of total → Read More
Gap Between Renters’ Wages and Rents Has Grown as Policymakers Have Largely Ignored Need
The number of renters struggling to afford housing has far outpaced the expansion of rental assistance in recent decades, as our new chart book illustrates. Renter incomes fell during the economic recessions that began in 2001 and 2007; as of 2014, they remained well below the 2001 level. At the same time, rental costs have risen as the supply of rental un → Read More
2017 Budget Gives Lawmakers a Renewed Chance to Reduce Homelessness
The 2017 budget proposal that President Obama will release next week may include something the final 2016 budget lacked: a renewed commitment to reducing homelessness and helping more low-income families to afford decent rental housing. → Read More