Rental Vouchers

For many individuals living with significant disabilities, their exclusive source of income is SSI, a payment that is wholly inadequate to afford fair market rent in virtually every community in the United States. Under these circumstances, some sort of rental assistance is necessary to bridge the gap between what persons living with disabilities can afford and the fair market rent of housing.

Rental vouchers are funded by both the federal and state government. Federally, rental assistance is provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through programs such as Section 8, HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS), and Section 811. In Massachusetts, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) administers programs such as the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) and the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP).

Since it’s inception in 2004, advocating for increased funds for both federal and state rental assistance programs has been United Housing’s top legislative priority. The organization has actively advocated for funding increases to all rental assistance programs that benefit persons living with disabilities.

United Housing Suggests Housing Goals for Incoming Patrick-Murray Administration

December 7, 2006 - As part of Governor-Elect Deval Patrick's transition process, the incoming Patrick-Murray administration has solicited comments from the community on a wide range of issues, including housing. United Housing prepared a series of recommendations for the new administration on a range of disability housing issues including rental vouchers, housing construction, and the disposition of surplus state properties.
Read the text of the letter →

United Housing Questions the Candidates

August 1, 2006 - This fall, Massachusetts residents will elect a new governor to replace Mitt Romney, who decided not to seek reelection earlier this year. In an effort to raise disability housing as a major campaign issue and to ascertain the views of the candidates, United Housing has sent a questionnaire to each of the declared candidates for governor. Among the topics covered in the questionnaire include rental assistance, disposition of surplus state properties, and vistibility/universal design. Questionnaires were also sent to candidates in the race for state senate in Berkshire County, and in the Fourth Barnstable District race.

House-Senate Conferees to Determine Rental Voucher Funding Level

June 5, 2006 - To reconcile the differences between the House and Senate FY 2007 budgets, a committee of three senators (Therese Murray, Steven Pangiotakos, and Michael Knapik) and three representatives (Robert DeLeo, Marie St. Fleur, and Vinny deMacedo) will meet. United Housing wrote to the members of the conference committee urging them to fund the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) at the higher House level ($1.2 million higher than FY 2006) rather than the Senate ($1.1 million higher than FY 2006).

General Court Increases Funding For AHVP

May 26, 2006 - For the second consecutive year, both the House and the Senate increased funding for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP). The $500,000 increase will result in approximately 150 new housing vouchers for low income and homeless individuals living with disabilities. Since 2005, funding for AHVP has increased $1.2 million. This year, support for the program in the House and the Senate increased dramatically, with 17 members of the House and 11 members of the Senate supporting amendments to increase AHVP funding. In the House, an amendment offered by Representative Marty Walsh was cosponsored by representatives Finegold, Guyer, Khan, Smizik, Speranzo, L'Italien, Fiesta, Wolf, Tobin, Falzone, Kafka, Grant, Turner, Sanchez, Fox, Nyman, and Paulsen. In the Senate, Senator Brian Joyce offered a similar amendment that was cosponsored by senators Barrios, Resor, Jehlen, Nuciforo, Augustus, O'Leary, Spilka, Antonioni, Fargo, and Creem. Click through links below to read United's letters of thanks to legislators.

House Begins to Draft FY 07 State Budget

February 9, 2006 - In late January, Governor Romney released his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2007. In it, he called for level funding of the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) and the creation of a new Tenancy Preservation Program. United Housing sent the following letter to each member of the House of Representatives, urging them to increase funding for AHVP to $4 million and to support the Governor's proposal to fund the Tenancy Preservation Program. Read the text of the letter →

Governor Romney Urged to Increase Funding for AHVP in FY 07 Budget

November 9, 2005 - As the Governor and the General Court begin to consider priorities for the Fiscal Year 2007 budget, United Housing has designated increasing funding for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) as it's top goal. AHVP provides rental assistance to low income and homeless individuals with disabilities. For FY 07, United Housing is seeking a funding level of $4 million (a $1 million increase over FY 2006), which would provide over 600 vouchers for disabled persons. United Housing sent the following letter regarding AHVP to Governor Romney along with a fact sheet.

Conferees Urged to Preserve House and Senate AHVP Funding Levels

June 7, 2005 - In early June, the Massachusetts General Court entered another phase in writing the Fiscal Year 2006 Budget when the House and the Senate selected conferees to work out differences between the two versions of the budget. Click below to read the letter United Housing sent to budget conferees to help ensure that gains made in the House and Senate were preserved, urging them to keep the $3 million funding level for AHVP intact.
Read the text of the letter →

MA Senate Approves Additional Funding for Disability Housing

May 23, 2005 - During its consideration of the Fiscal Year 2006 Budget, the State Senate approved an amendment offered by Senator Brian Joyce at the urging of United Housing that provided an additional $700,000 for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP). This additional funding will provide approximately 100 new housing vouchers for individuals living with disabilities. This is the first funding increase for AHVP since the program was cut in 2001. Navigate to the links below to read United's news release on additional AHVP funding, as well as United's letter of thanks to Sen. Joyce for sponsoring the amendment.

United Housing Thanks Rep. Anne Paulsen

April 29, 2005 - During the House's consideration of the FY 2006 budget, Representative Anne Paulsen offered an amendment to increase funding for the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) by $1 million. Although the text of the amendment was not included in the final consolidated housing amendment that was considered by the House, United Housing thanked Rep. Paulsen in a letter (below) for her commitment to increasing housing opportunities for persons with disabilities. Read the text of the letter →

DHCD FY06 Budget Comments

November 18, 2004 - The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development's proposed FY06 budget was made available for comments. Click below to read a letter United members drafted and submitted detailing their funding request for specific items.
Read the text of the letter →

HUD Releases Final FY 2005 FMR's

September 29, 2004 - Thanks to the tireless work of housing advocates across the state, HUD has decided not to implement their boundary changes. This is great news for Massachusetts. Unfortunately, the FY 2005 FMR's do have lower payment rates for certain bedroom sizes in certain communities. Visit HUD's Web site through the link below for more information about FY05 FMR's.
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HUD Releases Proposed FY 2005 Fair Market Rents

August 6, 2004 - HUD released the proposed FY 05 Fair Market Rents (FMR's) on August 6, 2004. In Massachusetts there are a number of changes which will greatly affect the FMR's. First, HUD has changed how the FMR's are grouped -- previously they were done largely by town, in the proposed FY 05 FMR's are grouped by county. Additionally, some towns FMR's decreased dramatically, such as Taunton by $748 for a two-bedroom) while other towns have a proposed increase in their FMR's. Click below for a comparison of FY 04 and FY 05 FMR's in Mass. towns from CHAPA, and, further down, for HUD's proposed FMR's for FY 05.