SEATTLE—April 23, 2007—To help participants in its Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), last month SHA raised its Voucher Payment Standards (VPS) for the first time in nearly two years.
Voucher Payment Standards define the maximum subsidy amount SHA will pay on behalf of a family.
Lisa Cipollone-Wolters, SHA’s director of rental assistance programs, says the agency raises the Voucher Payment Standards as needed to keep up with rising rents in Seattle.
“We raise Voucher Payment Standards because a higher VPS makes it easier for our Section 8 tenants to find the apartments they’re seeking in any part of town,” she said recently. “An increase in payment standards decreases the rent burden on Section 8 tenants, and works to make more apartments available to renters” because SHA agrees to higher payments to landlords.
SHA’s payment standards are based on HUD’s determination of Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for King, Snohomish and Island counties. SHA adjusts payment standards to account for variations in the Seattle rental market.
This is the fifth time the VPS has been changed since August 1999. Back then, the VPS for a typical one-bedroom apartment in Seattle was $582; now the VPS for the same apartment is $781.
The chart below shows the former and the new payment standards as of April 1, 2007:
|
Bedroom Size |
Previous Standards |
New Standards |
|---|---|---|
|
Studio |
$642 |
$695 |
|
1 bedroom |
$762 |
$781 |
|
2 bedrooms |
$917 |
$1,005 |
|
3 bedrooms |
$1,293 |
$1,395 |
|
4 bedrooms |
$1,550 |
$1,621 |
|
5 bedrooms |
$1,697 |
$1,865 |
|
6 bedrooms |
$1,952 |
$2,108 |
Payment standards have two components: a subsidy amount for rent and a subsidy amount for tenant-paid utilities called a utility allowance. For any given payment standard, the lower the utility allowance, the more subsidy is available for rent.
The new payment standards were made effective April 1 for all families receiving new vouchers and all families moving with a voucher from one unit to another.
Starting August 1, all other affected participants will be notified at the time of their annual reviews that they may be eligible to receive additional subsidy.