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Shutdown imperils NYCHA funds, but Section 8 vouchers to continue … for now
By
David Brand
Published Oct 27, 2025
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Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By
David Brand
Published Oct 27, 2025
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The ongoing federal shutdown is threatening jobs, benefits and social programs for millions of Americans, and if it lasts another month, it could put funding for public housing in jeopardy, too.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, commonly known as HUD, will likely run out of money that directly funds public housing authorities under the Section 9 program after November payments are issued unless lawmakers approve a continuing spending plan, an agency spokesperson told Gothamist.
The outlook is brighter for participants in the Section 8 rental assistance program, which makes rent payments to property owners on behalf of low-income tenants. HUD officials say they plan to issue payments to help cover rent through the end of the year, even if the stalemate drags on.
But the agency spokesperson, who refused to be identified publicly, said a prolonged shutdown will eventually have an effect on the federal government’s ability to issue all payments for those living in subsidized housing.
The New York City Housing Authority receives about $200 million a month from the federal housing agency to administer the nation’s largest Section 8 program, with about 96,000 recipients in the five boroughs. HUD provides roughly $100 million a month — about two-thirds of NYCHA’s total operating budget — to help fund operations across 335 public housing developments citywide, according to agency data.
HUD also provides more than $55 million a month to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development to administer a smaller Section 8 program for about 36,000 households, a spokesperson for the city agency said.
This is funding that people rely on that helps them pay the rent each month.
Will Fischer, director of the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities
Tenants qualify for the Section 8 rental assistance program based on their income and typically pay no more than 30% of their earnings toward rent. The voucher program covers the remainder based on thresholds set by the federal government.
Landlord groups, tenant advocates and policy experts say consistent payments are crucial for owners to keep earning money, for low-income renters to avoid eviction proceedings, and for continuing confidence in a key federal program facing threats and uncertainty under the Trump administration.
“This is funding that people rely on that helps them pay the rent each month,” Will Fischer, director of the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities Housing Policy, said of the Section 8 funds.
If HUD did not make the public housing payments, Fischer added, it “would have really serious consequences for housing agencies’ ability to maintain those developments, to cover things like utility costs and do a whole set of things they need to do to keep those developments safe.”
NYCHA spokesperson Michael Horgan said the authority has not received any “direct guidance” from the federal housing agency about the future of Section 8 or public housing payments after October.
“We'll work to notify landlords and residents of any relevant developments as soon as clear direction from HUD is provided,” Horgan said.
HUD did not respond to questions about why it would be able to make the Section 8 payments through the end of the year, but won’t issue funding for Section 9 public housing past November.
Leaders of two public housing associations said the disparity is likely due to the way the federal agency received “appropriations,” or money approved by Congress. HUD received advanced funding for the Section 8 program at the start of October before the shutdown began, according to Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, a lobbying group representing the country’s biggest housing agencies, including NYCHA. But she said HUD did not receive additional money for public housing operating expenses past November.
Zaterman said the arrangement was “consistent with previous shutdowns.”
The federal shutdown began Oct. 1, when the budget expired and Congress did not pass a new spending resolution. A HUD spokesperson blamed the ongoing impasse on “the left” — a message that also appears at the top of the agency’s website, in what some legal experts have said may be a violation of the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity while working in their official capacity.
Congressional Democrats say that they won’t approve a continuing spending bill unless the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers agree to extend health care tax credits for millions of Americans and reverse deep cuts to the Medicaid program, which covers about half of all New York City residents. Republicans control the presidency and both branches of Congress.
Federal housing programs have faced near-constant uncertainty since Trump took office nine months ago. NYCHA delayed payments to landlords in February when HUD was slow to release Section 8 funding. In March, the Trump administration informed public housing authorities nationwide that an emergency pandemic-era rental assistance program was nearly out of cash, forcing agencies in New York and New Jersey to find ways to replace vouchers for more than 8,000 low-income households. And Trump administration officials have considered dramatic rule changes that could cut subsidies for public housing residents after two years.
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housing
new york city
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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