Can Biden Deliver on His Promise to Expand Housing Vouchers?
The president pledged a major expansion of rental assistance, and the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill is his opportunity to deliver it — if housing aid can survive cuts in Congress.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324 training facility in Howell, Michigan, on Oct. 5 to shore up support for the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill.
Photographer: Matthew Hatcher/BloombergAs a candidate in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Joe Biden pledged to deliver an enormous expansion of the social safety net: He’d make housing choice vouchers — the 1970s-era rental assistance program also known as Section 8 — a federal entitlement.
The program currently provides subsidies to low-income households to help them rent a home on the private market. But millions of U.S. households who qualify for aid face long local waiting lists to receive a voucher; Biden promised to offer it to all eligible families.