The Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) would reform the Housing Choice Voucher program for the first time in ten years and will help the program continue to provide affordable housing to millions of households, while using federal resources more efficiently. Some highlights of SEVRA include:

• Streamlining the Housing Choice Voucher program and permanently address a formula problem that led to the loss of 150,000 vouchers over three years.
• Funding for vouchers would be based on each public housing agency's actual spending for vouchers in the previous year.
• Any public housing agencies with large unspent balances would have some of their reserves reallocated to agencies that could immediately assist families on their waiting lists.
• If a public housing agency faced a shortfall, it could temporarily borrow from the following year's allotment.
• Reforming the financing of "portability" moves, so that families could more easily exercise their right to move with a voucher and agencies could save burdensome paperwork and avoid cash-flow problems.
• Simplifying the rules governing the calculation of rents in public housing, project-based Section 8 properties, and the tenant-based voucher program.
• Streamlining the process for determining tenants' incomes and deductions, while still requiring participants to pay 30% of their income
• Income of families on fixed income would only have to be recertified every 3 years (e.g. social security)
• Includes some modest changes in housing inspection rules designed to ease burdens on agencies and encourage landlords to offer apartments to voucher holders.

For more information:

National Alliance to End Homelessness information on SEVRA