So, as of late, there's been a lot going on when it comes to Section 8 and rental assistance programs in this country. Just a couple of months ago, a budget was approved that fully funded the Section 8 program and other rental subsidy programs for fiscal year 2025. But for 2026, according to a new proposed budget plan, the Trump administration has done a complete 180 and wants the federal government and HUD to make major changes to the section 8 program. changes that would slash rental assistance funding, eliminate the federal section A program, and introduce new eligibility requirements for participants who receive rental assistance. And in this video, we're going to completely go over this new proposed budget plan and if passed, exactly what it would mean for the future of the section A program and how it would affect section 8 voucher holders and landlords. So, like I said, just a few months ago, Congress passed a bill to fully fund the section 8 program and HUD for the remaining 2025 fiscal year, which is till September 30th. The bill specifically funded the section 8 program with $ 32 billion, which is up from 28.5 billion dollars from last year. This was definitely something to be celebrated because there was a lot of uncertainty of how the Trump administration and HUD would be handling rental subsidy programs. With all of the chaos with Doge freezing funds, eliminating contracts, and mass layoffs, voucher holders and landlords had every right to be worried. So, it was quite a relief to know that the section 8 program's funding would continue. Now, here we are today, just a couple of months later, and it's been reported that Trump and his administration want to cut rental assistance and specifically the section 8 program from HUD. Now, these reports are based on the outline of the Trump administration's 2026 federal budget proposal, which was compiled by the director of White House Office and Management and Budget, Russell Vout. Now, Russell Vout was one of the architects of the controversial project 2025. And he's been known to be the real mastermind behind Trump's presidency. Time magazine actually has him as one of the 100 most influential people of 2025. So he recently released a proposal and again it's just an outline. It's not a fully detailed budget proposal, but it does go over where they want to make major changes and cuts to specific programs and the section 8 program was one of them. And one of the main changes that they want to make to the program is to completely eliminate it as a federal program and transform it into a state-based program. Therefore, each state will be responsible to manage, fund, and maintain their own rental assistance programs while also receiving block grants from the federal government to help with funding. A block grant is a fixed sum of money given to a state or local government to fund specific programs or projects. HUD Secretary Scott Turner is arguing that this plan would empower states to innovate, attract private investment, and deliver aid efficiently. Now, everything that he said that the states would be able to do with the newly proposed budget, they can already do. Even though section 8 is a fedally funded program, for the most part, local housing authorities manage and administer their programs how they see fit. It seems like HUD just wants to cut the responsibility of fully funding certain programs. Critics of the proposal have pointed out that there would definitely be challenges from transitioning to state-run programs and that states with limited budgets may struggle to implement effective programs which may lead to disparities in aid distribution. And also in high-cost states like California and New York, the block grant funding model, which are capped at a certain amount, could cause local governments to ration assistance or raise tax bills to fill gaps. Now, something else that the outline of the proposal highlights is the eligibility requirements to receive rental assistance. Now, this is odd because on one hand, they're saying that we want to get rid of the section 8 program and let's let state governments administer them and let it be their responsibility, but on the other hand, they still want to have a hand in how it's ran. And I'm guessing that since they'd still be supplying grants to the states to help fund these programs, they still want to have a say. But the Trump administration suggests prioritizing aid specifically for elderly and disabled individuals and for all able-bodied individuals to have a 2-year cap on rental assistance. Now, this is an idea that's been floating around for months now. There's been rumors going around all over social media. and whether the section 8 program stays a federal program or become a state program, time limits seem like something that they're going to continue to push and eventually be a part of the requirements. It was also suggested throughout Project 2025. Another eligibility requirement that has been floating around and was also mentioned in Project 2025 is work requirements. However, this proposal doesn't mention anything about work requirements. My guess is if they're able to add a 2-year time limit on able-bodied individuals, then work requirements aren't as significant because whether you're working or not, in 2 years you lose your benefits. Now, if this budget proposal were to pass and all of these changes were to take effect, what would this mean for the future of the section A program? Well, let me tell you this. This would not be the end of section 8. A lot of stories are going around that Trump wants to completely eliminate the section 8 program, but in actuality, his administration wants to transition it from a federal program to a state program. But whether the program is federal or state, there will always be rental assistance provided to low-income families in this country. It's been going on for almost a century, and it's not going to stop, especially while we're in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. As far as how the program is ran, if it were to become ran by individual states, I don't think it would be that much of a difference than how it's already ran. Even though section 8 is a federal program, HUD lets local housing authorities manage and administer their programs how they see fit. There are ground rules that HUD sets, but each local housing authority has discretion to add additional rules and requirements and the ability to administer additional housing programs. So, the biggest change would be whether the money is coming from federal funds alone or from state and federal funds combined. Now, I'm not sure how the amount of funding would be affected for each housing authority. For instance, a housing authority may receive less funding than they normally would have. This may lead to less vouchers being distributed, but currently there are a number of vouchers that go unused because of a lack of landlords. So, I don't think the impact would be as severe as people may think if the number of vouchers issued were to decrease. Now, as far as eligibility requirements, this is something that can happen whether the program stays federal or becomes a state program. And this is what would affect voucher holders and landlords the most. As far as voucher holders, 2 years is extremely short. And if you're considered lowincome today with the way that the economy is and inflation, chances are you'll still be considered lowinccome in two years and the numbers are showing that more people are starting to drop from the middle income earner group into the lowinccome earner group. So the number of low-income households are growing. So the fact that they want to put two-year time limits doesn't make much sense to me, especially when it takes triple that time or even more just to receive a voucher in the first place. Now, I'm not opposed to time limits, but 2 years just seems entirely too short of a time frame. Now, if a two-year time limit were to be implemented, yes, it would give more low-income families the opportunity to receive assistance because the turnover would be a lot faster. So, the wait list time would be a lot shorter. However, to take a low-income household, assist them for 2 years, and then all of a sudden to snatch that assistance away when rent prices have since gone up, when the cost of living has since gone up, and their financial situation might not have changed much. Some may argue that that may do more harm than good. If the program's ultimate goal is to assist families in becoming self-sufficient, two years is not nearly enough time to accomplish that. Now, the section 8 program's biggest problem is, like I always say, attracting landlord participation. One of the biggest advantages of landlords renting their properties out to section 8 tenants is less turnover and vacancy expenses. Every landlord knows that these are usually their biggest expense. If you keep having to go through turnover, you're not going to make any money. So, if a landlord knows that they can only rent to this particular tenant for 2 years before their assistance will be taken away, that's not an incentive for them to want to rent their property out through the section A program. Every 2 years, most of their profit will be completely wiped out. So, this would turn landlords away, which would ultimately destroy the section A program. Less landlords participating means less vouchers being issued. So, what HUD needs to do is attract more landlords, give them a reason to want to rent their house out through the section A program. or else, whether it's a federal or state funded program, it'll be a disaster. Another effect of switching the section 8 program from a federal program to a state program is taxes. And this is something that most likely will affect everyone, not just section 8 tenants or landlords. And here's why. If the federal government makes it the state government's responsibility to administer, maintain, fund, and run their own section 8 programs, and the federal government still charges the American citizens the same amount in taxes, which I'm sure they will because I'm sure they're not going to lower the taxes. Now, the state governments have an increased financial responsibility. So, where's the state government going to get this extra money to run these programs? Now, like I said, they will collect block grants from the federal government, but again, those are capped. It's a limit on how much they can get. So, the state is going to have to pitch in some of their own money and they're going to have to get that money from somewhere. So, that most likely means from you and me, whether you're on section 8 or not. So, the section 8 program switching from a federal funded program to a state funded program will affect all of us. Now, it's important to know that the budget plan that has been presented by the Trump administration is just a proposal and has not been approved. There are also other proposals out there. HUD is one of the many departments of the federal government that the Trump administration is suggesting to make major discretionary funding changes to. Other programs within HUD that they want to cut funding for include homeless assistance, self-sufficiency programs, community development programs, fair housing programs. They just want to completely cut funding for a number of housing programs. But again, this is only a proposal and it feels like their plan is to just throw everything at a wall and see what sticks. But in the meantime, I'll continue to give important updates regarding housing, section 8, and rental assistance. So, as always, thank you guys for watching.