DCA Announces the Addition of 163 New HUD Housing Choice Vouchers to its Rental Assistance Portfolio

• Posted on: 10/17/2022

DCA Receives Highest Allotment of Housing Vouchers Awarded to New Jersey

TRENTON, NJ – The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded 163 new Housing Choice Vouchers to the Department, totaling nearly $2.1 million. The HUD announcement was recently made during the 2022 Governor’s Conference on Housing and Economic Development where HUD Region II Administrator Alicka Ampry-Samuel served as a keynote speaker and highlighted that New Jersey is being awarded 646 additional Housing Choice Vouchers for New Jersey residents, totaling $8.3 million, to be administered by DCA and local public housing authorities. Of the award, DCA received the highest allotment of vouchers.   

DCA’s Housing Choice Voucher Section 8 Program makes rents affordable for tenants in the private market. Tenants pay a portion of their income toward the rent, while the program pays the remainder. This flexibility has helped keep rent affordable for many people so they can remain in their homes.

“We are thrilled to receive these additional Housing Choice Vouchers to serve additional families,” said Lieutenant Governor Sheila Y. Oliver, who serves as DCA Commissioner. “Coupled with the increased fair market rents that HUD also announced, voucher holders will now be able to access more affordable housing options.”

HUD funds more than 3,300 housing authorities nationally. Of those, DCA’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program is the 13^th largest in the nation. DCA’s Housing Choice Voucher Program serves 24,078 families with an annual budget of $264 million. The 163 additional vouchers will help DCA serve even more families.

Aside from the new housing vouchers, HUD also announced that on October 1, 2022, the FY2023 Fair Market Rents (FMRs) were increased, raising Housing Choice Voucher values in New Jersey by 13%, which expands housing options for voucher holders. Nationally, FMRs will increase by an average of approximately 10 percent, enabling more households with housing vouchers to access affordable, stable housing. Not only did HUD increase the FMRs, but DCA has chosen as a policy decision to set its payment standards at 110% of those increased FMRs, the highest that can be done without special permission from HUD, to help voucher holders access more apartments in this market.

For example, the chart below shows the increased payment standards for 2-bedroom units for each county.

FAIR MARKET RENTS FOR METROPOLITAN FMR AREA	EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2022 2-BDR	EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2022 2-BDR
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ MSA	$1401	$1741
Bergen-Passaic, NJ HMFA *	$1768	$2015
Jersey City, NJ HMFA	$1958	$2296
City of Hoboken (exception rent)	$2350	$2350
Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ HM	$1859	$2018
Monmouth-Ocean, NJ HMFA *	$1721	$1762
Newark, NJ HMFA Includes: Essex, Morris, Union & Sussex	$1643	$1766
Ocean City, NJ MSA	$1361	$1706
Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD-MSA	$1287	$1617
Includes: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester & Salem*
Trenton-Ewing, NJ MSA	$1539	$1905
Vineland-Millville-Bridgeton	$1353	$1618
Warren County, NJ HMFA	$1278	$1683

*USES SAFMRS IN THIS REGION

 

Also, on September 15, 2022, HUD announced final reallocation amounts for 62 Emergency Solutions Grants Program CARES Act (ESG-CV) recipients. Because of DCA’s efficient administration of the ESG Program, it received an additional $2.2 million in ESG funds that were reallocated to New Jersey from states and localities that didn’t use the funding. These added funds will be used to address homelessness in the state.

To better help emergency housing rental vouchers holders obtain units in this tight rental market, the Department has new resources to incentive landlords to rent to low-income and homeless families, including:

• Increased voucher payment standards to 110% of HUD’s Fair Market Rent, which allows the Department to pay higher rents and help people obtain units.
• $2000 for security deposits to ensure successful lease-ups and $1,000 for apartment repairs so apartments can pass inspection.
• Guaranteed monthly payments from DCA.
• Dedicated DCA staff to help landlords through the process.
• New HUD vouchers for homeless families.
• New HUD award of an additional $2 million in Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding for homeless programs reallocated from other areas that did not use their funds in a timely way.

Landlords wishing to participate can email EHVrent@dca.nj.gov for more information.

In addition to the Housing Choice Voucher Section 8 Program, DCA supports other rental assistance programs with 17,000 vouchers to keep families safely housed every year, including vouchers for individuals with disabilities and other special needs through the Supportive Housing Connection, a partnership between the New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS) and DCA that connects tenants to quality housing opportunities across the state and provides assistance in making sure that housing is affordable. DCA’s administration of housing vouchers along with DHS’s provision of supportive services ensures that participants in the Supportive Housing Connection remain stably housed.

DCA also administers Veterans Administration Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers awarded through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which are targeted to homeless veterans who are referred to DCA by VA Medical Centers. DCA provides project-based Housing Choice Vouchers to projects that serve veteran households that are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

In addition to its voucher programs, DCA has other ongoing and supplemental programs that assist with improving the quality of life for low-income households. They include:

• Affordable Housing Production Programs
• Lead Remediation and Abatement
• Homelessness Prevention
• Keeping Families Together & Youth at Risk of Homelessness
• Utility Relief Assistance Programs
• Community Services Block Grant Programs
• Housing First Programs
• DCAid Screening Tool

DCA offers a wide range of programs and services, including affordable housing production, fire and building safety, community planning and development, local government management and finance, disaster recovery and mitigation, and information privacy.

For more information about DCA, visit https://nj.gov/dca/ or follow the Department on social media: