LYNN — Federal funding cuts are preventing the Lynn Housing Authority from expanding its Housing Choice Voucher Program. The agency approved a near break-even FY2027 budget, relying on state support and reserve funds to offset growing financial pressures.
Teresa Ewald, a certified public accountant with Fenton, Ewald & Associates, presented the budget at the Housing Authority’s Tuesday meeting. She explained that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has reduced its funding proration rate to as low as 86.8% this year, down from 102% last year. This cut, combined with flat Section 8 funding, means the Lynn Housing Authority cannot serve more tenants in its Housing Choice Voucher program.
Ewald told the commission the Housing Authority’s Section 8 Voucher Program handles $30 million in housing assistance payments a year, but has seen only a $40,000 increase in new funding, leaving the agency in a shortfall and unable to issue additional vouchers.
Ewald added, “We haven’t seen that low in quite a while on the federal program, so it’s kind of a bummer, you know. It’s not great, not great news for the federal program.”
“Unfortunately, we can’t service more tenants,” she said. “Hopefully we can try to keep and maintain our program to the size it is, but it’s hard because when the program just keeps shrinking, that’s less and less admin money.”
According to HUD’s website, the Housing Choice Voucher Program, also known as Section 8, “helps low-income families, elderly persons, veterans, and disabled individuals afford housing in the private market. Program participants can choose any eligible housing unit, including single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments, with rent partially covered by a subsidy paid directly to the landlord.”
Executive Director Charles Gaeta said it has been over two years since the Housing Authority has been able to issue a voucher, keeping families in need on a waiting list because federal support for the program has not allowed it.
Ewald said the Housing Authority received a 3.87% increase in utility funding at the federal public housing level, funding that will remain the same throughout the year.
The federal public housing program also received a 2.7% increase in its non‑utility operating funding — an increase that, like the utility fund, is locked in even if other costs continue to rise, Ewald said.
“The only thing with the federal (program) is that it’s fixed once that calculation is done, it’s fixed for the year, so it doesn’t matter what happens to utility rates or anything like that. We get funded at that exact calculation, and you don’t really get funded for the increase in costs and everything until next year,” she said.
Through state funding, the Housing Authority received a 5% increase in the non-utility spending cap, which gives the Housing Authority $120,002.58 of new money in the budget, which will support increasing costs and the maintenance of Housing Authority buildings, Ewald said.
The state funds 100% of the Housing Authority’s utility costs, she said.
Ewald said the authority now holds approximately $8.5 million in combined reserves across its main programs.
Gaeta told the commission the Housing Authority is “in good shape” financially despite federal cuts.
