MANSFIELD — The Mansfield Metropolitan Housing Authority could begin pulling names from its Section 8 voucher waiting list within the next few weeks, executive director Steve Andrews said Tuesday.
The move comes six months after the agency had to freeze its program in order to apply for shortfall funding from the federal government.
While administered locally, funds for Housing Choice Voucher programs (Section 8) come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Last June, rising rental costs meant the MMHA was on track to outspend its allocated funding for 2025. So the agency stopped issuing new Section 8 vouchers and suspended more than 200 vouchers for residents who had been approved or were actively looking for housing.
Andrews said the MMHA “reactivated” those vouchers this month. The waiting list remains closed to new applicants, but Andrews said the agency may begin pulling from its waitlist within the next one to two weeks.
“In applying for that shortfall funding, one of the things is you have to enact every cost saving measure, which includes putting a stop to vouchers,” Andrews said. “But on Jan. 1, the clock starts over, because now I have a whole new bucket of money to work with.”
The MMHA budgeted $12.3 million for its Section 8 program in 2025 — including the agency’s own carryover and a $929,724 monthly allocation from HUD.
Andrews said the agency ended up spending $23,000 more than that, despite not issuing new vouchers for half the year.
The agency has since received $18,000 in shortfall funding from HUD to help close the gap.
Andrews told board members he applied for additional shortfall funds, but that the agency has enough in its savings to make up the difference if the request isn’t approved.
The director said he’s hoping HUD will bump up the agency’s Section 8 allocation to $12.5 million this year, but the federal government doesn’t announce its final allocation amounts until the spring.
“We’ve got to run our business as if this money is there, but they won’t even tell us how much we’ve got to work with until May,” he said. “So half the year is over before we even really have a hard number to work with.”