by Heather Warlick, Oklahoma Watch
February 14, 2025

Oklahoma’s largest housing authority was among 400 public housing agencies whose 2024 Section 8 Housing Choice voucher programs were underfunded by a total of $400 million by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency, which distributes federal subsidies to thousands of Oklahoma landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers, was short almost $3 million. 

HUD issued OHFA a $2.4 million shortfall payment in November, leaving the agency short by more than a half-million. 

OHFA Executive Director Deborah Jenkins said that so far, Oklahoma landlords and renters haven’t seen delays in their rental assistance payments, but the late HUD reimbursements, combined with Congressional budget battles, could leave housing authorities underfunded and in a predicament.

“Is there any concern right now?” Jenkins said. “Right now, my answer is no. Now, that is subject to change.”

OHFA administers rent assistance to landlords across Oklahoma for more than 10,200 households in areas without a local housing authority.

The Oklahoma City Housing Authority, which covered 4,154 households in 2024, confirmed it is also waiting for more than $1 million from HUD, though OCHA did not apply for the first round of shortfall funding because it was not evident the agency would come up short until later in 2024. 

Tulsa Housing Authority confirmed it received enough first-round shortfall funding for its more than 5,700 voucher recipients to complete the year without tapping THA reserves. 

Rent hikes that were steeper than HUD algorithms predicted for 2024 are blamed as the primary cause of the end-of-year funding gaps.

To cover the deficit, OHFA spent reserves normally used for programs such as down payment assistance and first-time homebuyer mortgages, Jenkins said. 

Jenkins said the delayed payment of $565,000 to OHFA is a significant amount, but the agency pays landlords about $7 million per month for Section 8 rental assistance. 

Housing officials at OCHA said they were forced to stop issuing new vouchers when openings became available when they realized late in 2024 that they would come up short of funding. OCHA is authorized for 5001 vouchers but only has funding to support 83% of those through January. 

“We had stopped pulling people off the waiting list because we could tell we were going to go into shortfall,” said OCHA Assistant Director of Operations Matt Mills.

A memo from HUD clarified how the department plans to pay the 400 housing agencies for the second round of shortfall funding: Unspent money from 900 public housing authorities is being tapped to offset the shortages. 

During its late-January threat of funding freezes that would have affected many Oklahoma social service programs, the Trump administration stated that rental assistance programs would not be impacted. 

During its Jan. 29 meeting, the OHFA board of directors authorized Jenkins to use up to $1 million from agency reserves to bridge the funding shortfall. 

Jenkins said that if the agency doesn’t receive the shortfall funding soon, she doesn’t know how OHFA will react.

“That’s a question that’s on the table,” Jenkins said. 

Further complicating the situation, Congress has until March 14 to enact a fiscal year 2025 spending agreement or the federal government will be forced into a partial shutdown. 

Appropriators hoped to reach a spending agreement by the beginning of February, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, but the deal was sidelined after the Trump administration issued an executive order and subsequent memo on Jan. 27 ordering a freeze on funding for thousands of federal programs.  

That memo was rescinded, but not before it caused mass uncertainty among agencies and individuals that rely on federally funded programs such as Section 8. 

If there is a government shutdown, Jenkins said March payments to landlords won’t be affected because they’ll already have been made. 

It’s payments for April that Jenkins said could become a problem if housing authorities don’t receive their shortfall funding and a budget agreement isn’t reached.  

Richard Marshall, director of housing choice vouchers at OCHA shares Jenkins’ concern. 

“The possible impact on OCHA programs due to shortfall funding and proposed cuts by Congress could be devastating,” Marshall said. 

Without appropriate funding, OCHA won’t be able to approve families on the Section 8 waitlist for Housing Choice Vouchers, Marshall said. That waitlist is already approaching four years. 

Jenkins emphasized that she is certain the HUD funding will show up any day, but there is a level of uncertainty with what priorities new HUD Secretary Scott Turner will pursue. 

“We’re going to take the Trump administration at its word that it does not impact the rental programs,” Jenkins said. “But you know, there are some grave concerns about what’s going on at the federal level.”

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.