LAFAYETTE PARISH — An estimated 270 people are currently on the waitlist for housing assistance through the Lafayette Housing Authority (LHA), but no new Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), or Section 8, are available, and federal funding issues may delay relief indefinitely.
Latweeta Swyers, the new executive director of the LHA, said federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been stretched thin, forcing the agency to halt distribution of new vouchers.
“The freeze comes from the actual funding that we receive from the federal government,” Swyers said. “We’re just letting people know, after your year’s up at this project-based voucher, we don’t have any vouchers available for you to move into another area.”
Swyers, who joined the authority in April and has over two decades of experience in housing, said the agency is still assessing how to better maximize the resources it has.
The HCV Program, formerly known as Section 8, is designed to help low-income individuals and families access affordable housing.
But with federal budget cuts and rising housing costs, the LHA said there are no vouchers left to issue.
“It’s the raising of rental costs for affordable housing in the community, it’s also the raise of rent increases with landlords that’s on our program,” Swyers said. “And we wanted to have an increase in the proration of the subsidy that we receive from actual HUD. It’s a culmination of those things.”
“So just really overall inflation is what I’m hearing?” KATC's Anna Fischer asked.
“Exactly, that’s exactly what it is,” Swyers responded.
With no current supply of vouchers and a lengthy waiting list, Swyers said the only path forward is attrition — meaning people must leave the program before new applicants can be served.
Attrition, according to Swyers, includes cases such as unreported income, the death of a voucher holder, or voluntarily returning the voucher.
“We are not pulling from the waiting list due to attrition,” Swyers said. “After the attrition rate and we go through the 270 people, that’s when we’ll go ahead and open the list up again.”
There is currently no estimate for when the waitlist might reopen, but Swyers said the public will be informed as soon as more vouchers become available.
KATC will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as new information becomes available.
