After Shutdown Delays, HUD Disperses Millions In Section 8 Payments

Thousands of affordable housing landlords who were left short on rent collections on Dec. 1 are now set to receive funds this week after public housing authorities began receiving Section 8 payments from the federal government.

PHAs started receiving payments from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over the weekend and expect to start passing those payments on to Section 8 landlords over the course of this week.

The Boston Housing Authority was notified on Friday that it would start receiving HUD payments this week. Meanwhile, the New York City Housing Authority, the country’s largest PHA, announced Saturday it had received funds, PIX11 reported. NYCHA will start dispersing funds Monday, Gothamist reported.

“Following notice from HUD that payments to Section 8 landlords would be delayed this month, NYCHA is happy to report that it has now received full funding from HUD and will promptly process payments,” NYCHA said in a statement, according to Gothamist. “It is NYCHA's standard procedure to pay its Section 8 landlords as soon as is reasonably practicable following its receipt of funding from HUD.”

A HUD spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but a representative for the agency told Bisnow last week that the delayed payments were due to the 43-day government shutdown.

The shutdown wound up delaying Section 8 payments by roughly a week for several hundred PHAs across the country, including in Georgia, Boston, New York City and Boca Raton, Florida, which in turn were unable to pass on the payments to landlords.

More than 500 PHAs faced a December shortfall of between $700M and $800M, Bisnow previously reported.