December 11, 2025
The UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation and the Housing Solutions Lab recently co-authored a brief discussing the implications of the federal Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program’s wind-down, as well as creative ways that housing authorities are exploring to sustain support to households receiving such vouchers. The brief, titled, The Potential End of Emergency Housing Voucher Funding: Public Housing Agencies’ Search for Solutions, draws on analysis of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data and on conversations with housing authority leaders, including through the Lab’s PHA Research Community of Practice.
In March of this year, HUD announced that funding for EHVs will run out by the end of 2026 —four years earlier than initially projected, dramatically accelerating the timeline for winding down a program that has assisted tens of thousands of households. The federal government created the EHV program during the COVID-19 pandemic to rapidly house people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Nearly 60,000 EHVs were still in use as of September 2025.
The lack of ongoing funding for EHVs places significant pressure on public housing authorities. And while HUD has issued guidance recommending that housing authorities absorb EHV households into their other voucher programs, many lack the funding to do so, or would face substantial challenges and tradeoffs. With limited time and resources, housing authorities are urgently seeking ways to continue supporting EHV households and prevent increases in housing insecurity and returns to homelessness.
For questions about this research, please contact Claudia Aiken, Director of New Research Partnerships at the Housing Solutions Lab.