On Aug. 31, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced two actions that together will enable more families to rent a healthy, stable home at an affordable cost: publishing Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and releasing an additional $113 million in Housing Choice Vouchers to public housing agencies to help 9,500 families to meet these growing costs.
The voucher allocation for Maryland will be $1,070,592.
The Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) published Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for FY 2024, which helps to determine the maximum amount a Housing Choice Voucher will cover. Nationally, FMRs will increase by an average of approximately 12 percent, which will increase the number of units that families using housing vouchers can access. The Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) also announced an additional $113 million in Housing Choice Voucher funding awards for 118 high-performing public housing agencies in 36 states. These funds will enable these agencies to provide rental assistance to 9,500 additional households in the coming year.
The Housing Choice Voucher program enables families to afford rental units in the private market. Given recent rental cost increases, families who receive vouchers are experiencing greater difficulty successfully using their vouchers to find affordable, safe, and quality housing. The new FMR levels announced today – on top of an approximately 10 percent increase nationally in FY 2023 – will help the voucher program keep up with rent increases in the private market, expand the number of affordable units, and help more families rent homes at an affordable cost.
“The updating of fair market rents is a big deal in many of the counties and jurisdictions MIH works in, we are delighted with this development,” said MIH Executive Director Tim Wiens. “We also are pleased to have additional vouchers available.” For HUD’s full release, click here.