Is Trump Stopping Section 8? Worried Recipients and Advocates Question Future Amid Shakeups
First the funds were paused, then they weren't. What's happening?!
Published Feb. 7 2025, 9:32 a.m. ET
In January 2025, Donald Trump returned to the White House to serve his second term. He brought chaos and change in the form of billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk. Elon has been sweeping through federal departments, sniffing out information, and pledging to make changes and cut financial waste as part of his mission to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
This has led many to worry that programs they rely on, programs funded by the federal government, are on the chopping block. Rumors are flying and speculation is rampant, but is Trump planning on stopping Section 8? Here's what we know about the housing program and whether or not it's even federally funded.
Is Trump stopping Section 8 housing?
On social media, people are making guesses at which programs will fall next in Elon's quest to cut government spending. He has already made waves in the Department of Labor, CIA, FBI, USAID, Department of Treasury, Education Department, and the FAA among others, per PBS.
Republicans have long campaigned against what they perceive as waste in the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) agency, which supplies Section 8 vouchers to low-income families looking to secure housing. Yet the intrusion into federal agencies is unprecedented, so it's unclear exactly what the agenda is for HUD and how Elon and Trump's involvement will impact low-income families who rely on Section 8.
In January, the Trump administration froze a large number of federal funds, per Bloomberg. A judge quickly blocked the freeze, and the administration backtracked soon after.
According to HousingWire, the freeze initially targeted agencies, including HUD, to unravel "unfavorable policies." However, within the same memo, they claimed that they weren't initiating a pause and that funding would continue as before while the policies were extracted. The memo sparked fear in agencies that provide vital services, such as Section 8 and Meals on Wheels, which provides food for vulnerable seniors.
So for now, Section 8 remains intact. In the past, per NBC News, Trump has campaigned on stronger work requirements for Section 8, and potentially including a two-year limit on receiving the housing aid.
However, at the moment, no major changes have been announced for HUD and Section 8.
Can he even stop it? Is Section 8 federally funded?
This brings us to the next two questions: Can Trump even stop Section 8, and is it federally funded? For the second answer, it's easy: Yes. Section 8 receives money through HUD.
And as for the first, it's a little unclear. When Trump's administration first froze federal funding, it quickly became evident that the president might not actually have the power to do so.
While the president is involved in the process of setting the nation's budget, it's Congress that actually holds the purse strings and controls how the money is spent.
And the unfortunate answer to the first question is simply that it's a little unclear. The system is designed where many functions of federal agencies, such as HUD or the Education Department, are codified in the law that established them to begin with.
It would require an act of Congress to close those departments, but there are still ways that Trump can use executive power, or power-by-Elon-proxy, to cripple the programs without overstepping his power.
By pressuring employees to resign, rerouting functions out of the agencies, or cutting contracts with the agencies that help them function, Trump can still imperil these agencies and the programs they provide.
Section 8 does not appear to be squarely in anyone's sights for now, but what the future will bring is anyone's guess.