Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program has released a report calling for consolidation in the administration of HUD-issued Housing Choice Vouchers. Invest but Reform, Streamline Administration of the Housing Choice Voucher Program spotlights the voucher program as HUD’s primary and most cost-effective rental housing program. At the same time, the report’s authors find that the rapidly growing need for housing assistance and sequestration’s budget cuts are forcing HUD leadership to search for ways to stretch its housing dollars. Most of the 2.2 million low income families and individuals served by the voucher program receive their assistance through a local public housing agency (PHA). Some metropolitan areas even have a city, county, and regional PHA that all issue vouchers. Each PHA accepts applications, maintains its own waiting list, establishes local selection preferences, recruits landlords to participate in the program, and conducts housing inspections. The authors contend that reducing this duplication could lead to cost savings that can fund more vouchers and reduce the need to lower subsidies for individual renters. The report provides suggestions to streamline voucher delivery, but stops short of recommending a “one size fits all” approach to realignment. The authors acknowledge that the vouchers are a national program, but that regional implementation and organizational capacity vary. They call for a competitive process that awards voucher program operations to one well-qualified organization or to a consortium that can administer the program throughout an entire metropolitan area. As the transition to regional voucher administration would be lengthy and require Congressional authorization, the authors urge HUD to begin encouraging formation of regional consortia, such as those in Northwest Ohio; Pima County, Arizona; Covington, Kentucky; and those that cross state lines like the one for The Dalles, Oregon and Dallesport, Washington. There is no reliable way to estimate the exact savings that this realignment would generate, but the authors believe it would be substantial given increased economies of scale and reduced duplication. They argue that a record number of households experiencing worst case housing needs, coupled with the likelihood of continued funding cuts, make streamlining administration an effective way to stretch funds targeting the lowest income population. Read Invest but Reform, Streamline Administration of the Housing Choice Voucher Program at: http://bit.ly/1c9sdtF