NLIHC, CBPP, The Alliance, and NHLP Urge HUD to Release Guidance on Using Tenant Protection Vouchers to Help Families with Emergency Housing Vouchers Remain Stably Housed

By Alayna Calabro, NLIHC Senior Policy Analyst

NLIHC, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the National Alliance to End Homelessness (The Alliance), and the National Housing Law Project (NHLP) sent a letter to HUD on September 9 urging the department to swiftly release guidance on how public housing agencies (PHAs) can apply for and administer Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPVs) to help families with Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV) remain stably housed, as authorized in the continuing resolution (CR) signed into law on September 2. 

The CR, the “Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027,” includes language requiring HUD to make TPVs available by the end of the calendar year to all households still receiving assistance through the EHV program as of September 30, 2026. This provision will ensure that the 40,000+ families relying on EHVs can continue to receive the assistance they need to afford their home. 

Given the recent funding uncertainty around EHVs, many PHAs have already told EHV families and participating landlords that the program is set to end this year. HUD must ensure PHAs quickly communicate to families with EHVs that they are no longer at risk of losing their vouchers. Housing agencies should provide families with clear information about the availability of TPVs and assure landlords who may have been previously alerted to funding issues that the funding concerns have been resolved. 

The letter urges HUD to create a process for providing TPVs that is as seamless as possible for tenants and PHAs. For example, families with EHVs should not be subjected to the screening and eligibility requirements for applicants because they are already participants under a Section 8 tenant-based voucher program. The organizations urge HUD to instruct PHAs not to rescreen families, hold them harmless from any differences in payment standards, and communicate clearly with tenants and landlords about the continued availability of assistance, among other critical recommendations to transfer families with EHVs to TPVs and ensure these families remain stably housed. 

Read the letter. 

Read NHLP’s resource on the CR’s EHV/TPV provisions.