The Emergency Housing Voucher program is effectively winding down, as funds for the program, originally slated to run until 2030, are expected to run out by March. The Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority’s board of commissioners discussed what’s being done to support current participants. 

As the sun sets prematurely on the initiative—with national funds expected to run dry by March—the question now is: what will happen to those on the island who rely on it? The concern coming to the forefront during Thursday’s GHURA meeting, as officials discussed a resolution to adopt the revised Public Housing 2025 Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy, which would add a preference for EHV participants.

GHURA deputy director Fernando Esteves explained the shortfall, saying, “The funding on the HUD side, when Congress approved, was supposed to run until 2028, maybe 2030. The issue is that here we are in 2025, and the national budget for that Congress approved has run dry nationally. So, come March, there’s no funding for EHV anywhere in the country.”

Esteves says GHURA is now working to soften the impact on the approximately 68 families currently in the program. And while the program was always intended to be temporary, Section 8 administrator Nicole Alejandro outlined the steps taken so far to notify those affected.

“As our response to these families, which amounts to 68 families affected, we have notified them as well as their landlords that their program will be discontinued in March," she explained. "We have notified them as early as September as to what's going on--- and to find other ways that we can provide housing and assistance. We are working very closely with public housing to see if we can get them on their waitlist, and due to regulations that we have to follow, the best we can do is get them on the waitlist with preference points.”

Alejandro added that a second notification went out this month, and a final notice is scheduled for February—formally informing participants that as of March, they will no longer be in the EHV program.

In the meantime, the board approved the resolution, in an effort for EHV participants to receive priority on the public housing waitlist, in the hopes of getting them housed before funding expires in March.