Boulder housing authority accepts plan proposing lower rent share for some voucher households

The Boulder County Housing Authority board unanimously accepted its 2027 annual plan and Moving to Work supplement Sept. 17, including a proposal to reduce the rent share for eligible elderly and disabled households from 30% to 26% of adjusted income, staff told the board. The plan must go to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for review before the proposed policy can take effect.

The authority plans to submit the finalized documents to HUD by Oct. 18. The department will have 75 days to review them and provide comments, staff said.

The 26% rent-share policy was included as a new activity in the 2027 plan. Staff said HUD approved the concept in the authority’s 2025 plan, but the authority could not launch it because its former software did not support the calculation. Activities approved in the 2026 plan are expected to continue Jan. 1, staff said.

The proposed change is separate from the authority’s efforts to transition Emergency Housing Voucher households as federal funding for the program is scheduled to end at the close of 2026. Executive Director Susanna Lopez Baker said the authority is working with HUD to move eligible households into longer-term assistance where possible, but the meeting did not establish a final transition plan or guarantee replacement vouchers for every household.

Households whose assistance ends because of insufficient funding already receive priority when the Housing Choice Voucher waiting list opens, staff said. The authority has also added a preference point for Emergency Housing Voucher households seeking placement on the general waiting list.