The problem took on a human face, or faces, this week when the National Low Income Housing Coalition and other supporters rallied outside HUD in an effort to stave off the first victims of the new procedure--650 Massachusetts families. Yesterday, just before NLIHC members were scheduled to meet with HUD voucher program leaders on the matter, news arrived that HUD had suddenly put together the $500,000 necessary to fill the gap for Massachusetts vouchers.

Massachusetts was saved, but other states may not be so fortunate. "There are communities across the country where housing authorities will have the same problem," NLIHC's Kim Schaffer tells GlobeSt.com. "But Congress made it clear last year that it would fully fund this program. This is a market-paced program that was created by President Nixon as such. We want HUD to fund vouchers based on actual costs according to the latest available information." The problem with this new calculation method is that it does not take into consideration areas where rents have increased and income has decreased.

For its part, HUD has told NLIHC that, as per their interpretation of the 2004 appropriations bill, its hands are tied. Congress says differently. In a recent letter to HUD, Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine say: "We believe that HUD's guidance applies the law inappropriately, and that HUD has the ability, within the statutory framework, to provide adequate funding for all housing vouchers in use. It is clear that the intent of Congress was to ensure that the voucher program was sufficiently funded so that no family would lose assistance."