A new analysis by researchers at the Urban Institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, shows that recent staffing and funding cuts at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD0 would have an outsize effect on older adults, given their growing presence in HUD-assisted households (older adults made up 42% of HUD households in 2024, up from 33% in 2014).

In the housing choice voucher program, by far HUD’s largest housing program serving 2.8 million households, the share of older adult households increased from 22% in 2014 to 34% in 2024. In public housing, the share of older adult households increased from 31% in 2014 to 38% in 2024. In HUD’s project-based Section 8 program, which includes about two-thirds of all Section 202 homes (those built before Project Rental Assistance Contracts replaced PBRA as the Section 202 program’s operating subsidy in 1990), the share of older adult households increased from 47% in 2014 to 54% in 2024.

The Urban piece also looks at older adults served by HUD’s housing programs across states. In most states, older adult households represent one-third to one-half of all households receiving HUD assistance. Of all states, Rhode Island leads in share of households receiving HUD assistance headed by adults ages 62 and older, at 53%, while Mississippi trails (28%).

Read the Urban Institute piece here. And keep up with this and related news via our EO Compliance, Funding Freeze and DOGE Updates serial post.