Nearly 4,000 applications for tenant-based housing vouchers have been filed in Champaign County over the last seven months, but none have been processed and no one has received a voucher yet, housing officials said.

The vouchers allow a family or individual to rent low to moderate-income housing from eligible landlords. These are different from project-based vouchers, which are used at specific affordable housing developments.

The tenant-based voucher program waiting list is currently closed and will not reopen until the next fiscal year.

“We opened our waitlist back in August, and we took about 4,000 applicants, and none of those have been processed as of yet,” Housing Authority Executive Director Lily Walton said. “Our program is fully leased on the tenant-based side, so we will not be pulling more people from the waitlist as of right now.”

According to the Housing Authority of Champaign County’s 2025 Moving to Work (MTW) plan, 2,514 applications have been received for Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) housing vouchers, while 3,965 and 1,466 applications were submitted for project-based and tenant-based housing, respectively. 

The plan was updated in January 2025 and does not reflect the addition of over 2,500 applications for tenant-based housing as of April 2025.

According to a 2023 financial audit, the Housing Authority of Champaign County received over $17.7 million from federal programs that year. Around $16.8 million, or roughly 95% of the funding, came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Antonio Gaines, President of the American Federation of Government Employees National Council 222, said in February that HUD plans to lay off 50% of its workforce, or approximately 4,800 employees, according to a Bloomberg Law article. The Washington Post also obtained internal White House documents in March that laid out a plan to cut about half of its over 8,000-worker staff.

Housing Authority Executive Director Lily Walton said Champaign County would feel the effects of federal policy changes if they involved budget cuts.

“Our programs are administered through HUD, so we have a significant relationship with HUD staff,” Walton said. “Our ability to serve, of course, is impacted by the federal budget, so if there were budgetary changes that would significantly impact our program, then that could impact our ability to continue to serve people locally in Champaign County.”