HUD Boosts Section 8 Rents to Keep Pace with Inflation
Published Date: 12/9/2025
Notice
Summary
If you own a rental home or apartment that gets Section 8 help, your contract rents and required savings deposits will change a bit in 2026. These changes reflect how much rent and utility costs have gone up recently, making sure payments keep up with the market. The new rates kick in starting December 9, 2025, so owners and tenants can plan ahead for the updated amounts.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 2 costs, 2 mixed.
FY2026 AAFs change Section 8 contract rents
If you own or operate a unit under certain Section 8 programs, the monthly contract rents for those units will be adjusted each year using the FY2026 Annual Adjustment Factors (AAFs) starting December 9, 2025. The AAFs are based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) rent and utility data plus private rent sources (RealPage, Moody's REIS, CoStar, CoreLogic, Apartment List, and Zillow) and are applied at the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract anniversary.
Reserve for Replacement deposits adjusted by AAF
If an owner is subject to a Reserve for Replacement deposit requirement, the required deposit amount must be increased each year using the most recently published AAF with Highest Utility Excluded for the project's Metropolitan/Region. This adjustment is applied at the HAP contract anniversary.
Smaller annual factor for unchanged tenants
For units occupied by the same family at the last annual rent adjustment, HUD uses AAF Table 2, which is 0.01 less than the corresponding Table 1 AAF (but not less than 1.0). This reduced factor applies when the rent is not lowered by comparability checks.
AAFs do not apply to renewals, budgets, or vouchers
AAFs apply only during the initial (pre-renewal) term of HAP contracts; they are not used to set renewal rents after the original HAP contract expires. AAFs are also not used for budget-based rent adjustments and are not used to adjust rents in the Tenant-Based or Project-Based Housing Choice Voucher programs.
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