Questions

What is a utility allowance?

When a tenant pays some utilities directly, the housing authority subtracts a monthly allowance for them from what the tenant pays toward rent. Each authority publishes a schedule of these amounts by utility, fuel, building type and number of bedrooms. A household’s allowance is the sum of the lines for the utilities it pays.

Which programs does it cover?

Mostly the Housing Choice Voucher program: 1,965 of the 2,119 schedules. 114 are public housing schedules, 26 cover both programs and 14 cover other programs.

How current is it?

This release was compiled on November 5, 2026. For each authority it holds the newest schedule and, where we could document them, earlier schedules back to 2019. Schedules already published for 2027 are included with their effective dates.

How do updates work?

Yearly updates are an add-on to the national file: every new release for 12 months from purchase. Each release is listed on the changelog with what it holds.

What does “flagged” mean?

A flag means an amount failed one of our consistency checks. One example: a schedule prints two different amounts for the same item and home size. Another: an amount drops as the home gets bigger. We keep the amount exactly as printed and mark it, so you can decide whether to use it or check it against the linked page first. 92% of amounts pass every check. The method page shows the most frequent reasons and how many amounts each one covers.

Can you add an authority?

Tell us which authority you need and we will look for its schedule and tell you what we find. Write to hello@allowances.dev, or type the name in the search box on the home page.

Can we show the amounts to our own customers?

Yes. You may show single amounts, or calculations based on them, inside your own products and reports. You may not pass on the dataset itself, or a large part of it, as data. See the license.

What formats do we get?

Five CSV files in UTF-8 with ISO dates, the source files as published, and a README. The data page lists every file and column.

How are errors corrected?

To report an amount you believe is wrong, write to hello@allowances.dev with the authority and the page. We check it against the source document. If the error is confirmed and you reported it within 30 days of delivery, you get a corrected file. Buyers of yearly updates also get corrections in every new release.

Who are you?

allowances.dev is an independent data business, not connected to HUD or any housing authority. The seller’s legal details are on the legal notice and on every invoice. Write to hello@allowances.dev.