Quick Take
The Housing Authority of Santa Cruz County is facing a number of serious concerns this year, including the expiration of pandemic-era emergency housing vouchers and proposed changes to federal policy that could mean more households are ineligible for assistance. However, the organization’s executive director is “cautiously optimistic” that it will be able to provide an alternative.
The Housing Authority of Santa Cruz County is preparing for the end of federal emergency housing vouchers at the end of the year, and also bracing for changes to citizenship requirements for rental assistance.
Housing Authority executive director Jenny Panetta gave an update to the county board of supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting about what worries her the most for her agency in the coming year.
Through the federal pandemic-era emergency housing voucher (EHV) program, Panetta said the Housing Authority distributes vouchers to people who need them most, often people who are already homeless or are at the highest risk of becoming homeless, as well as people fleeing or trying to flee serious danger such as domestic violence, human trafficking or sexual assault. Recipients use them to pay all or part of their rent, and landlords get guaranteed, direct-deposited payments for tenants referred by public housing agencies. While the funds were expected to last until 2031, the money went faster than the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) expected, and both Congress and HUD have decided not to allocate more funding. The program will expire at the end of the year.
Panetta said 250 Santa Cruz County families receive rental assistance through this program, and the organization is trying to find ways to continue assisting them. The Housing Authority has put everyone with expiring federal vouchers on its regular housing voucher list and given them preference. It has also prioritized these households for all units the organization owns and operates, which means when there’s a vacancy, an EHV family will be able to move in. She also said EHV holders will have priority for new projects under construction such as Harvey West Studios and Pacific Station North.
“But it’s not enough, so even though we’re concentrating all of our project-based voucher and Housing Authority unit capacity to EHV households, there are still going to be households in the EHV program when funding for that program comes to an end,” Panetta said. That would add to about 2,000 households already on the waiting list, which has been closed since 2019.
Panetta said the only real solution for the leftover households is to provide them with a regular Housing Choice Voucher, also known as Section 8.
Currently, Panetta said the Housing Authority expects to receive 99% of the funding it would typically be eligible for, but there will be no inflation adjustment: “So, if the costs of the program are rising at about 5% a year, and we’re getting a 1% cut, that feels more like a 6% cut.” The organization has attempted to save money in recent months, including by not issuing new housing vouchers to save money and keep spots open for EHV households.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that we will be able to provide a housing choice voucher for every single EHV household in our program and that we can avoid catastrophe,” she said. However, she pointed out that all vouchers will be allocated to preserving rental assistance for people currently housed, leaving no new vouchers for the foreseeable future.
Beyond funding and program concerns, HUD has moved to prevent families with mixed immigration statuses from receiving certain federal housing assistance. The proposed rule change announced last week would require all members of a household to be citizens or legal residents in order to receive any rental assistance. Currently, when some members of a household are citizens or legal residents and others are not, the household can get rental assistance prorated depending on the percentage of eligible family members. For example, if three out of four members of a household are citizens, that household receives 75% of the assistance it would normally receive. Panetta said 270 of the 6,000 households getting rental assistance through the county would become ineligible.
“If these are implemented, then households would be required to either remove household members, or the entire household would lose their rental assistance,” she said.
Panetta said some bright spots from the past year are the opening of the 20-unit Natural Bridges Apartments on Santa Cruz’s Westside and a 60-unit project on Chanticleer Avenue in Live Oak in pre-development, along with 20 more affordable projects in the pipeline. This marks the first time in 30 years the Housing Authority is building projects, she added, saying she’s confident the organization can weather the storm.
“We’ve been through changes in the program, changes in administration, funding cuts, and we’ve always come back stronger,” she said. “I’m confident that we’re going to do that again.”
Board of Supervisors Chair Monica Martinez said the plans to offset the expiration of the EHV program provide some reassurance, because the agency was “facing a cliff” without a plan. Martinez asked Panetta how the board can help, and Panetta said advocating against policy changes and for continued federal funding would help.
“I think it would start with opposition to the proposed regulations regarding mixed-citizenship eligibility status families,” she said, “And funding for the voucher program would be No. 2.”
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