SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The current and future scenarios surrounding housing vouchers in San Diego could be described as a rock-and-a-hard-place.
The President and CEO of the San Diego Housing Commission told ABC 10News that it’s a fair statement.
“We have seen our cost in supporting rental assistance in our voucher program continue to rise over the last 5 years,” Lisa Jones, President and CEO of San Diego Housing Commission, said.
The process of dispersing the funding starts with the federal government and then trickles down to San Diego apartments.
Here’s how the process works for funding the vouchers. The Housing Commission receives a pool of federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That money goes to landlords to cover parts – not all – of people's rent, whatever's left is covered by the renter.
Over those five years with inflation, rising rent, and more demand, the Housing Commission has stated that the portion it pays has gone up 80 percent, from almost $900 a month to nearly $1,600 a month.
A rental market that's lapping the money being divvied up by the federal government.
“The funding we're getting from the federal government just isn't keeping up with that. And, as policy priorities change, we're concerned that federal funding is going to diminish even more,” Jones said.
This could lead to a diminishing amount of those vital vouchers.
“We are projecting to spend about $35 million more this year in this fiscal year than we're getting, and that would really equate to having to end assistance for up to 1700 families, which is about 6000 people,” Jones said.
But the Housing Commission doesn’t want to do that and it’s looking at another option.
“Or we have to ask all of our families to pay a little bit more in their family contribution towards the contract rent while we pay the remainder,” Jones said.
The Housing Commission would be changing how that contribution is calculated.
The Housing Commission uses two categories for those on the vouchers: those who are work-able - those under 62, not disabled, and not a full-time student who are 18 to 23 years old - and those who are on fixed incomes.
Currently, those who are work-able pay either a minimum contribution or a percentage of the family’s income, whichever is greater.
Minimums are either $400 or $650 a month if one or two adults is working. Those who are on fixed incomes pay 28.5 percent of their monthly income with no minimum contribution.
The other option that’s up for consideration calls for creating additional group of those on vouchers who can work to three or more people in the household. The family contribution toward the rent range will be at a minimum of about 30 percent to 40 percent of the adjusted income.
Minimum contributions will also be adjusted to those who work 25 hours per week under the new minimum wage of $17.75 that is set to go into effect in San Diego in 2026
“We would expect them to at least be able to pay a minimum family contribution that is equal to someone working 25 hours a week at minimum wage and then basically 30% of that monthly income would be the contribution,” Jones said.
Those who are on fixed incomes will pay 32 percent, still with no minimum.
So, what does that mean in dollars and cents when it comes to the increase?
The Housing Commission’s data shows that the largest number of voucher households on fixed incomes would see up to a $99 increase per month.
For work-able households paying the minimum the largest group will see between a $100 to $199 per month increase.
Those paying that 40 percent, the largest group, will see a bump of $300 to $599 per month.
For more information, please review the Housing Commission’s proposal here.
“We have to make some kind of changes because otherwise we can't continue to support the folks we've got. Our goal is to make sure we connect people to job search opportunities, building your resume, financial literacy, all of those kinds of things to help people get to there,” Jones said. "I understand that there are definitely folks that are going to feel the pinch, and this is going to be an adjustment that they have to navigate. And our goal is to help them transition successfully. We want everybody to remain stably housed.”
The Housing Commission said it wouldn’t make a decision on this until December, and the possible change wouldn’t be implemented until the end of next year.
