(originally posted to Vermont Watch, here)
Imagine being one of the many individuals or families across Vermont who are in need of rental assistance in order to afford to pay the rent for an apartment.
Further imagine having been among the 4,017 individuals or families currently on the waiting list for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program administered by the Vermont State Housing Authority (VSHA) and having one’s hopes raised after receiving a letter about how such a rental assistance voucher was available (sample issuance letter, here).
However, when it comes to real-world experiences, beyond imagining is what one also eventually comes to learn about how difficult it can be to manage to find a place with which to rent under the HCV program guidelines within the sixty (60) day period one has to do so.
Then, once more, imagine receiving another letter stating how “[d]ue to insufficient federal funding at this time, VSHA must rescind the voucher which was recently issued …”. This means the “voucher is no longer active” and VSHA could not “consider any requests for tenancy approval” and they were unable to provide assistance at this time.
Sixty-six (66) individuals or families across the state who in fact recently received the latter letter (sample rescinding letter, here), as well as advocates and service providers who learned about such from some of their clients they work with on an ongoing basis, were left with only being able to imagine the worse.
Seven (7) of these individuals or families who had already managed to line up housing after having received the initial notification letter were able to actually still receive their voucher.
Although this leaves fifty-nine (59) individuals or families in limbo when it comes to being able to rent an affordable, safe and decent place with which to live for the time being, the decision to rescind the vouchers allowed VSHA to return them to the top of the HCV waiting list for when funding becomes available to once again award vouchers to these persons or families.
During a telephone interview with Kathleen Berk, Director of Housing Program Administration for VSHA, late last week as well as along with related information provided within a follow-up e-mail sent shortly afterwards concerning these matters, Ms. Berk reported how the “VSHA waiting list for Section 8 HCV assistance closed on September 30, 2010. At the time the waiting list closed, there were 4017 applicants listed. Opening and closing the waiting list is a normal administrative function. … [W]hen the waiting list opened on October 1, 2009, there were just 300 applicants listed.”
The follow-up e-mail included information about how “VSHA’s current average HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) is approximately $528 per month. VSHA’s 2010 funded HAP was $470/unit/month – significantly less than our current HAP expense.” (note: emphasis mine)
The change in the average HAP expense is said to be in part a result of some individuals or families having far less available income due to the poor economy, whether due to having less hours of employment, loss of or changes in employment or, lessening of employment income or, lessening or loss of income benefits compared to the previous year(s), it therefore requires a greater amount of the rent to be subsidized.
Under the HCV program, an eligible individual or family pays up to thirty percent (30%) of their adjusted gross income toward the rent and the Public Housing Authority (PHA) subsidizes the rest.
However, if the income of an individual or family goes up, then their contribution toward the rent goes up.
In certain cases where an individual or family might lose their income while on the program, the PHA subsizes the entire amount of the rent. This allows such persons or families to remain housed while they seek employment or apply for income benefits.
In addition, the cost of housing units within the state remains high.
Meanwhile, although HAP expenses have been increasing, what VSHA receives to cover the cost of the HCV program has remained the same.
According to an internal memo issued by Ms. Berk that was sent to VSHA staff last month (read memo, here; posted with permission), the course of action to rescind the 59 recently issued vouchers had been necessitated at least in part due to the HCV program being funded at fiscal year 2010 levels as a result of inaction by Congress to pass a budget for the 2011 fiscal year.
Among the unknowns and stressors is how much the program will be funded when the new budget eventually gets passed by Congress.
Within the memo Ms. Berk reported how “[t]he HCV program is the agency’s single largest rental assistance program, with a budget of approximately $19,000,000. Given the likelihood that congress will fund the voucher program budget this year – based on 2010 numbers, we are needing to take proactive steps to prevent the need to terminate contracts later in the fiscal year.”
The memo continued to state how “[f]or example, if we were to continue business as usual – continue leasing voucher units up to our baseline allocation using the payment standards in-place today, we would need an additional 2.1 million dollars in budget authority to support these additional HAP expenses. Or, another way of looking at this is we would have a $2.1 million dollar shortfall – that could only be resolved by terminating existing contracts of assisted households. This is not anything we ever want to do.”
Ms. Berk also mentioned how their “goal to reduce voucher utilization over the remaining months in the fiscal year by 200 households.”
The plan to achieve this goal includes not reissuing vouchers returned to the HCV program whether due to a recipients income having changed to a level that no longer allows them to remain eligible or their having moved out of state or so on.
To learn more about these matters, view or read a report by WPTZ – Channel 5 TV – News regarding VSHA closing its HCV waiting list last year, here. In addition, listen to an interview by Jane Lindholm of Vermont Public Radio (VPR) of Richard Williams, Executive Director of VSHA, concerning these matters as well, here.
As far as what one can do to help address concerns they might have about these matters, several of those spoken with while doing research for this story said it would be crucial for people to contact their congressional delegation and let them know of such concerns as well as what should be done.
Vermont’s Congressional Delegation:
- Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT)
- Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
- Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Housing related informational resources: