DATE:
September 1, 2021
HA01
TO:
Housing Authority of the County of San Diego Board of Commissioners
SUBJECT
Title
EXPANDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH PROJECT-BASED VOUCHERS (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
The San Diego region faces a severe and chronic shortage of affordable housing units which directly impact housing insecurity and housing cost burden for lower-income households across the County. Over the past decade, the region has only produced enough very low-income housing to meet 10% of the need, and we are currently short approximately 32,000 very low-income units for households making under $54,000 per year. Given this housing crisis, we need to leverage every available tool to develop more affordable housing. Project-based vouchers (or PBVs) are an underutilized resource administered by the Housing Authority of the County of San Diego (HACSD), which can be strategically deployed to create new affordable housing opportunities in low-poverty, resource-rich neighborhoods and to create dedicated housing for vulnerable populations such as low-income families, older adults, people with disabilities, and people who are formerly homeless.
Housing Choice Vouchers, which are sometimes referred to as Section 8 vouchers, are the largest program administered by HACSD with over 11,000 vouchers totaling $160 million providing support to low-income tenants across the region. HUD administers two types of Housing Choice Voucher programs. The first is the tenant-based voucher, which is attached to a specific household. Participating households are responsible for finding their own rental unit on the private market. The household pays a share of the rent and utilizes (approximately 30% of their income), while the voucher pays the rest of the rent directly to the landlord, up to the local Fair Market Rent as set by HUD. The second type is the project-based voucher, or PBV, which is attached to a unit rather than a household. The eligibility an...
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