May 12, 2021
470 New Federal Emergency Housing Vouchers Awarded to the San Diego Housing Commission to Address Homelessness
The vouchers, authorized through the American Rescue Plan, will help households pay rent
SAN DIEGO, CA — The San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) will receive 470 new federal Emergency Housing Vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help pay rent for San Diegans experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.
“These housing vouchers are going to change the lives of 470 San Diegans and their families,” Mayor Todd Gloria said. “Programs like this will provide safety for some of our most vulnerable and create a level of stability that would otherwise be out of reach.”These new vouchers are among 70,000 nationwide authorized through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which President Joe Biden signed into law on March 11, 2021.
“With the new Emergency Housing Vouchers, the San Diego Housing Commission will be able to help additional vulnerable households obtain stable, permanent housing,” SDHC President & CEO Richard C. Gentry said. “New resources like these vouchers are essential to the ongoing, collaborative efforts to address homelessness in the City of San Diego.”
Emergency Housing Vouchers will assist San Diegans who are experiencing homelessness; are at risk of experiencing homelessness; are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking; or who recently experienced homelessness and for whom rental assistance will help prevent their homelessness or a high risk of housing instability.
The vouchers awarded to SDHC will take effect July 1, 2021, and have an initial annual value of $6,640,992.
These Emergency Housing Vouchers will work similarly to other federal rental assistance programs SDHC administers.
Households will pay a predetermined portion of their income toward their rent, and SDHC will pay the balance of the rent, up to the applicable “payment standard” directly to the landlord. The “payment standard” is the maximum subsidy payment that the voucher would pay for an apartment or rental house minus the portion of the contract rent that the tenant pays. The payment standard is based on the number of bedrooms approved for the family’s size and the community to which the family moves.
Households these vouchers assist will also receive help in their search for housing.
Eligible households will be identified through the Coordinated Entry System (CES). This system, administered by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, helps identify the most appropriate housing resource for each individual or family experiencing homelessness, based on their needs.
The Emergency Housing Voucher program does not allow SDHC to reissue these vouchers to new households after September 30, 2023.
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Media Contact:
Scott Marshall
Vice President of Communications
San Diego Housing Commission
619-578-7138
