Housing insecurity, a nationwide crisis intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to be reduced for some of Napa’s most vulnerable residents under a new federal emergency housing voucher program.
The city of Napa Housing Authority gained access to 45 emergency housing vouchers last month, specifically to give to people who are on the verge of homelessness, experiencing homelessness or attempting to flee domestic violence, among other categories.
“It feels like Christmas,” said Michelle Sanchez, in charge of managing voucher applications for NEWS, Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Services. “This is a golden ticket to a family. The most meaningful thing you can do for a struggling family is help them stabilize their housing. It’s hard for a family to work or take care of children or pay their rent when they don’t have stable housing.”
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The federal emergency voucher program, created by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021; HUD is providing 70,000 vouchers to public housing authorities across the country, according to the HUD website.
Eligibility for the vouchers is restricted to individuals or households experiencing homelessness; those who were recently homeless and housing assistance would prevent homelessness or housing instability; and those attempting to flee domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, dating violence or human trafficking, said Lark Ferrell, city of Napa housing manager.
Ferrell also said people or families eligible for the housing vouchers — those who’ve lost housing or are on the verge of it — tend to be at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
“If you are homeless or living in a shelter it’s hard to be socially distant,” Ferrell said. “I think all these categories are people who are considered at-risk.”
The vouchers work similarly to normal Section 8 housing vouchers: an income-dependent portion of rent is paid to a landlord by the housing authority, while the rest — generally 30% of monthly adjusted gross income for rent and utility payments — is paid by the tenant.
But, Ferrell said, the emergency vouchers differ in several ways from the normal Section 8 vouchers. For one, she said, the emergency vouchers are both permanent and temporary, in a sense.
The funding for specific families is permanent, she said, because HUD will fund the emergency vouchers for as long as the recipients qualify for them. But the vouchers are not able to be reissued by the housing authority after Sept. 30, 2023, unlike regular Section 8 vouchers, Ferrell said.
“They’re permanent for the people we give them to as long as they need them,” Ferrell said. “What’s different is after a certain point, if the people no longer needed the assistance, we wouldn’t be able to reissue that voucher.”
Referrals for the emergency vouchers associated with homelessness fall to the Napa County Continuum of Care’s Coordinated Entry System (through Abode Services), and referrals related to domestic violence have been taken up by NEWS. So far, 15 applications for the vouchers are at some stage of the process of coming together, Ferrell said, with seven coming from NEWS.
Sanchez said NEWS, a nonprofit organization that provides resources and support to victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse, has been busier than ever in recent months. Soon after COVID-19 pandemic started up last year, she said, the organization realized it needed to step in and provide rental assistance much more than usual.
“We soon realized that rental assistance for many, many, many of our families was going to be very necessary,” Sanchez said. “A lot of our families that were once stable and doing well, we hadn’t talked to for a while, were reaching out in large numbers.”
One reason the effects of COVID-19 jeopardized housing for many of the organization’s clients is because they don’t have two-parent households, Sanchez said. Managing children in distance learning fell to the single mothers, she said, and many also lost work.
Sanchez added putting together the referral applications isn’t easy — clients need to provide Social Security numbers, identification, birth certificates, and income and bank statements, among other documents — but that it’s great to be able to find stable housing for people, alleviate tension on funding that’s going toward rental assistance and open up room for more clients.
There are several preferences and prohibitions to the emergency vouchers. Households that make at or below 30% area median income are preferred, as are highly vulnerable households and recently homeless families that will be prevented from returning from homelessness with rental assistance.
Assistance is prohibited if the household includes any member who’s been convicted for criminal activity related to manufacturing or producing methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing.
Assistance is also prohibited if there’s a household member with lifetime registration requirement under a state sex offender program; if the household includes a member who’s threatened abusive or violent behavior toward housing authority personnel within the previous 12 months; or if a household member fails to sign and submit consent forms for required information.
Many other Section 8 restrictions don’t apply, however, and the emergency housing vouchers have a lot of leniency in comparison, Sanchez said.
“It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been really, really exciting,” Sanchez said. “I think the best part is telling a family that we have this opportunity and explaining what it is to them and just seeing the tears in their eyes. It’s the best part of my job.”
Photos: OLE Health visits Napa homeless camp to distribute care bags
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
OLE Health distributes care bags to residents of the Bowl
You can reach Edward Booth at (707) 256-2213.