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April 27, 2017

19,500 apply for housing vouchers

By LYNN PORTER
Journal Staff Reporter

Fewer households applied this year to be on King County Housing Authority's waiting list for Section 8 vouchers than two years ago. The vouchers provide subsidies to low-income people for private rentals.

KCHA said nearly 19,500 households applied between April 5 and April 18 for 3,500 openings. In 2015 — when the waiting list was last open — KCHA received 22,000 applications for 2,500 slots.

In a press release, the housing authority said a lottery will be held in May to determine which 3,500 households will be placed on the waiting list.

The vouchers are funded by the federal government, so depending on that funding, households at the end of the list could wait five or more years to obtain a voucher, KCHA said.

Rhonda Rosenberg, KCHA director of communications, said it is puzzling why fewer people applied this year, given the homelessness situation locally.

“Obviously that's one of the things that we're hoping to figure out,” she said.

KCHA said the households that applied this year have 43,012 family members, including 18,000 children.

Rosenberg said their economic situation is a lot worse than those who applied two years ago.

According to the housing authority:

• The number of households reporting zero income jumped to 29 percent, from 12 percent in 2015.

• 60 percent of all applicants reported that they were currently homeless, up from 47 percent in 2015.

• The median income for all applicant households fell by nearly $1,000, when adjusted for inflation. The median income of households applying in 2017 was $8,820 per year.

Among 2017 applicants, KCHA said:

• 568 elderly household applicants reported zero income, compared with 77 in 2015.

• The homelessness rate among households with children is 59 percent, up from 44 percent in 2015. Ten thousand children live in these homeless households.

• Over 2,750 children live in households that are experiencing homelessness because of domestic violence.

• Housing for veterans accounted for more than 700 applications. Over 400 of those applicants reported that they are homeless.

“I think a lot of these folks are pretty invisible in the community,” said Rosenberg, “and these are pretty disturbing data points, I think.”

KCHA provides rental assistance to 11,300 families with the Section 8 program. Generally the program pays the difference between the rent charged by a housing owner and the assisted household's rental contribution, which is set at approximately 30 percent of the household's income adjusted for family size and utility costs. More than 3,000 landlords participate in the program.

In the release, Stephen Norman, executive director of the King County Housing Authority, said the number of households who applied to be on the waiting list reveals the extent of the region's housing crisis.

“With rents continuing to increase across the county by double digits, low-income households are failing to find housing they can afford,” Norman said. “This program is an essential part of our region's safety net. Proposed federal cuts in funding will see more children, more elderly, more veterans, living on our streets.”


 


Lynn Porter can be reached by email or by phone at (206) 622-8272.




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