From the Dec. 12 special affordable housing edition, “In need of a new deal.”
The Housing Authority of Portland has a perennial problem: thousands of people in need of subsidized housing scramble to join a waiting list, patiently await their turn, and finally – sometimes years later – they receive rental assistance vouchers. Then, vouchers in hand, many of them discover they still have nowhere to go.
Section 8 vouchers, which are funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by HAP, allow low-income tenants to rent privately-owned units in the area of their choice. Tenants with vouchers pay a third of their income toward rent, and the federal subsidy covers the rest. HAP pulls participants from a waiting list, but vouchers expire after 120 days if they cannot find a place to lease.
In March, Street Roots reported that an unusually low number of Section 8 clients were finding rental units before their vouchers expired (See “Sectioned Out,” March 7, 2008). Between November 2007 and late February 2008, less than a third of voucher recipients successfully signed leases. HAP surveyed unsuccessful participants and found that many of them encountered landlords unwilling to accept Section 8 tenants.
Since then, says Director of Rent Assistance Jill Riddle, HAP has focused on luring more property owners into the program. “We’ve restructured our whole department to serve landlords,” she said.
Many landlords who refuse Section 8 tenants say HAP’s mandatory inspections and complicated paperwork are too much of a hassle. Riddle says those processes have been streamlined in the last six months, and since January, two full-time staffers have been assigned to answer landlord phone calls and respond to requests to raise rent.
To address another common concern – that Section 8 tenants are irresponsible renters – HAP created a $400,000 landlord mitigation fund. Though HAP already provides some insurance against unit damage, the new fund will compensate landlords for any extraordinary maintenance issues.
Most housing authorities pay landlords through the rest of the month if a Section 8 tenant dies or leaves without warning. In November, the HAP board just barely approved a plan to pay an additional 30 days’ worth of rent – equivalent to standard notice time – in the case of unexpected vacancies.
HAP is also encouraging clients about to receive vouchers to attend “Ready to Rent” classes, which include credit counseling, budgeting advice and landlord relations tactics relations. If participants complete the 12-15 hour program and then sign a lease, the Bureau of Housing and Community Development guarantees landlords against property damages with its own $100,000 mitigation fund.
Whether these enticements will lure in enough new landlords remains to be seen. HAP’s landlord roster shows a net increase since January – which reverses a loss the year before, but does not quite return the ranks to 2006 levels.
Now, Riddle says, HAP is concentrating on recruiting Portland’s larger property management companies, who can deliver more units than small-time landlords. HAP staff have met with four major Portland rental companies who do not currently accept Section 8 tenants.
“We have not had the large ones open their doors yet,” Riddle said. “We really need them, or this program just doesn’t work.”
The lease-up rate for Section 8 clients has also improved since last year, but it still hovers just under 75 percent, HUD’s standard for a successful voucher program. HAP’s goal, Riddle said, is to push that to 85 percent by next September.
To that end, HAP and Housing Commissioner Nick Fish are gathering a task force that will specifically address Section 8 turnback rates. At quarterly meetings tentatively beginning Dec. 18, a group of landlords, tenant advocates and public sector staffers will convene to discuss solutions.
Fair housing law prohibits landlords from discriminating against potential tenants by the source of their income, but exceptions are made for illegal earnings and Section 8 vouchers. Changing the law could improve the program’s success, but Kate Allen, Fish’s housing policy director, says that’s a last resort.
“The preference all around the table is to achieve this through voluntary measures,” Allen said. “There is obviously the legislative hammer, and we’ve got the legislature right now that we could do it, but that’s not the approach we want to take.”
On the statewide level, Democratic Rep. Tina Kotek is breaking open the toolbox.
“When the state law equates having a Section 8 voucher (with) having illegal income, I find that very problematic,” said Kotek, who plans to introduce legislation in 2009 that would remove the Section 8 exemption and mandate Oregon landlords to consider applicants with vouchers. Republican Rep. Bill Garrard will co-sponsor the bill.
A similar effort in 2001 was widely opposed by landlords and did not pass. Kotek, who represents North and Northeast Portland, points out that even if the law changes, landlords can still choose to screen out tenants with criminal records or poor rental histories.
“Whatever we can do to reduce barriers for people applying to use their Section 8, we should do that,” Kotek said. “It’s one of the only affordable housing resources out there, and we have to take full advantage of it.”
By Mara Grunbaum
Staff Writer