The Northwest Oregon Housing Authority, which terminated nearly 300 families from it’s Section 8 program this summer, will receive $800,000 from the federal housing bureau to restore assistance in the tri-county region.
However, families who heeded letters to find new housing options are now out of the loop.
At the end of May, 285 families were sent letters from the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority informing them that their Section 8 would be discontinued in 30 days due to a shortage in funding. The shortfall came after the housing authority exceeded the number of vouchers it could issue, and then drained it’s reserves covering the costs.
The federal Bureau of Housing and Urban Development, which funds the Section 8 housing assistance voucher program through public housing authorities, announced earlier this month that it will essentially bail out NOHA and other authorities in similar situations. Following an application request process earlier this month, NOHA is expected to receive $800,000 to restore housing assistance to the families terminated from the program.
But not everyone will get assistance. NOHA estimates 59 families who were terminated went ahead and found other housing arrangements. They will not be eligible for the restored voucher funding, according to George Sabol, executive director of Clatsop Community Action, which is helping the housing authority work with the families.
“Those families are the one’s being told we’re not going to reinstate you because you did what we told you to do,” Sabol said. “These people made the arrangements they had to make.”
Sabol said they do not know how many left and became homeless, but he and others are trying to reach out to everyone affected. The families who stayed in their place will keep them, Sabol said.
NOHA was one of many public housing authorities across the country reporting serious cuts to their Section 8 roles because of the 2009 HUD funding allocations. HUD banked a portion of those funds against individual housing authorities accumulated reserves, which in the case of NOHA, was already spent on higher rents and vouchers issued above Northwest Oregon’s limit of 1,077.
In July, NOHA brought in consultants from the Housing Authority of Portland to help them sort out their situation. In a memo issued in response to those meetings, HAP reported that the NOHA staff failed to adequately track and issue vouchers for housing assistance, and failed to understand its funding spent on the vouchers even after issuing vouchers well above available funding levels. HAP’s memo included strategic recommendations for evening out voucher rates and preventing the situation from happening in the future.
Even with the $800,000 infusion from HUD, the Section 8 voucher waiting list is expected to extend well into next year, with those 59 families who left the program after being terminated given first opportunity to return to the program.
NOHA Executive Director Carol Snell did not return our call prior to press time.
