Bay Area HUD subsidized housing tenants are vulnerable or at risk

Bay Area HUD subsidized housing tenants are vulnerable or at risk

By Lynda Carson - March 17, 2025

Oakland, CA - Last Friday, the convicted felon President Donald J. Trump signed the latest continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government, avoiding a partial government shutdown in the process. However, these are very grim dark foreboding times in America, and there is no guarantee that the convicted felon President Trump will not steal the money (funding) that is meant to go to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Additionally, with the Neo-Nazi Elon Musk’s DOGE wrecking crew attacking HUD, and its federal employees, it is very unpredictable as to how long there will be enough federal employees at HUD to manage HUD’s subsidized housing programs for the poor, veterans, seniors, families with children, the blind, the chronically ill, and those with disabilities.

According to HUD during August 2024, the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) administers approximately 1,450 public housing units, 14,000 Housing Choice Voucher units, and 1,080 units of local, non-traditional housing.

Convicted felon President Donald J. Trump signed latest continuing resolution (CR):

In a March 17, 2025, release on the website for the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), in part it states, “Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law a year-long stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to extend funding for the federal government through September. The CR extends funding levels provided for federal programs in the previous year’s FY24 funding bill through the remainder of FY25, and provides funding increases for a limited number of key programs. See NLIHC’s updated budget chart for full details.
  
Overall, the bill will cut $13 billion in domestic spending from the previous fiscal year, while also proposing funding adjustments for some federal programs, including an additional $6 billion in defense spending and an additional $4.6 billion for some key HUD programs:
  

• $32.14 billion to renew contracts under HUD’s Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program, a $3.65 billion increase from the previous fiscal year. This increase is likely not sufficient to cover the needed cost of voucher renewals, and is projected to result in an estimated loss of 32,000 vouchers from the program upon turnover.  


• $16.89 billion for HUD’s Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program, an $880 million increase from FY24.  


• $931.4 million for Section 202, an $18.4 million increase from the last fiscal year. Section 202 provides affordable, accessible housing and supportive services for older adults.  


• $256.7 million for Section 811, an increase of $48.7 million from the previous fiscal year. Section 811 provides affordable, accessible housing and supportive services to help people with disabilities live in communities, rather than institutionalized settings.  


• Rather than calling for additional funding for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants (HAG) program, the CR gives the HUD Secretary the authority to “repurpose funds made available” for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds program to instead fund CoC renewals. A Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the CoC Builds program was released last year, but the funds were never awarded. This maneuver is expected to shortfall HUD’s homeless assistance programs by an estimated $168 million.  


• $3.43 billion for HUD’s Community Development Fund, a $3.29 billion cut from the previous fiscal year. Most of the funding lost is the result of lost “earmarks,” or congressionally requested funding for community development projects.  


• The bill does not provide additional spending for disaster recovery, nor does it address the looming early summer deadline to raise the federal debt ceiling and avoid a potentially catastrophic default on the national debt.

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Below are some links and information about some Bay Area - Public Housing Authorities (PHAs.

According to HUD’s subsidized housing records during January of 2023, for some of the local Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), there are around 14,011 Housing Choice Voucher section 8 units in Oakland, plus 1,970 other subsidized low-rent housing units. San Francisco has around 15,878 section 8 units, plus 640 low-rent units. South San Francisco has 80 low-rent units. Alameda has 1,893 section 8 units. Berkeley has 2,080 section 8 units. Richmond has 409 low-rent units. Alameda County has 7,013 section 8 units. Marin County Housing has 2,384 section 8 units, plus 496 low-rent units. And Contra Costa County has 9,417 section 8 units, plus 963 low-rent units.

In contrast, during February of 2017, the following information below allows you to see the differences compared to the subsidized housing records listed above;

According to HUD, the Oakland Housing Authority had 13,422 federally subsidized housing units in it’s section 8 inventory, and 2,122 units in it’s low rent inventory, formerly known as public housing units.

San Francisco had 9,711 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 3,756 units in it’s low rent inventory. San Francisco is in the process of privatizing more than 4,584 public housing units under the RAD program. South San Francisco has 80 units in it’s low rent inventory.

The Richmond Housing Authority had 1,851 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 559 units in it’s low rent inventory.

Berkeley Housing Authority had 1,935 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and has sold it’s 75 public housing town homes to some out of state billionaires.

Alameda Housing Authority had 1,845 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory. The Alameda County Housing Authority has 6,341 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and one low rent housing development managed by the agency.

In Contra Costa County, there were 6,921 units in their section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 1,177 low rent units.

In Marin County, there were 2,162 units in their section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 496 low rent units.

See additional Public Housing Authority information below for some more recent info before the PHA links to HUD disappear, like many other links have recently.

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https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/mtw/alameda

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF ALAMEDA

General Information
Housing Authority of the City of Alameda (AHA) currently administers approximately 1,900 Housing Choice Voucher units.

Last updated October 23, 2024

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https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/mtw/livermore

LIVERMORE HOUSING AUTHORITY

General Information
Livermore Housing Authority (LHA) currently administers 922 Housing Choice Voucher units.

Last updated August 16, 2024

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https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/mtw/sanmateo

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

General Information

The Housing Authority of the County of San Mateo (HACSM) is a catalyst for increasing access to affordable housing and supporting related community development so that housing permanently exists for people of all income levels and generations in San Mateo County. HACSM uses their four core values of being innovative, trustworthy, client-focused and impactful to be a national model for housing departments.

Currently HACSM manages approximately 5,150 Housing Choice Voucher units and 80 units of local, non-traditional housing made possible by their MTW program.

Last updated August 28, 2024

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https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/mtw/santacruz

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ

General Information
Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz (HASC) currently administers approximately 0 public housing units and 5,500 Housing Choice Voucher units.

Last updated August 28, 2024

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https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/mtw/sclarasjose

Santa Clara County Housing Authority (SCCHA) and the Housing Authority of the City of San José (HACSJ)

General Information

The Santa Clara County Housing Authority (SCCHA) and the Housing Authority of the City of San José (HACSJ) entered into a cooperative agreement in 1976 where SCCHA administers and manages the City's Housing Choice Voucher and public housing programs. The combined agencies operate under the business name of the Santa Clara County Housing Authority.

SCCHA administers approximately 19,000 Housing Choice Vouchers and 740 units of local, non-traditional housing between the two agencies. They also own or control approximately 2,500 affordable housing apartments throughout Santa Clara County.

Last updated November 27, 2024

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Housing Authority of the County of Alameda

Reportedly, as of 1/1/2025, HACA administers 7,315 vouchers through numerous HUD Housing Choice voucher/HCV (Section 8) Programs that provide assistance for low-income families.

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https://projects.sfplanning.org/community-stabilization/housing-choice-voucher-program.htm

San Francisco Housing Authority

Reportedly according to SFHA, over 2,500 project-based vouchers (PBV) units exist in the City, and 9,476 Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) are in use in the city.

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https://cityofclovis.com/affordablehousing/fresno-county-housing-choice-voucher/

Fresno County Housing Choice Voucher

The Housing Choice Voucher program is administered by the Fresno County Housing Authority (“Fresno Housing”).  
The Housing Choice Voucher Program (formerly Section 8) is a federally-funded program that provides rental assistance to more than 12,000 eligible low-income individuals and families in Fresno County – enabling them to secure affordable, quality housing in diverse neighborhoods throughout Fresno County.

Or - The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV, formerly Section 8) is a federally funded program that provides rental assistance through approximately 13,000 vouchers, to eligible low-income individuals and families in Fresno County – enabling them to secure affordable, quality housing in diverse neighborhoods throughout Fresno County.
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https://www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-to-reopen-section-8-wait-list-what-that-means-for-people-who-need-housing/

Vallejo, CA

Feb 16, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development granted 2,358 vouchers to Vallejo.

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https://contracostaha.org/housing-choice-voucher/

The Housing Choice Voucher is a platform for growth for over 9000 families in Contra Costa County.

The success of the federal Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program depends on the participation of nonprofit and private property owners. HACCC works with more than 9,000 property owners in Contra Costa County who rent to about 17,000 participant households. The agency remains grateful to property owners for continuing to rent to HACCC voucher holders who are facing the challenges of finding housing in the volatile Bay Area rental market.

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(Council of Large Public Housing Authorities)

CLPHA - public housing

https://clpha.org/programs/public-housing

The public housing program provides safe, decent, and affordable rental housing to over 2.2 million low- and very low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. 

There are approximately 1.1 million public housing units owned and managed by more than 3,000 housing authorities.
 
The majority of public housing agencies are very small, with over 2,200 agencies having 250 units of public housing or less. However, the majority of the stock is concentrated within medium-large sized housing authorities (1,001 units or more). Although these medium-large housing authorities only comprise 5% of the number of agencies, they represent approximately 60% of the public housing unit stock.

CLPHA represents some of the largest public housing authorities in the country. Collectively, CLPHA members own and operate approximately 40% of the nation’s public housing stock.

CLPHA - Housing Choice Vouchers a.k.a. section 8 vouchers

https://clpha.org/programs/hcv

The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program is the nation’s largest low-income rental assistance program. Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and administered locally by public housing authorities (PHAs), Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers serve approximately 2.2 million households, including over 700,000 that are served by CLPHA member PHAs.

The HCV program supports  the lowest-income families who struggle to secure safe, affordable housing in the private market. At least 75 percent of new voucher holders must have incomes that are below 30% of their area’s median income. In 2018, the average annual household income among tenants in the program is approximately $14,700.

While targeting the most economically disadvantaged households, the HCV program also serves the most vulnerable. In 2018, 53 percent of HCV households were elderly (29 percent) or disabled (24 percent). Forty percent of HCV households included children under the age of 18. Of those non-disabled, non-elderly HCV households, 75 percent were working, worked recently, or likely were subject to work requirements.

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For more about impending HUD federal employee layoffs see link below…

https://news.google.com/search?q=HUD%2C%20layoffs&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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