HUD Modifies Housing Voucher Program to Help Fight LA Homelessness

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has approved requests by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) and the Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) to modify Housing Choice Voucher Program admission requirements to expedite their efforts to help people experiencing homelessness.

The 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count results, released late June, found a 9% rise in homelessness on any given night in Los Angeles County to an estimated 75,518 people, and a 10% rise in the City of Los Angeles to an estimated 46,260 people.

HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Program is the federal government's program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Since housing assistance is provided on behalf of the family or individual, participants are able to find their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments. The participant is free to choose any housing that meets the requirements of the program, and is not limited to units located in subsidized housing projects.

Housing Choice Vouchers are administered locally by Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) that receive federal funds from HUD to administer the voucher program.

“HUD is committed to supporting every community’s effort to solve homelessness by helping vulnerable people obtain housing and supportive services,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “In light of the extraordinary crisis of homelessness that exists in Los Angeles, HUD is allowing the Los Angeles housing authorities to modify a rule that too often delays people’s access to the assistance they need to move from the streets or temporary housing into healthy, stable, affordable homes.”

The waiver that HUD has approved will allow the Los Angeles housing authorities to issue housing vouchers to people experiencing homelessness, and then verify their income via independent, third-party sources within 60 days. The prior requirement requires that income be verified before the agency may issue a housing voucher.

The rise in L.A. County’s homeless population coincides with increases in major cities nationwide, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). Chicago and Portland saw double-digit increases (+57% and +20% respectively), while several Southern California counties experienced increases larger than Los Angeles, including San Bernadino (+26%), San Diego (+22%), Kern (+22%), and Riverside (+12%).

This action is the latest in a series HUD has taken to support Los Angeles’ efforts to address homelessness. Since the beginning of 2020, HUD has awarded approximately 7,400 new Housing Choice Vouchers to HACLA and LACDA. These include some 5,300 Emergency Housing Vouchers that come with substantial regulatory flexibility to facilitate their use by people experiencing homelessness. In addition, HUD has approved several waiver requests that HACLA and LACDA have submitted over the past several years, including several that will facilitate the use of housing vouchers by people experiencing homelessness.

According to LAHSA, the City of Los Angeles and the County are on track to create approximately 8,200 affordable homes this year, but all of the leaders acknowledge the need for more affordable housing.

“We need to collaborate and coordinate to end unsheltered homelessness. In the past, when we’ve set goals and dedicated resources to focus on specific populations, like veterans, we saw the numbers drop. We need to apply that mindset to addressing unsheltered homelessness countywide,” said LAHSA CEO Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum. “We are all dedicated to addressing street homelessness. We’ve already had success with our early efforts, but we need to work together to scale them enough to address this humanitarian crisis.”