To: Contra Costa County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners
From: Joseph Villarreal, Executive Director
Report Title: STATUS REPORT CONCERNING EARLY SUNSET OF EMERGENCY HOUSING VOUCHER PROGRAM
☐Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
CONSIDER accepting a report on the status of the early sunset of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program.
BACKGROUND:
n May 10, 2021, HACCC was awarded 197 EHVs. This amount was later increased to 201. Eligibility for the EHV program was limited to individuals and families who are (1) homeless; (2) at risk of homelessness; (3) fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking; or (4) recently homeless and for whom providing rental assistance will prevent the family’s homelessness or having high risk of housing instability.
The EHV program was originally scheduled to sunset on September 30, 2030, with program expenditures permitted through September 30, 2035, if funds remained. However, on April 22, 2025, housing authorities around the country were notified that the remaining funds allocated to the EHV program under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 were being obligated in their entirety and that housing authorities would not receive any additional EHV funding after the remaining funds were utilized. At that time, HUD estimated nationally that housing authorities were receiving 100% of the funding needed to pay EHV rents for 2025 and 94% for 2026. After that, housing authorities must find other ways to pay this rent or the EHV families will lose their housing assistance and, possibly, fall back into homelessness.
At this point, HACCC estimates it has enough funding to house every family currently on the EHV program through December 2026. This target will change based on whether rents increase or decrease, how many families stay on the program, and changes in household income among other factors. HUD has also said it will update available funding throughout 2025 and into 2026 based on how these factors at a national level affect available program funding. While HUD has obligated the remaining funds on paper to individual housing authorities, HUD retains most of the actual cash and will adjust these as needed within program parameters until all the funds have been spent.
At present, HACCC has 193 families on the EHV program. 168 of these families have a current lease, 6 are in the process of moving out of Contra Costa and 19 are either searching for another home or are in the process of leaving the program.
Affordable, permanent housing solutions (and funding) are needed to solve homelessness. The EHV program was an important tool in this effort. Contra Costa saw a reduction in its Point in Time count of 725 people from 2024 to 2025. Without funding to replace the EHV program, many of the remaining 193 households (more in terms of people) will return to homelessness and erase much of that reduction. While HACCC expects to transition most, if not all, of these families to our voucher program (based on our current budget and what is expected from the next federal budget), this means that 193 new households will not be served from our wait list. Most of these families have financial situations that place them on the edge of homelessness if they are not actually homeless.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Housing Authority of the County of Contra Costa (HACCC) has a remaining EHV funding balance of approximately $4.9 million.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
None. Informational item only.