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 progra...
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