To: Contra Costa County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners
From: Joseph Villarreal, Executive Director
Date: September 12, 2023
Report Title: ADOPT AND APPROVE THE HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER PAYMENT STANDARDS EFFECTIVE October 1, 2023
RECOMMENDATIONS:
ADOPT and APPROVE the Housing Choice Voucher payment standards for the Housing Authority of the County of Contra Costa effective October 1, 2023.
BACKGROUND:
Payment standards are used to calculate the housing assistance payment (HAP), or subsidy, that a housing authority (HA) will pay on behalf of families leasing units under the program. Each HA must establish a schedule of payment standard amounts by bedroom size. The range of possible payment standard amounts is based on HUD's published fair market rent (FMR) schedule for the FMR area within which the HA has jurisdiction. HACCC's payment standards are based on the FMRs for the Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro area which includes all of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. FMRs are based on the 40th percentile of rents charged for standard housing in the FMR area. This is the dollar amount below which 40 percent of the standard-quality rental housing units are rented. HAs may set their payment standards amounts from 90% to 110% of the published FMRs without HUD approval. Payment standards can be set higher or lower than this basic range in response to market conditions with HUD approval.
The level at which the payment standards are set directly affects the amount of subsidy a family will receive, and the amount of rent paid by program participants. If the payment standard amount is too low:
? Families may need to pay more for rent than they can afford; or
? Families may have a hard time finding acceptable units or units in more desirable areas; or
? Housing choices will be narrowed and the HA's efforts to affirmatively further fair housing will be undermined.
If the payment standards amounts are too high, owners may be encouraged to ask for higher than reas...
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