Printer-friendly version
By Drew Sitton, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association
Photo: Housing officials are struggling to meet the needs of hundreds of at-risk households that are set to lose federal voucher assistance. Photo courtesy of San Diego Housing Cnmmission
February 14, 2026 (San Diego) - By every metric, Katrina Lewis’ life is better than a decade ago.
She’s sober, no longer homeless, and in a non-violent romantic relationship after escaping sex trafficking. Her recovery enabled her to work a part-time job at a mall, reconnect with family, and see a therapist for her PTSD, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
She’s feeling slightly safer and learning to cope with things. Her cats are happy. It’s progress, and Lewis credits much of it to her five years in a rental assistance program.
“Being in a house, that has been the only thing I’ve wanted,” she said. “Everything is falling into place.”
But unexpected federal funding issues could undo the progress she and her fiancé, as well as 400 other local households at risk of homelessness, made while in their own apartment or home.
“It’s like they get people going and doing good in life, and then, all of a sudden, they just throw a boulder at you, and, oh, just kidding, we’re just gonna knock everything out,” Lewis said.
Lewis and her fiance, who works full time at a gas station while attending barber school, got off the streets in 2022 thanks to the Emergency Housing Voucher program. Lewis credits having an apartment in Mission Valley with the stability and recovery she’s achieved.
“I have sanctuary,” Lewis said. “My own safe place that I don’t have to worry about somebody hurting me, or stealing my stuff, or my animals being hurt outside, or anything.”
When the COVID-era program was founded in 2021, the Housing and Urban Development department promised it would last through 2030, with any remaining funds allowed to be administered through 2035. But last March, HUD informed housing authorities that funding was running out years earlier than expected.
“I don’t feel like it’s right. You guys promised something to us, and then you just take it away,” said Krystal Childs, a single mother in the voucher program. “A lot of people are gonna be homeless, and a lot of families, and it’s gonna break families apart … I see it already.”
San Diego estimates its funds will end at some point this fall.
“We’ve never experienced a situation where HUD has come back and said, ‘We ran out of funds five years sooner than we thought. Therefore you have to advise your families that there will be no rental assistance,’” said Azucena Valladolid, of the San Diego Housing Commission.
Analysts blame skyrocketing rents and income stagnation, particularly for low-wage workers, for why funds ran out earlier than 2030. Voucher recipients put 30% of their income towards fair, market-rate homes in their zip code. The gap between residents’ payments and program costs widened as inflation outpaced income growth.
The housing commission normally does not run programs with such an expiration date, 10 to 15 years away or no, but the rental assistance vouchers uniquely supported vulnerable populations during the pandemic. People qualified for immediate housing not just based on being unhoused or at risk of losing their homes, but also if they were fleeing domestic violence and human trafficking.
“EHV families are among some of the most vulnerable people and families that we serve,” Valladolid said. She shared that 43% have a disability, a third are seniors, and on average, their household income is a little over $17,000 a year. “They’re not going to be able to afford their existing housing, and it’ll be very difficult to find low-income housing because that’s traditionally very scarce.”
HUD did not provide funding to transition enrollees to other voucher programs. Many housing choice vouchers, known as Section 8, waitlists in the nation are closed after years of insufficient funding. San Diego has not issued a traditional voucher to someone on the waitlist since August 2022.
“Unfortunately, without replacement funds, we don’t have the ability to transfer these families into another voucher program,” said Valladolid. “There’s no way that we’re going to have the resources.”
In May 2025, SDHC asked HUD for two waivers that would give them more flexibility in connecting voucher households with other community housing programs. The housing authority has not received a ruling.
In the meantime, San Diego’s housing authority hired extra staff to manage the unexpected caseload. The solution so far is prioritizing EHV households at project-based voucher programs, meaning specific units built for the purpose of affordable housing. Unlike a voucher program where recipients can stay rooted in their chosen neighborhoods and communities, these have set locations. Current offerings are in San Ysidro and near Lincoln High School.
So far, 67 EHV households have chosen to move into those projects. However, many more declined offers to live in those projects, citing location, unit size and readiness to move among their issues.
Neither Childs or Lewis can afford the full $3,000 rent in their current homes once the checks stop coming. They know they will likely need to move, but want to stay in their neighborhoods.
“I always know that no matter what, I have a house to go to. I have somewhere safe to sleep at night,” Lewis said. “That’s gonna be the most traumatizing thing, having to go backwards.”
For Lewis and her fiance, moving out of Mission Valley would put them back in the crosshairs of gangs and make getting to work without a vehicle more difficult and expensive. Plus, the available studio does not have space for visits from their children.
“It feels like it’s just going to tear everything apart that I’ve done, everything that I’ve worked so hard for, I feel like is literally, brick by brick, getting pulled out,” Lewis said.
Childs, of Serra Mesa, also said location was an issue.
“I have no business over there. My son, his school’s over here. I go to school over here. I just don’t see me traveling that far,” Childs said.
After fleeing an abusive relationship, Childs received a housing voucher in 2021 that meant she and her now 9-year-old son immediately found an apartment, without a period on the streets to connect to services. It’s also given her the freedom to break her lease and move whenever her abuser finds her address.
“You can feel safe,” Childs said.
Refusals to move aside, the number of available project-based units is a fraction of those enrolled in the EHV program. San Diego was granted 501 vouchers and issued them all. Come fall, the remaining 386 voucher recipients currently enrolled in the program will lose an average rental assistance check of $2,300 per month.
Without it, Valladolid said, “It will be extremely difficult … to be able to afford rent at the average rental market here in San Diego.”
For now, the housing commission is focused on educating households on their options, whether it’s to pay the full rent in their neighborhood or move to a new place with restricted rent, while awaiting the waiver ruling from HUD.
Comments
Federal funding...