New rent-saving housing vouchers for the low income in Santa Barbara forced to be cut back due to federal funding changes

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -  The housing assistance voucher program known as Section 8 is facing a set back for applicants who want to be in the system.

Due to federal funding issues, no new vouchers will be issued in Santa Barbara.

The Housing Authority for the City of Santa Barbara says a portion of the federal funding for Santa Barbara is being redirected and that leaves no other money to keep the program going forward for new applicants.    

Housing Authority Director Rob Fredericks says last year about 150 vouchers were issued.  That won't be the case now with the new funding crisis. "We just can not issue vouchers to people on our wait list  they are going to have to wait longer and they have already waited years. Our wait list is over 7000 households."

"They took two over $2-million dollars of our reserves to help other agencies that were in shortfall and what did that do? That creates a domino effect," said Fredericks.

The voucher program often covers about 70 percent of the rent with the tenant paying the remainder.

Landlords and tenants already using the system will not be affected and Fredricks says he has sent a letter out to all of those involved to share the information.

"It was already hard enough to be able to afford to live in Santa Barbara and this is going to even add more difficulty   to the process," said City Councilman Oscar Gutierrez.

The changes come from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the impact is being felt in communities nationwide.

It's unclear when or if the situation will recover.

For Gutierrez, this is going to affect many people. "This affects a lot of different demographics including the elderly and the disabled. They are going to be having a hard time to be able to live affordably here because of the cuts, overall  families in general. Not just tenants but also landlords," he said.

The money that is in the system will also be strained by rising rents. Fredricks said, "the rents are high in order to get people housed, you have to get close to market.  It sucks up all available funding that's coming in."

The stop in new vouchers and any changes that happen through attrition are expected to keep the current program safe.

For Gutierrez, he worries about people on the sidelines. "Maybe some of them are living in cars or with family and friends. Now it looks like it is going to be prolonged. "