500 families won’t lose rent subsidies after all

EVERETT — The 500 low-income Snohomish County families who received notices last month about federal rent subsidies running out are off the hook — for 2014, at least.

The Housing Authority of Snohomish County on Monday mailed a second letter informing those households that their Section 8 vouchers will last through year’s end.

That came as a relief for Destinaey Nicholson, 33, a single mother who lives in south Everett. One of her worries, if the loss of rent subsidies had forced her to move, was having the two daughters who live with her switch schools.

“I actually came to accept that this was going to happen,” Nicholson said. “Now, it’s like a miracle.”

The reversal came after federal authorities informed local Housing Authority administrators that there’s enough money in the 2014 budget to benefit all current Section 8 recipients.

The change owes to the bipartisan budget compromise that Congress reached last month. The upshot is that the Housing Authority will receive about $28.5 million for 2014, some $2 million more than expected.

“We concluded that we would be able to get through the calendar year without any risk to anybody in the program,” said Bob Davis, the Housing Authority’s executive director. “We’re really happy that nobody’s going to be at risk this year.”

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., got involved after learning of the potential cutbacks in Snohomish County. DelBene said she was puzzled, since the new federal budget should have maintained Section 8 funding. She urged dialogue between leaders at the Housing Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“We were very pleased to find out that none of these families would be at risk of eviction due to federal budget cuts,” she said. “It’s very important that we continue to work with these families, many of whom are just barely making ends meet.”

When sequestration went into effect in March 2013, funding for Section 8 vouchers went from $18.9 billion down to $17.9 billion, according to DelBene’s office. With the new budget and appropriations passed last month, Section 8 funding rose to $19.1 billion.

Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers help low-income families pay rent to private landlords.

The Housing Authority’s Section 8 program has room for 3,350 households. The typical family served by the agency is a single mother with children who earns just over $1,200 per month. Most were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless when they joined. Sixty percent are employed.

To adjust to the uncertain federal budget, the county Housing Authority froze enrollment last year. As households who no longer needed help left the program, the agency stopped issuing new vouchers. As a result, the number of recipients went down by 170.

With the new federal funding, Davis said they hope to restore those 170 spots.

The latest letters from the Housing Authority temper news of extended Section 8 funding with words of caution: “(I)t is unclear what will happen with the Section 8 program next year or in the future.”

Rising rents, the Housing Authority says, also could limit the number of people served. The agency’s policy is to cut off families based on the amount of time they’ve been with the program, starting with those who have been on the longest.

That leaves some letter recipients, like 56-year-old Annette Olin of Monroe, on edge.

Olin said Section 8 has prevented her from becoming homeless. Though she works as a caregiver to elderly and disabled people, it’s not enough to pay the rent. To her, the Housing Authority’s first letter was like “a slap in the face” telling her “‘you’ve been poor for too long.’”

The second letter, in her view, only offers temporary relief.

“Five hundred families are not going to stop being scared,” she said. “We’re going to be waiting for the next letter telling us that they’re going to be pulling the rug out from underneath us.”

The Housing Authority is encouraging Section 8 tenants to sign up for a new program to help with career skills and job placement. Davis said he was pleased that 150 people signed up right away. The program is a partnership with Workforce Development Council of Snohomish County and includes two full-time counselors.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.