Q&A
Challenges in voucher utilization and the impact of the housing market
0:37:24
ยท
80 sec
Commissioner Park discusses the complexities of voucher utilization, highlighting the challenges faced by voucher holders in finding suitable housing.
- Approximately 10,000 households in shelter are currently searching for housing with vouchers.
- The time to find an apartment varies based on individual needs (e.g., accessibility requirements, safety concerns for domestic violence survivors).
- Seasonal factors and the city's low vacancy rate significantly impact the ability to use vouchers effectively.
- The commissioner acknowledges that the tight real estate market is a major hurdle for their clients in finding housing.
Diana Ayala
0:37:24
How many households were eligible for vouchers that did not utilize the voucher within the year?
Molly Wasow Park
0:37:34
So given this rolling nature of the the shopping letter process, the the within a year part of it is a difficult question to answer.
0:37:41
As I've the the about 10,000 households, slightly higher right now, but, in shelter and searching has been a relatively consistent number.
0:37:53
The length of time that it takes to find an apartment, with a with a shopping letter can vary really substantially, depending on how specific an individual's needs are.
0:38:06
Right?
0:38:06
So if you need an accessible apartment, there are fewer of those that tends to take longer.
0:38:13
Domestic violence survivor, right, who might have parts of the city that are not safe for that person to search in, that takes longer.
0:38:21
There's analysis, frankly, that it takes it's harder to find an apartment in the summer than it is in the winter, because there's more people competing in the summer.
0:38:28
So there's a lot of factors that play into how long it takes to use the shopping letter.
0:38:34
But but we absolutely know that the city's vacancy rate and the that incredibly low vacancy rate is is hurting our clients.
0:38:42
There's no doubt about that.
0:38:44
Yeah.
Diana Ayala
0:38:44
I mean, income discrimination is also hurting your clients.