{"id":442248,"date":"2025-12-12T11:22:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T11:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/442248\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T11:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T11:22:19","slug":"rent-payments-will-likely-go-up-for-thousands-of-low-income-san-diegans-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/442248\/","title":{"rendered":"Rent payments will likely go up for thousands of low-income San Diegans \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of low-income San Diegans will likely have to pay more in rent<\/a> starting late next year after a vote this week by leaders of the city\u2019s housing commission.<\/p>\n

The move affects approximately 14,500 households that rely on federally funded housing choice vouchers, which are often known as Section 8 vouchers. In certain cases, residents who\u2019ve been directing 24% of their income toward rent will be required to contribute 40%.<\/p>\n

Local officials say the shift is the only way to offset a budget shortfall that might otherwise force some families out of the program completely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna create some pain for some people,\u201d San Diego Housing Commission board member Antoine Jackson said Thursday during a public meeting. \u201cBut the pain that we would create from more people getting kicked off the program \u2026\u201d He paused, then added, \u201cIt\u2019s the most equitable solution for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vote was unanimous.<\/p>\n

The changes must still be approved by the federal government, and San Diego leaders expect the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to sign off on the measure by March. Higher rent payments would then take effect six to nine months later, meaning residents might see their bills go up around November 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a fair solution,\u201d Commissioner Stephen Cushman said from the dais.<\/p>\n

The federal government has long failed to fully fund the vouchers, especially as inflation drives up the cost of housing. At the moment, San Diego\u2019s program has a $26.6 million budget hole that\u2019s being plugged with the commission\u2019s reserves. Yet those reserves are expected to run dry by 2027, and federal leaders don\u2019t seem eager to increase spending.<\/p>\n

Unless the commission brings in more money from program participants,\u00a0officials have said around 1,700 households \u2014 which amounts to about 6,000 people, including children \u2014 would lose all of their rental aid. That in turn could raise the risk that they face eviction and homelessness.<\/p>\n

The voucher program overall is projected to cost more than $309 million in fiscal 2026.<\/p>\n

The new amount a family might owe is affected by several factors, including the number of able-bodied adults in the home and how much money they\u2019re making.<\/p>\n

Some low-income households effectively pay a flat fee. When there\u2019s one adult who can work, the proposal bumps their monthly payment from $400 to $580. Two able-bodied adults would move from $650 to $1,155. The plan also creates a category of households with three or more working adults that comes with a price tag worth $1,735.<\/p>\n

Disabled and elderly residents currently sending 28.5% of their income toward rent are to instead give 32%.<\/p>\n

Those paying nothing would likely continue to get free housing. Participants in the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program, or VASH, are exempted.<\/p>\n

The public reaction to this shift has so far been muted.<\/p>\n

No voucher recipients attended Thursday\u2019s meeting to weigh in on the changes, and only a handful showed up to a public hearing in November<\/a>. Commission staffers said they received 33 written messages during a recent public comment period, and many of those were simply queries about how specific families might be affected.<\/p>\n

Two people receiving rental aid previously told The San Diego Union-Tribune that paying more would not be an insurmountable hurdle. Households facing certain hardships should additionally be able to ask that their rent increases be delayed.<\/p>\n

Leaders partially attributed the lack of outcry to the outreach they\u2019ve done to residents and community groups. The agency has sent out letters and emails about the potential changes and met with dozens of local organizations that work with area families, among other efforts.<\/p>\n

The only member of the public to speak Thursday was a staffer from the San Diego Housing Federation, which advocates for affordable homes. Dant\u00e9 Golden thanked commission leaders for their work on the rent proposal and pledged to continue cooperating with the agency.<\/p>\n

Officials have also promised to issue more notifications if the payment increases get federal approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning,\u201d said Lisa Jones, the commission\u2019s president and CEO. \u201cThe more time folks have to transition,\u201d the \u201cmore successful this is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of low-income San Diegans will likely have to pay more in rent starting late next year after…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":360706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,8315,728,3549,3550,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-442248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-downtown-san-diego","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-county","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-top-stories-sdut","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115706340632939542","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}