On October 1st, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara among recipients of a competitive grant award in the form of new Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers for the Santa Barbara community. The Housing Authority was just one of 46 housing authorities in the U.S. to receive this rental assistance support for non-elderly persons with disabilities.
The Housing Authority was awarded $1,060,692 of only $3.6 million* allocated to fund the vouchers through the HUD Rental Assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities Program. The Housing Authority is one of just seven housing authorities in California to be granted the award, and is receiving 100 of the 635 Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers available in California communities.
“Our community can be proud of our Housing Authority’s hard working staff for their excellent efforts that led to securing these vouchers in a highly competitive process,” said Rob Pearson, Executive Director and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara. “This important funding will help address the housing needs of persons with disabilities in our community.”
The grants announced are part of the $40 million HUD made available last April to help public housing authorities across the country fund rental vouchers for non-elderly persons with disabilities.
Last year, as part of President Obama’s Year of Community Living initiative, HUD and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a joint effort to provide housing support for non-elderly persons with disabilities. The interagency collaboration is intended to allow persons with disabilities to live productive, independent lives in their communities rather than in institutional settings. This announcement represents the first phase of the joint effort.
The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is a local public agency created for the purpose of providing safe, decent, and quality affordable housing and supportive services to eligible persons with limited incomes, through a variety of federal, state, local and private resources. Since 1969, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara has developed and/or secured over 3,000 units of affordable rental housing for Santa Barbara.