HUD Seeks to Ban Mixed-Status Households, Cut Funding for Emergency Housing Vouchers

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This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.

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Proposed changes to federal housing benefits could leave hundreds of people in Santa Barbara County homeless. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) plans to ban households that include undocumented people. This change, compounding with HUD’s earlier announcement that it will stop funding emergency housing vouchers, which help keep people at risk of homelessness off the streets, threatens housing stability for many in the area. That’s according to Rob Fredericks, the executive director and chief executive officer of the City of Santa Barbara’s Housing Authority, and Bob Havlicek, the executive director for the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara. 

The Mix-Status Ban

Federal law established in 1980 says that households with undocumented members can still receive federal housing benefits, like Section 8 vouchers, but that those benefits are prorated based on the number of documented people in the household. If one person in a household of four is undocumented, for example, the household receives 75 percent of the full benefit available to them. 

A total ban on mixed-status households would mean that any household with undocumented people would no longer receive benefits. Rob Fredericks from the city’s housing authority says the ban would force families to make an impossible choice: split up or lose the funding that helps keep them sheltered. In Santa Barbara County, that includes 302 families, most of them with children.

“These are families that [are] longstanding community members; they’re working families,” he said. “Their kids go to our schools.”

In March, HUD agreed to deliver demographic information to the Department of Homeland Security. HUD Secretary Scott Turner said the move was to ensure that “wasteful misappropriations” stopped. A memorandum of understanding between the two agencies, signed by Turner and the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, said the collaboration could result in “referral for immigration enforcement actions.”

Defunding Emergency Housing Vouchers 

Fredericks and Havlicek also spoke to local elected officials about the loss of funding for the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program. This program offers assistance to people at risk of becoming homeless, getting them into housing and assisting them with rent. In Santa Barbara County, 349 people, including 104 children, would lose funding.

The Biden administration, under the American Rescue Plan Act, established the program in 2021; Congress allocated $5 billion for it, and gave it a limited timeline of 10 years. In March, HUD announced that funding for the program will terminate by the end of 2026. 

Information provided by Fredericks and Havlicek says that many people who use EHV vouchers are people fleeing domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and stalking. 

Havlicek said his organization is working to source temporary funding to help families in the short term. But both he and Fredericks said their departments have no room to absorb the families on emergency vouchers into their regular programs. 

Overall, for Havlicek, the loss of funding from HUD is difficult on all fronts, both for community members and the housing authorities. “This is not just an economic issue,” he said. “This impacts people’s personal lives directly.” 

Public Comment 

There is opportunity for people to weigh in on these impending changes. Fredericks said the mixed-status household ban is still in draft form but is likely to be published soon. Once it is, a public comment period will begin. As for the Emergency Housing Vouchers, Congress could pass a bill that funds the program, and people can weigh in by contacting their representatives.