Vancouver Housing Authority board approves 2020 budget

Vancouver Housing Authority’s board of commissioners Thursday unanimously approved its proposed 2020 budget, which includes $66.7 million in operating revenues. Construction of new developments and renovations of older properties in the agency’s portfolio are slated for the coming year.

“We are really doing a lot of developments,” said Finance Director Mila Fabyanchuk.

Construction is scheduled to begin on Tenny Creek Assisted Living, a 40-unit facility for those needing help with daily living; The Meridian, a 46-unit project co-developed by Housing Initiative; and Fourth Plain Commons, a collaboration between the housing authority and city of Vancouver. The housing authority recently closed on purchasing land from the Vancouver School District for this project, which is envisioned as an economic development hub with a commercial kitchen, offices, classrooms, a community event space and an outdoor space for a satellite Vancouver Farmers Market.

Besides making improvements to a couple of its apartment complexes, the housing authority plans to do major renovations at Share Homestead, a family shelter run by Share, and SafeChoice, a domestic violence shelter run by YWCA Clark County, which are both owned by the housing authority. Work is already underway at Share’s Orchards Inn.

With increased development activity and more properties being managed by Vancouver Housing Authority, the agency has budgeted for more staff, though it has had trouble recruiting employees. Total salary increases of about $900,000 are also due to staff growth at Council for the Homeless, whose employees are under the umbrella of the housing authority.

Operating expenses for 2020 are anticipated at $54.6 million. Slightly less than half of the agency’s budget comes from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, primarily for housing assistance payments, or Section 8. A change to the Section 8 program was a point of contention for commissioners during Thursday’s budget discussion.

With Section 8, households use vouchers to rent market-rate units. They contribute 35 percent of their income toward rent with the voucher covering the rest. The 2020 budget plans for a 9 percent increase in average housing assistance payments to landlords, from $640 to $697, due to rent increases. While the federal government applies an inflation factor to determine its allotment to Vancouver Housing Authority, Fabyanchuk said that doesn’t fully cover the increased payment costs. So, the planned budget calls for the housing authority to stop drawing names from its Section 8 waiting list because it anticipates not having enough money to give out additional vouchers. Over the course of the year, the total number of vouchers would decline through attrition; about 10 households leave the program each month, Fabyanchuk said.

Commissioner Roy Heikkala was concerned about homeless families not getting vouchers and wondered whether there is money elsewhere that could be diverted to help those who need it. Even households who have vouchers can have trouble finding landlords who accept them.

Commissioner Greg Kimsey recommended holding a future work session to discuss the growing gap between the existing need and what the federal government will fund. He pointed out that it’s unusual for a housing authority to own and maintain homeless shelters as Vancouver Housing Authority does and questioned whether that takes away money from housing assistance. He sees housing assistance payments and creating apartments as the housing authority’s chief tasks.

“We’re hampered by the federal government’s lack of support,” he added.

In 2018, tenants began putting more of their income (35 percent) toward rent to help stretch the Section 8 budget.

Deputy Director Saeed Hajarizadeh said Vancouver Housing Authority won’t really know what its Section 8 budget will be until March or April. There’s some balancing that takes place as funding is removed from housing authorities where market rents are decreasing and then dispersed to housing authorities in areas where rents are rising.

Executive Director Roy Johnson said the housing authority will continue to distribute new vouchers for targeted programs that assist specific populations such as homeless families with school-age children. In total, Vancouver Housing Authority expects to serve 3,063 households through Section 8 in 2020.

Patty Hastings: 360-735-4513; patty.hastings@columbian.com; twitter.com/pattyhastings