BALTIMORE — Sacramento’s low-income residents with a so-called “golden ticket to housing” face losing that Section 8 voucher if they fail to secure a rental in the coming months.

Brenda and Shawn White are among the roughly 175 Section 8 voucher holders who are in the process the of finding housing. Voucher holders have always had four months to start using their benefit but extensions have been relatively easy to secure. The Whites have received extensions since getting their voucher 2022, Brenda White said.

As a result of federal budget cuts, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is planning to stop extending vouchers for people who don’t secure housing in the allotted time.

The Whites feel the pressure of their June 11 voucher deadline as they only started to search for housing about two months ago after being evicted from temporary housing that they say they were led to believe was permanent.

They received a letter on April 9 that stated, “If you are not residing in a subsidized unit at the time of your voucher expiration and/or you do not have a Request for Tenancy Approval (paperwork) submitted, your voucher will be expired, and you will be removed from the program,” the letter stated.

“Our back is up against the wall,” said Brenda White, 49, after receiving the letter. “It doesn’t give us a lot of time to find a place ... if we can’t find a place, there’s no way we an afford to survive ... the average rent is $1,600 to $1,800, and that’s on the low end.”

The couple finally found a landlord to accept the voucher, but it would require $500 out of pocket that the voucher would not cover — money they do not have, Brenda White said.

The Whites can’t work and live off a disability check of less than $1,000 a month. Shawn White, 62, is in a wheelchair, and suffers from spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. Brenda White, who grew up in Sacramento, is his caretaker. Since the eviction earlier this year, the pair have been staying on a friend’s couch but will not be able to stay much longer. The eviction was due to nonpayment of rent, but the couple said they were told their rent was covered by the county.

Can Sacramento fight to save its Section 8 vouchers?

The Whites are in the group of about 175 that Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he is intent on housing in the coming months. Part of the reason for the urgency is that if the 175 don’t find housing, their vouchers will not go to any of the other 51,000 Sacramento families on the waitlist for a voucher. Instead they’ll be returned to the federal government.

Steinberg during a council meeting earlier this month called for an “all hands on deck” effort to house the 175 families — with Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) working with the county, city, nonprofit Sacramento Steps Forward and private landlords.

“It’s hard enough to get people off the streets without a golden ticket,” Steinberg said during the May 7 council meeting. “When people have the ticket, that’s 175 people, so what do we need to do to enhance the collaboration among all responsible agencies with regard to this particular cohort of people?”

Councilwoman Caity Maple, who represents several south Sacramento under-resourced communities, said it will be very damaging to her constituents.

“It’s a huge punch in the gut, especially for a lot of the community members I represent,” Maple said. “I hope all of us can put pressure on our federal partners.”

Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan echoed that call, pressing SHRA leaders on whether they’ve been talking to Congressman Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove, and Congresswoman Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento. Steinberg, a well-connected politico and former California Senate pro tem, indicated that may not be effective.

“The question of increased overall funding for more vouchers is obviously caught up in a broader political context, which Congresswoman Matsui and Congressman Bera are not in the majority party currently,” Steinberg said, referring to the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Section 8 program, similar to public housing units, are funded by the federal government through the U.S. Housing and Development Agency. In the last two decades, while the number of homeless people on the streets of the capital city has more than quadrupled, hitting nearly 10,000, the federal government has given Sacramento only an additional 1,000 vouchers.

Part of the reason for the federal government’s planned cut to Sacramento’s vouchers is Sacramento’s rents are increasing rapidly, said MaryLiz Paulson of SHRA during the May 7 council meeting. Since the vouchers pay for rent on the private market, that negatively impacts Sacramento’s voucher situation.

“Fair market rents increased 55% between 2020 and 2024,” Paulson said, referring to Sacramento. “And it continues to go up. In Sacramento, we’re projecting those (rents) will continue to increase. To what extent is really unknown.”

The typical rent for the Sacramento region is $2,300 – higher than Philadelphia, Denver and Dallas.

It’s the first time SHRA has been in this particular “shortfall” situation in decades, Paulson said

“This is a change from the way the project has been managed,” Paulson said.

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