Setting the record straight

Misperceptions about those who participate in housing assistance programs are often hard to overcome. Foremost is the notion that once someone participates in a housing assistance program they remain on the program forever. This is simply not the case for most of our residents.

A look at SAHA’s program participant demographics shows a community intent on using housing programs as the temporary assistance for which it was designed.  Of the more than 6,000 families on SAHA’s public housing program, more than 60 percent leave the program within two years; and of the nearly 12,000 families on SAHA’s Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program, more than 50 percent leave the program within two years. Within a four-year period, that figure rises to 82 percent and 72 percent, respectively.

Compared to national averages, SAHA residents are quick to move up and out of housing assistance programs. In 2000, the Millennial Housing Commission found that only 14 percent of residents across the nation move off programs within two years. Overall, more than 41 percent of residents nationally participated in housing programs for more than five years. At SAHA, less than 19 percent of public housing residents are on the program for more than five years.

With program participants moving quickly to achieve self-sufficiency, SAHA is better able to serve low-income families, seniors and the disabled. Today, in SAHA’s public housing program, nearly 84 percent make less than 30 percent of the area median income (AMI), and 40 percent of our public housing clients are elderly or disabled, with 70 percent of those being seniors.





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