In the face of challenges with Section 8 rental assistance, Mountain Projects Executive Director Patsy Davis visited county commissions in both Haywood and Jackson counties this month to inform elected officials of just how dire the situation is becoming.
“I felt like as elected officials in Jackson County and our leaders, you needed to know what we’re seeing and the housing crisis that I feel is coming,” Davis told Jackson County Commissioners in a presentation April 1.
Section 8, also known as the Housing Choice Voucher Program, is a federal rental assistance program that helps low-income individuals and families afford housing. It provides rental assistance by covering a portion of the rent, with families paying the rest. Between Haywood and Jackson counties, there are 1,004 vouchers available for income-qualified recipients.
“We send supplemental rental payments to a landlord to help them afford rent in the county,” said Davis.
Mountain Projects administers those vouchers in Haywood and Jackson counties as the public housing authority.
“Over the last few years, we’ve experienced a lot of challenges with rental prices in our community,” Davis said. “In May of 2023 you really start seeing rents in Haywood and Jackson County start growing rapidly.”
While the average cost of the rental assistance payment Mountain Projects provided in January 2022 was $466.60, by March of this year that number had climbed to $746.06.
In August 2024, before Hurricane Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contacted Mountain Projects and told the nonprofit that the public housing authority was in a shortfall situation, meaning Mountain Projects did not have sufficient funding levels to keep paying such high rental assistance payments.
While in years past, HUD would have been able to provide more funding to Mountain Projects in order to cover the increased rental assistance payments, federal cuts to HUD programming meant that the department did not have any additional funds to give. HUD informed Mountain Projects that it couldn’t replace any vouchers it lost and froze the rental assistance department completely.
“They do not predict that we will be out of the situation in the entire year of 2025,” said Davis. “That’s creating a great hardship for the lower income residents, our elderly, our disabled.”
Davis described the predicament as a “standstill situation.”
Maximizing voucher use has been a challenge for Mountain Projects due to landlords leaving the program for the more lucrative private and vacation rental markets. The Fair Market Rents set by HUD often fall below actual market rates, but in 2023 and 2024 Mountain Projects received approval from HUD to raise rent standards to 120% which makes voucher more competitive.
However, because HUD bases funding on prior-year spending, Mountain Projects is consistently underfunded for the current year as the need for vouchers rises. Additionally, with confessional stop-gap funding stuck at 2024 levels, Mountain Projects will likely remain in shortfall through 2025, unable to issue new voucher to assist families on the waiting list.
Mountain Projects closed its waiting list in October, at which point it had 552 applications for rental assistance. Of those, 137 were in Jackson County, and at that time had been waiting over 200 days for rental assistance.
In Jackson County, 44% of Mountain Projects clients are families with children, 33% are families with disabilities, 15% are elderly families and 10% are homeless families. In Haywood County, 46% of Mountain Projects clients are families with children, 32% are families with disabilities, 21% are homeless families and 18% are elderly families.
To qualify for rental assistance, household income must be below $28,850 for a single-person household, $33,000 for a two-person household, $37,100 for a three-person household and $41,250 for a four-person household.
The fair market rent in Haywood and Jackson counties prior to Hurricane Helene was $1,250 for a one-bedroom unit.
“For somebody who’s a lower wage earner it’s really a hardship and we’re seeing families having to make really hard decisions,” said Davis. “This is really the verge of a housing crisis that I feel like is coming.”
According to Davis the organization is getting 10-15 calls a week for people needing rental assistance in Jackson County.
“We do a lot of fundraising; we write every grant that comes our way, we try to put Band-Aids on people out of our donations and our resources,” David explained. “If we can avoid homelessness, we do. We know how much it costs to rehouse somebody once they become homeless and of course especially in our counties west of here, Tropical Storm Fred, Hurricane Helene, Canton papermill closing… these are all things that’s just been piled on over the last few years.”
Mountain Projects has advocated to HUD, especially after Helene, but has not been able to get the shortfall status overturned.
“If you have any contacts with any elected officials on the federal level, please advocate that they unfreeze our funding,” Davis told commissioners. “Haywood and Jackson County are not like any other housing authority in this country. You can’t tell me anybody else has been through a major mill closing and two catastrophic weather events back-to-back within a three-year period. So, HUD should treat us a little bit differently, but they won’t listen to us.”
Commissioner Todd Bryson said he was deeply and personally appreciative of the work Mountain Projects does in the community.
“Y’all assist parts of my family, and if it wasn’t for the HUD, they wouldn’t have a place to live,” said Bryson. “It’s sad to see all these different folks that can’t find a place to live, but it really breaks my heart to see seniors without a place to live because many of them have worked their entire lives and now they can’t find a place to live and have to choose between a meal or housing or their power bill.”
Bryan urged Davis and Mountain Projects to approach the board with a request in the future if there was something the commission could do to help the situation.
“We appreciate it,” Davis said. “We try not to ask for anything we don’t need but we certainly will.”