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On March 16th, 2020, the value of safe and stable housing took on a whole new meaning for Housing Choices and our 53 employees. Like other essential workers, our housing support staff have been hard at work helping people with developmental disabilities to safely shelter in place. As required by public health orders, and for the safety of our employees and the people we serve, we have made a shift to providing services remotely whenever possible.
Despite the challenges of sheltering in place, we have continued to provide all of our core housing services. Housing Choices is part of a network of community providers bringing emergency resources to people with developmental disabilities and their families. Housing Choices’ services during the pandemic include helping people to:
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- Acquire safe and stable housing: We are helping our clients apply for housing and move forward with their plans for living independently in integrated community housing. While the housing application process takes longer than under normal circumstances, our Housing Coordinators are constantly monitoring available housing and helping our clients apply for an affordable home.
- Retain safe and stable housing: Our Resident Coordinators are monitoring the needs of residents of our Partner Properties and helping them maintain their housing. Resident Coordinators have also delivered donated PPE and other basic supplies like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Housing Coordinators have focused on helping people who have lost income due to the pandemic to negotiate with their landlord to defer rent under local and state eviction moratoria so that they can remain housed.
- Secure emergency financial assistance: During the pandemic, our housing staff are helping people apply for emergency financial assistance to pay for rent, food and utilities through our community collaborations with organizations like Seasons of Sharing, Destination Home, Housing Industry Foundation, Catholic Charities, the Emergency Assistance Network, the Core Service Agencies and others. This role has been particularly important for people who for a variety of reasons are ineligible for unemployment benefits or relief from the federal stimulus award of $1,200.
- Advocate for housing: Housing Choices continues to mobilize our community to participate in community decision-making on new affordable housing properties. City Councils and Planning Commissions are now meeting virtually and finding new ways to incorporate public comment. With high death rates in long-term care homes for seniors and people with disabilities, elected leaders must be reminded of their responsibility to create inclusive, affordable housing alternatives to segregated institutional settings.
If you would like to receive housing support services from Housing Choices, contact your Service Coordinator at the Regional Center or send an email to intake@housingchoices.org.
Please donate now to support basic supplies and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to people with developmental disabilities and their families.
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Persevering with Partners in a Pandemic
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When Ashley was first referred to Housing Choices in October 2019 by her Regional Center Social Worker, she was working part-time at Dollar Tree and living in an unfinished basement that her boyfriend’s family allowed her to occupy. Ashley’s housing goal was to live independently in her own apartment.
Today Ashley lives in her own one-bedroom apartment thanks to the efforts of many, including Golden Gate Regional Center, Housing Choices, the Housing Authority of San Mateo County, PARCA ILS, the Ecumenical Hunger Program, Community Gatepath, the property manager of Riva Terra Apartments, the executor of the estate that helped Ashley furnish her apartment, her employer at Facebook, and the family who made a basement available to her. “Ashley has given many people the inspiration to come together and by our actions, large and small, create a more inclusive and equitable community,” said Kalisha Webster, Ashley’s Housing Coordinator. “This is what we need to do to get through the pandemic, and it’s people like Ashley who are leading the way.”
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In December 2019, Ashley achieved an important career goal by getting a full-time job at Facebook. However, even with a full-time job, Ashley was priced out of most rental housing in San Mateo County. The San Mateo County Housing Authority’s Mainstream Voucher program seemed like a path forward. Mainstream Vouchers make it possible for people with disabilities to live in community rental housing when their choices would otherwise be limited either to licensed community care homes or homelessness. With a Mainstream Voucher, Ashley would receive a monthly rental subsidy from the Housing Authority, making it possible for her to apply to apartments that would otherwise cost too much.
Housing Choices helped Ashley pursue the Mainstream Voucher by supporting her application with photos of Ashley’s actual living conditions. Although Ashley was fortunate to have a roof over her head, the Housing Authority agreed that the unfinished basement she lived in was not meant for human habitation and awarded her a Mainstream Voucher.
Ashley received her voucher on March 12, 2020, just before San Mateo County began rolling out its Shelter in Place orders. Ashley immediately began looking for an apartment that would accept the Mainstream Voucher. Although a new California law prohibits landlords from denying applications solely because the applicant has a housing voucher, acceptance of vouchers has been slow among some property managers in San Mateo County. With help from her Independent Living Skills provider, PARCA, Ashley applied to live at Riva Terra Apartments in Redwood City. The property manager was impressed by Ashley’s story and advocated with her boss for approval of Ashley’s housing application despite a low credit score and reliance on a voucher. Just one week later, her application was approved on March 19, 2020 with a higher security deposit.
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Housing Choices helped Ashley apply for security deposit assistance from one of San Mateo County’s Core Service Agencies. However, the agencies were overloaded by COVID-19 emergency requests, and her application for security deposit assistance was not funded. Fortunately, Facebook continued to employ Ashley throughout the Shelter in Place order, and with the one-time federal stimulus award of $1,200 and help from her boyfriend, Ashley was able to save enough in March and April to cover her security deposit.
The Shelter in Place order also delayed the Housing Authority, which was unable to complete the required inspection of Ashley’s apartment by the move-in date of April 25th. Housing Choices prevailed upon the property manager to change Ashley’s move-in date to May 9th, which also reduced the amount of rent due upfront.
Ashley moved into a beautiful one-bedroom apartment on May 9th with only a donated mattress from the Ecumenical Hunger Program. However, Community Gatepath, a community partner serving people with developmental disabilities, had contacted Housing Choices about a donation of furniture available from the estate of a long-time supporter. Ashley was able to visit the estate property on May 14th and select living room and dining room furniture which the estate’s executor moved to her new apartment.
Ashley owes much of her success to her own self-advocacy, and also to the many people and organizations that supported her goal of independent living.
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SARTAC Fellow Pursues Inclusive Housing
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Congratulations to Darcy McCann for receiving a fellowship from the AIDD Self Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC). Hosted by Housing Choices, Darcy’s SARTAC fellowship will enable her to train and empower other self-advocates to advocate for affordable, inclusive housing for people with disabilities. A resident of Estancia Apartments, a Housing Choices’ Partner Property in Santa Clara, Darcy has a long and effective track record as an advocate for affordable housing that includes people with developmental disabilities. The SARTAC fellowship will enable Darcy to train and organize more self-advocates to advocate with city and county governments for housing that includes people of all incomes and abilities.
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Sunnyvale Partner Property Secures Planning Commission Go-Ahead
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Another Housing Choices Partner Property is on the path to construction, with approval of entitlements for the long-awaited “Block 15” project by the Sunnyvale Planning Commission on April 27th, 2020. Located at the corner of Mathilda and Iowa near downtown Sunnyvale, the affordable housing development will be built on city-owned land by developer Related California. Twenty-three of the apartments will be subject to a preference for people with developmental disabilities who receive services from the San Andreas Regional Center. The City provided the land for the project, as well as millions of dollars in financing from its affordable housing funds.
In thanking the City of Sunnyvale, Housing Choices Executive Director Jan Stokley noted: “This project is important for so many reasons. First, it creates affordability at the Extremely Low-Income level, which is what our community most needs. Second, the project will provide a variety of unit sizes, not just studios and one-bedroom apartments, but also two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, so that those who are not able to live alone can also have a home here. Finally, the project provided much of the impetus for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to create a financing program for inclusive housing for people with developmental disabilities.”
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New Affordable Housing in Redwood City--Applications Open in June 2020
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Alta Housing, formerly known as Palo Alto Housing, is opening a new affordable housing property with 67 apartments at 2821 El Camino Real in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood in San Mateo County. The project is slated to be completed in October 2020. Residents of San Mateo County are preferred; other preferences may apply.
From June 1st to June 30th, 2020, the Housing Authority of San Mateo County is accepting applications for 27 studio apartments and five one-bedroom apartments with Project-Based Vouchers. You must apply online for these Project-Based Vouchers no later than June 30th to be part of the Housing Authority’s lottery.
To apply for an apartment with a Project-Based Voucher, apply online at www.mysmchousing.org
To get on Alta Housing’s “interest list” for the property, click this link
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CalFresh Gets a Power Boost
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CalFresh is California’s name for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also called “food stamps”. CalFresh provides monthly benefits in the form of an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card to assist low-income households in purchasing food. A single person is eligible for CalFresh if they make less than $2,082 per month. Income limits increase as the number of people in the household increases. Almost a year ago, SSI recipients became eligible for CalFresh.
If you receive housing support services from Housing Choices, we will help you apply online for CalFresh so you have more money to pay for housing. To learn more about how to apply online for CalFresh, ask your Housing Coordinator or visit www.getcalfresh.org.
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- Increased Benefits during the Pandemic. During April, May, and June 2020, the maximum benefit will be provided to CalFresh recipients even if, based on income, the household would not otherwise have received the maximum. For example, a one-person household will receive the maximum monthly benefit of $194 for one person, a two-person household will receive the maximum monthly benefit of $355 for two people, and a three-person household will receive the maximum benefit of $509 for three people, and so on. If you already receive CalFresh, the additional benefit will be added automatically to your monthly benefit. If you have not previously applied for CalFresh because the monthly benefit was too low, you may want to re-evaluate in light of the increased benefit.
- Additional Benefits for Children Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch. Households with children who are eligible for free or reduced school lunch are eligible for an additional food benefit of up to $365 per month for each child while their school is closed due to the pandemic. This new benefit is called Pandemic EBT (P-EBT). Families who already receive CalWorks, CalFresh, or foster care benefits will receive the additional benefit without applying. If you do not already receive any of these public benefits but your children do receive free or reduced school lunch, you must apply online by June 30th 2020 at this site: https://ca.p-ebt.org/en/. Note that this benefit is in addition to any “grab and go” meals that your child’s school may be providing.
- On-line Purchases. Since April 28th 2020, CalFresh recipients have had the option to order groceries online with Amazon and Wal-Mart and have them delivered to their home. In addition, more retailers are allowing CalFresh benefits to be used to shop online and then the groceries can be picked up and paid for with the EBT card at a safe location under a “Pay at Pick-up” program. This Pay at Pick-up option avoids a delivery fee.
- CalFresh Terminations Suspended. On March 13th 2020, a federal judge blocked a Trump administration rule that would have forced hundreds of thousands of Californians off of CalFresh. The Trump administration will not appeal the decision during the pandemic. In addition, Governor Newsom’s executive order prevents the loss of CalFresh and certain other public benefits (CalWorks, Medi-Cal, IHSS) for the duration of the pandemic.
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Preventing Evictions During the Pandemic
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With many people struggling to pay rent because of reduced income during the pandemic, Housing Choices is helping households of people with developmental disabilities evaluate their options if they are unable to pay all or part of their rent on time. Although there are ordinances in place to help you delay your rent payment, the rent will need to be paid. Housing Coordinators who work for Housing Choices can help you request a rent deferral and also apply for local programs that provide emergency rental assistance to help you pay your rent.
By order of the Judicial Council which controls the Courts in California, the process to evict a tenant in California has been paused until 90 days after Governor Newsom lifts the COVID-19 state of emergency.
In addition, for those tenants who live in certain federally subsidized housing, including housing financed by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the landlord may not file an eviction action before July 25, 2020.
Even more important than the pause on formal eviction proceedings is one of Governor Newsom’s Executive Orders which authorized local jurisdictions to provide remedies for tenants unable to pay rent on time during the pandemic. These local ordinances may do more than simply delay the eviction action. For example, the San Jose ordinance allows tenants whose income has been affected by COVID-19 to defer rent payment, including rent due in June, and
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- Affected tenants who accrue unpaid rent during the eviction moratorium have until December 31, 2020, to pay at least 50% of the unpaid rent.
- Affected tenants have until June 30, 2021, to pay the remainder of their unpaid rent accrued during the eviction moratorium. These dates are subject to change if the City Council extends the moratorium beyond June 30.
- Affected tenants and landlords may negotiate their own repayment plans. This is voluntary. Before a repayment plan is signed, the landlord must provide the tenant with a written notice of their rights under the eviction moratorium related to repayment of past due rent.
- Retaliation or harassment against affected tenants who invoke their rights under the eviction moratorium is prohibited.
- If a landlord serves a tenant with a termination notice while the eviction moratorium is in effect, the tenant has seven days to notify the landlord that the tenant's income has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Landlords may not charge affected tenants any penalties, fees, or interest on unpaid rent that accrues during the eviction moratorium.
Each local ordinance is different. If you need to ask your landlord to defer all or part of your rent payment for a reason related to the economic impact of COVID-19, please ask your Housing Coordinator for information about the local ordinance that applies to your rental housing and the protection it affords you to pay your rent late. Please contact your Housing Coordinator if your landlord is refusing to cooperate.
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Protecting Your Credit During the Pandemic
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Your credit report has information about your credit history and payment history which landlords will use to evaluate your housing application. The three national credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and Transunion, are now giving people weekly access to monitor their credit report. This weekly monitoring is free for the next year because of the widespread economic impact of the pandemic.
Your Housing Coordinator can help you check your credit online or you can simply go to AnnualCreditReport.com
If you’re struggling to pay your bills because of the public health crisis, the steps you take today can prevent future harm from a bad credit report when you are eventually called from a waitlist for an affordable apartment.
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- Contact the companies you owe money to. Ask if they can postpone your payment, put you on a payment plan, or give you a temporary forbearance. As long as you ask before you become delinquent, the creditor will have to report these accounts as current on your credit report even if you have a deferred payment plan. If you lost income because of the pandemic, you are more likely to get approved for a deferred payment plan than under normal circumstances.
- Check your credit report regularly to make sure it’s correct — especially any new payment arrangements that you negotiated because of the pandemic.
- Fix any errors or mistakes that you spot on your credit report. Notify the credit reporting agencies directly.
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Advocate for Federal Support for California
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ARCA, the Association of Regional Center Agencies, urges people with developmental disabilities to act now to prevent unprecedented cuts in essential services for people with developmental disabilities.
ARCA reports that Governor Newsom has released his updated Budget proposal. Called "the May Revise" (because it comes out in May, and revises an earlier proposal), it factors in the major impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our state's economy. In real terms, this means well over half a billion dollars in money taken away from the developmental disabilities service system. Some of this comes from new ideas being cancelled. And a huge part of it is cuts to service providers and regional centers.
However, there's one escape...These are "trigger" cuts. If new federal funding is provided to the states, these cuts will not be triggered. The House of Representatives needs to negotiate with the Senate, as well as the White House. Regardless of whether your member of Congress is a Democrat or Republican, they need to hear from you today! Please take 3 minutes to make a call or send an email!
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- Go to https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and enter your zip code.
- When it identifies your representative, click on the "mail" icon under their picture.
- You may be asked to re-enter your zip code. If you don't know the extra four digits, that's usually ok!
- Either fill out the email form, or scroll to the bottom of the screen for the phone number for their office. You can call their district office or the office in Washington, D.C. Note that D.C. is three hours ahead of California, so call before 2:00 pm!
- What do you say? ARCA’s recommended message is very simple:
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I am a constituent of the Representative. Please support extra federal funding for California to help save disability services. And please ask your colleagues in the Senate to support it, too"
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That's it! You've just asked your representative for the funds that will help prevent major cuts to your services, and most importantly, you've told them you also want them to encourage their colleagues to be a part of the solution.
As ARCA reminds us, this isn't about Democrats or Republicans. It's about the services that make full, integrated lives possible for over 350,000 Californians with developmental disabilities.
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To donate please use one of the donate buttons on this email or mail a check to Housing Choices:
6203 San Ignacio Avenue, Suite 108,
San Jose, CA 95119.
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With appreciation,
Ron Soto
Board Chair
Jan Stokley
Executive Director
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Housing Choices is a nonprofit corporation exempt from tax under Section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Your gift is deductible as allowed by law. Our tax identification number is 77-0458221.
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