A new housing program in SLO County aims to take more than 150 people off the streets. The Housing Authority of SLO (HaSLO) is calling the program “Welcome Home." The organization said finding homeless people needing housing is the easy part, but finding landlords willing to take these people in is proving challenging.
The “Welcome Home” program is similar to Section 8, where financial assistance is given to tenants to pay rent. But this program will offer more money to landlords, and is aimed at quickly housing people experiencing homelessness or are at high risk of becoming homeless.
“Everybody is tired of talking about the homeless problem and sort of wants some action, and this is a very action-oriented program,” HASLO Executive Director Scott Smith said.
Smith said the vouchers will help pay up to 156 households, whether it be individuals or a larger family. The organization already has a long list of potential tenants applying for the vouchers, but is now working on attracting landlords to take part in the program.
“We’ve created a package of what we feel are incentives," Smith said. " Because to be successful, we need landlords.”
Incentives include guaranteed rent paid to landlords, a $7,500 reimbursement to landlords if there is any type of damage,and a $4,000 sign up bonus to landlords who enroll in the program.
“We are hoping that these sign-in bonuses will get some of the landlords to think twice about, ‘Hey, I could do well with my rental and I could also do something really good for the community,'” Smith said.
Smith said the fastest growing group of homeless is seniors, and that most of the homeless people they see, are employed, but have a hard time competing for housing.
“If they are applying and competing with a Cal Poly student who has got their parents willing to back their rent, that is really hard for say a single parent family who is working at Smart n’ final who is staying at the homeless shelter because they can’t pay rent," Smith said. " What we are saying is, don’t stop renting to the people you are renting to now, but when you have a vacancy, think about renting it to the people who need it the most.”
To learn more about the Welcome Home program, click here.
