The San Diego County Department of Housing and Community Development has created a project-based assistance program to serve 225 homeless and special needs households within the Housing Authority of the County of San Diego (HACSD).
Their goal is to utilize project-based vouchers to address the unique challenges in housing special needs populations by pairing supportive services with housing. The most challenging aspect of implementing this program has been ensuring that all approved proposals provide housing opportunities for a targeted population for a one-year period.
San Diego County has found that additional staff time has been required to develop and implement their program.
San Diego County offers this advice to other PHAs, “It is important to set clear priorities in the Notice of Funding Availability. It is important for PHAs to realize that awarding project-based vouchers for supportive housing is a long-term strategy and that careful selection of successful applicants is key to long-term success.”
Learn more about San Diego County and their pilot program, CSH’s work with PHAs, and learn from other PHAs on CSH’s PHA Resource Page and in our PHA Toolkit.
