Emergency Housing Vouchers

All statutory and regulatory requirements regarding the HCV program are applicable to EHVs, including the use of all HUD-required contracts and forms. There are a few key differences, including:

• Eligibility requirements
• Partnerships with local Continuum of Care (CoC) agencies
• Access for EHV holders to supportive services, such as housing search assistance
• Fewer criteria for denial of assistance at eligibility

KCHA has received 762 EHVs.

For the EHV program, HUD requires KCHA to work with a CoC agency to determine the best use and targeting for the vouchers along with other resources available in the community. KCHA is partnering with the King County Coordinated Entry for All (CEA) and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), who are responsible for referring eligible people to KCHA.

KCHA is responsible for all the administrative responsibilities for the EHV program which include but are not limited to:

• Reviewing applications for EHVs, certifying program eligibility, and conducting annual recertification for continued eligibility
• Determining that units meet Housing Quality Standards and approving units for leasing and contracts
• Determining amounts and paying Housing Assistance Payments to landlords on behalf of participants
• Explaining and providing information about program policies and procedures to current and prospective landlords and participants
• Monitoring program performance and compliance of participants and owners

Individuals or families who meet one of the following eligibility categories:

• People currently experiencing homelessness
• People fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking. This includes cases where a HUD‐assisted tenant reasonably believes that there is a threat of imminent harm from further violence if they remain within the same dwelling unit.
• People who were recently housed and for whom providing rental assistance will prevent the individual or family’s homelessness or having high risk of housing instability

1. Partnering agencies under an MOU with the CEA will complete the EHV Referral Packet (PDF – for referring agencies only) on behalf of the client
2. The partnering agency will forward the application to CEA.
3. CEA will certify the client meets the eligibility and prioritization criteria and refer the eligible families to KCHA through a secured portal.

Please note that any application received outside of this portal will be discarded.

KCHA will deny admission for anyone who:

• Is required to register as a "lifetime registered sex offender" under a state registry program;
• Has been convicted for the manufacture or production of methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing; or
• Has a history of threatening, abusive, or violent behavior towards KCHA staff within the last 12 months.

While families are initially able to self-certify their qualifications, EHV holders must provide the required Social Security Number (SSN) and Citizenship documentation within 180 days of admission. Additionally, KCHA must obtain photo IDs within 90 days of admission.

KCHA will also accept self-certification for income verification at admission through a self-certification form provided in the application packet.

CEA will screen EHV applicants who are at or below 30% AMI, but will review applications on a case-by-case basis for household between 30–50% AMI. See the table below for a full list of low-income levels for different family sizes:

If an application is complete and there is no outstanding information needed from the applicant, KCHA anticipates they will be issued their voucher within two weeks.

Yes. When applications are received, they are assigned to an Intake Housing Specialist who will process the application and communicate with both the case manager and the client about:

1. Confirming the application was received
2. If further documentation is needed
3. Scheduling the voucher issuance and briefing meeting

Contact your assigned Intake Housing Specialist if you have any questions or concerns.

Ensure that applications are complete and accurate. (Review our video on how to complete an application.) Incomplete applications and missing documentation will delay voucher issuance.

As the volume of EHV issuance increases, KCHA is implementing a virtual briefing process in which families will be able to view a video and electronically sign an acknowledgment of understanding program rules. Community providers can help clients navigate this process by helping them watch the video and sign documentation via DocuSign.

(1) An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, meaning:

• An individual or family with a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or camping ground;
• An individual or family living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, state, or local government programs for low‐income individuals); or
• An individual who is exiting an institution where he or she resided for 90 days or less and who resided in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution.

(2) An individual or family who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence, provided that:

• The primary nighttime residence will be lost within 14 days of the date of application for homeless assistance;
• No subsequent residence has been identified; and (iii) The individual or family lacks the resources or support networks, e.g., family, friends, faith‐based or other social networks, needed to obtain other permanent housing.

(3) Unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age, or families with children and youth, who do not otherwise qualify as homeless under this definition, but who:

• Are defined as homeless under section 387 of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C. 5732a), section 637 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9832), section 41403 of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14043e‐2), section 330(h) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(h)), section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012), section 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(b)), or section 725 of the McKinney‐Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a)
• Have not had a lease, ownership interest, or occupancy agreement in permanent housing at any time during the 60 days immediately preceding the date of application for homeless assistance.
• Have experienced persistent instability as measured by two moves or more during the 60‐day period immediately preceding the date of applying for homeless assistance; and
• Can be expected to continue in such status for an extended period of time because of chronic disabilities; chronic physical health or mental health conditions; substance addiction; histories of domestic violence or childhood abuse (including neglect); the presence of a child or youth with a disability; or two or more barriers to employment, which include the lack of a high school degree or General Education Development (GED), illiteracy, low English proficiency, a history of incarceration or detention for criminal activity, and a history of unstable employment.

This category is defined as people:

• Who have previously been classified as homeless by a member agency of the CoC but who are not currently homeless as a result of homeless assistance (financial assistance or services), temporary rental assistance, or some type of other assistance, and
• Who would likely return to homelessness or have a high risk of housing instability if they lost that assistance, as determined by the CoC or its designee

Examples of households that may be defined as recently homeless by the CoC include, but are not limited to, participants in rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing.

If referring agencies do not provide navigation services or financial assistance, KCHA will provide a one-time security deposit assistance and connect families to contracted navigation services through Catholic Community Services, YWCA, Chief Seattle Club, or InterIm CDA (Creating Moves to Opportunity Program) to provide navigation supports to referred families without existing housing search supports.

KCHA is defining navigations services as:

Pre Voucher Issuance

• Help people respond to inquiries from KCHA; attend voucher briefings and other meetings as needed;
• Provide the appropriate level of initial housing stabilization services, including but not limited to: counselling on rental lease requirements; information about the surrounding community such as schools, grocery stores, public transportation resources, jobs; help with landlord negotiations; connections to other ongoing services, such as health and social services and on-going services as necessary, to assure housing stability.

Post Voucher Issuance

• Provide housing navigation services in collaboration with the CoC service providers to help people lease up in their first unit using their EHV, including but not limited to: locating rental units for lease; making introductions to landlords with units for lease; helping with landlord negotiations; assisting with completing rental unit applications; and addressing rental barriers (e.g., existing landlord debt, preparing a rental resume, etc.) as feasible within the timeframe of the voucher
• Provide financial resources and support on behalf of newly admitted EHV recipients to help them overcome financial leasing barriers such as: move-in costs, utility arrears and hook-up fees, renters insurance, and furnishing as needed
• Provide the appropriate level of services to maintain housing.

KCHA will provide free background screening to clients with information on their credit, rental history, and criminal history. This information will be shared with the client, their referring case manager, and housing navigator (if applicable) to help with the housing search. It will not be used to determine eligibility for an EHV and KCHA will not keep this information on file. Clients and case managers can use this information to identify housing barriers and better plan during the housing search.

No. It is considered a "soft" inquiry, which doesn’t affect a credit score.

EHV holders may request to port their voucher by completing a portability release form. KCHA will transfer relevant materials to the outgoing housing authority. Please note that other housing authorities may have different program rules and policies, like different payment standards and occupancy standards. Because the new agency may have different rules, it’s recommended that the voucher holder contact them to learn about the steps they must take to move.

For clients porting into KCHA with an EHV: if all paperwork from the initial housing authority has been received, KCHA will issue a voucher to the client within 5 business days.

For clients porting out of KCHA: processing timelines will vary depending on the receiving housing authority’s policies and processes.

If clients are porting within King County, all housing authorities in the region (Seattle, King County, and Renton) are expediting processing of port clients.

For ports into jurisdictions outside of King County, KCHA will ensure expedited delivery of all paperwork to the receiving housing authority, but processing time ultimately depends on the receiving housing authority. Clients should contact the receiving housing authority to ask about processing times.

This depends on the receiving housing authority. Some housing authorities were not awarded EHVs, and thus may not have navigation supports available or may not have navigation services available to portable EHVs. We recommend that EHV holders contact the receiving housing authority to learn about their policies before deciding to move.

HUD’s guidance to date has been that the EHVs need to be leased-up within a "reasonable period of time" and that HUD will closely monitor leasing to reallocate EHVs to another public housing authority (PHA)/community.

Per HUD, the leasing data evaluation will occur no sooner than the one-year anniversary of the effective date of the EHVs to the PHA, which for KCHA will be July 1, 2022. HUD has also indicated that if a PHA has leased at least 95% of their EHVs at the one-year anniversary, none of their unused vouchers will be reallocated.

KCHA’s leasing target is to have at least 724 EHV clients leased-up by July 1, 2022.