While Grand Forks’ expensive housing market may have more people searching for cheaper options, the rising rents are making it more difficult to use housing vouchers.
There are federal payment standards that cap rental assistance, and those standards aren’t adjusted as quickly as the local housing prices are climbing, said Emily Wright, executive administrator for the Grand Forks Housing Authority.
For a one-bedroom, the payment standard, or cap on rent, is $595 for rent and utilities - a rate that is difficult to meet when one-bedroom rents range from $550 to $700 or more, based on a look at recent apartment ads.
Many people in need of assistance will offer to pay the difference on an apartment, which would be any costs exceeding $595 for a one-bedroom, in addition to paying the 30 percent of their gross income that they are required to pay while using the voucher, Wright said.
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But with federal housing vouchers, the total amount residents pay cannot exceed 40 percent of the household income, she said.
The payment standards capping rent are higher for larger apartments - $797 for a two-bedroom and $1,079 for a three-bedroom - which can make those easier to get vouchers for, because a higher rent is allowed.
Most people struggling to get vouchers are in one- or two-bedroom apartments, Wright said.
Slow adjustment
The federal payment standards are set using U.S. Census Bureau data that are updated yearly and haven’t caught up with the high housing prices locally, Wright said.
“(The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) is usually hesitant to increase the payment standards dramatically,” Wright said. In extreme cases, if high rents are preventing hundreds of housing vouchers from being handed out, HUD has gone into cities and adjusted the payment standards with its own surveying, but Wright said she doubts Grand Forks will get to that point.
The federal payment standards increase each year, and, with the increasing apartment vacancies in Grand Forks, that should eventually make it easier for people to attain housing assistance, Wright said. But that stabilization process could take years, she added.
Another barrier to housing assistance that has been exacerbated by high rents is the income restrictions, Wright said.
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GFHA is required to give 75 percent of its housing vouchers to people at or below 30 percent of the median income, which for a single person is $14,700 and for a family of four is $20,950. GFHA has 1,265 housing vouchers available for Grand Forks County each month.
As the rental market becomes more expensive, “A lot of people have higher incomes and need assistance, but have to wait,” Wright said.
The other 25 percent of vouchers go to people at or below 50 percent of the median income, which is $24,450 for a single person and $34,900 for a family of four.
