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Chapter 3: Homeless Population and Current Service Capacity There are 4,050 units of public housing in Alameda County (3,382 of which are located in Oakland.) There are 16,705 Section 8 certificates or vouchers for Alameda County. While homeless people receive a preference from housing authorities, the _ waiting list for Section 8 and public housing at housing authorities in the county are several thousand names long. With few vacancies, the wait is generally several years. The Oakland Housing Authority has recently been able to issue more Section 8 _. vouchers to new households and opened its waiting list for the first time since 1990. In addition to long waiting lists, very expensive and/or Section-8 saturated rental markets make Section 8 difficult to use even for those lucky enough to get it. For - example, in parts of South and East County many landlords have been rejecting Section 8 because they can get higher rents in the market. Recently revised Fair Market Rents (the highest rent which Section 8 can pay in a specified area) for these areas should - help alleviate this. Connected with high rents are low vacancy rates. The table on the following page - shows vacancy rates by city within the County cities, for all types of housing. A recent newspaper articles cites rental vacancy rates in East County at one percent. (Source: Tri-Valley Herald, September 22, 1996.} Vacancy rates are expected to continue to be ~" very low during the coming year, which will put upward pressure on already high housing costs. In the last decade, with changes in the federal support for public housing, there has been an increase in non-profit owned and managed housing targeted to low-income families and individuals. This housing provides another potential source of permanent housing for homeless people. However, because most of these units do not have ongoing subsidies attached to them, rents, while below market rates, are still often higher than homeless people and others with minimal incomes can afford. Aside from public housing, there are approximately 15,699 units of subsidized rental housing in the County. These units have received some type of federal, state or local subsidy which enable below-market, restricted rents to be offered to lower income households. The location and amount of subsidized rental housing varies by County sub-region. - The table on the following page shows the number of assisted, low income units and Section 8 vouchers and certificates available by County sub-region and city as of January 1997, the number of lower income renters who spend in excess of 30 percent -- of their incomes on housing costs, and the percent of housing need met through this current supply of housing. Most Section 8 vouchers/certificates are "tenant-based" which means that the tenant can take their subsidy with them if they move. Therefore -~ the exact number of Section 8 vouchers/certificates in a city can change relatively frequently. The great majority of the subsidized housing is found in North County, with nearly 13,700 out of the total 19,790 subsidized units (69%) and about 11,400 of ;~ Alameda County-Wide Homeless Continuum of Care Plan: April 1997 34