SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Housing Authority said organizations that use its Housing Choice Voucher program will have to stop.
The notice that this program will stop came Wednesday to at least 19 organizations in the area.
“It’s a scary situation,” said Hailey Clawson, the housing coordinator for Spokane Regional Health District.
The program helps families who qualify move into permanent housing and receive rental assistance.
Spokane Regional Health District said it refers one family a month to the housing voucher program.
“We had a client who was supposed to brief the day after we got that news, and they are no longer going to get that voucher,” Clawson said.
At Family Promise of Spokane, about 30% of its families use this program.
“Housing vouchers are a big part of how we help families get into housing and maintain housing on their own,” said Emma Hughes, the COO of Family Promise.
Hughes said this halt to housing vouchers has left them at a loss of what to do next.
“Homeless families in particular are almost always out of sight and out of mind,” Hughes said. “This is just another time when these families are being told there is not a resource for you.”