Rising rents are putting new pressure on Salem’s housing assistance programs, forcing the Salem Housing Authority to stretch limited dollars even as demand for help continues to exceed available funding.
Nicole Utz, director of the Salem Housing Authority, told commissioners Monday night that the agency continues to serve more than 9,000 residents and has 3,096 households leased out of 3,302 authorized vouchers. But she said the number of vouchers alone does not tell the full story, because the money behind those vouchers runs out faster when rent payments increase.
“Our demand continues to exceed our available funding,” Utz said.
The pressure is showing up in the agency’s average per-unit costs. Utz said the average cost is now about $1,100 per unit, compared with roughly $600 to $700 just a few years ago. That increase affects how many households the agency can support at one time, even when voucher authorization remains higher on paper.
“We are still seeing some pretty high rent increases coming through our agency, and we’re doing some careful rent reasonableness,” Utz said.
That review matters because Salem Housing Authority must balance the number of households it serves with the total amount of housing assistance dollars available. Utz said the agency has built a new platform to more closely scrutinize rent increases coming through the door.
Two-bedroom rents are also creating pressure. Utz said affordable housing two-bedroom units are coming in anywhere from about $1,200 to $1,600, with some as high as $2,000 depending on location. She said the agency is reviewing rent increases by zip code and comparing them against the market.
“What we’re seeing is that we’re still getting a lot of landlords trying to go to the maximum dollar amount without having the comparables in the market to suffice that,” Utz said.
The strain is also visible in the city’s Short-Term Stability Support Fund. The $50,000 fund, provided by the City of Salem, has already received 94 applications totaling more than $159,000 in requests. Utz said applications have been paused because demand has outpaced available money. The primary needs are rent arrears, utilities, deposits and eviction prevention.
The fund is being processed on a first-come, first-served basis, with staff verifying documentation and actual need. Utz said some families request the maximum amount, requiring staff to determine what is truly needed and what other resources may be available.
Councilors also asked about one-time costs, security deposits and whether a guarantor-style program exists to help landlords feel more secure accepting voucher holders. Utz said she was not aware of such a program currently, though she called it a creative idea worth looking into.
For Salem, the larger issue is that housing assistance is being squeezed from both directions: more residents need help staying housed, while higher rents make each available dollar cover less than it used to.