When Local Landlords Get Stiffed, Everybody Loses

It’s never easy to run the lead agency for the Treasure Coast Continuum of Care or to operate as one of the few local landlords willing to rent to chronically homeless tenants. But last November, actions taken by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made the jobs of Treasure Coast Homeless Services Council (TCHSC) Visionary Leader Rayme Nuckles and the local landlords he works with infinitely harder.

That’s when, without explanation, HUD failed to release $1.4 million in grant funding that had previously been awarded. Compounding this problem, HUD simultaneously changed the rules for receiving future grants, signaling a shift from the successful “Housing First” model to one imposing mandatory work or drug and alcohol treatment requirements on chronically homeless beneficiaries.

By March 1, TCHSC was still waiting for funds. Those grants are part of HUD’s Continuum of Care program that provides funding to communities to end homelessness. To that end, TCHSC works with individuals to prevent homelessness, assists with rapid rehousing when a person has lost his home, and provides Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) rental assistance for the chronically homeless.

It’s the latter program that hasn’t received its funds. Individuals receiving assistance through PSH have incomes that are simply too low to ever afford to pay rent at market rates. Many of them receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a means-tested program that supports people who are elderly, blind, or disabled. Payments from that program max out at $994 per person. Others who have met work requirements receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). On average, SSDI payments are $1,630 per month, nowhere near enough to live on if you’re paying $1,500 or more for rent.

Months ago, when the PSH rental assistance stopped flowing from HUD, Nuckles warned that 179 clients were in danger of losing their homes. He and his staff managed to pay November and December rents before running out of money.

By mid-February, with January and February rents unpaid, Nuckles’ worst fears were being realized. Landlords, understandably frustrated, were pressuring tenants to make payments. These tenants are some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Among them is a single woman in her mid-seventies, suffering from both mental and physical challenges, who told PSH Coordinator Jennifer Bresnahan that “she’s been homeless before, she’ll be homeless again” and encouraged her to focus on helping people with families instead of her. “She’s a tiny little frail woman,” Bresnahan explains, “living outside will most likely kill her.”

Other people in danger of losing their homes include a young blind mother raising a five-year-old son, a woman with no family who is caring for her neurodivergent teenager, and a middle-aged man who just lost his sight and is learning how to navigate the world. These are just a few of the people at risk; everyone receiving permanent supportive housing is in critical need of support.

By February tenth, according to TCHSC internal correspondence, eight tenants had received a three-day notice to vacate their homes. By the twenty-third, the number had grown to sixteen. While Nuckles was in ongoing communication with his contacts at HUD, Bresnahan was spending her days talking with both tenants and landlords. Her clear and transparent communication prevented any of the roughly fifty unpaid landlords from following up on eviction threats.

The first bright spot came on February 18, when Nuckles received notice from HUD that “the transfer is moving through our approval process and is expected to be signed off on by CPD senior leaders no later than next week.” It’s unclear why additional approvals would be needed for grants that had already been awarded, and Nuckles’ requests for clarification received vague responses.

On the last Friday in February, word finally came that the “contract had been signed” and money would begin flowing. How long it will take before the funds are in hand is unknown, but Nuckles is confident the funds will arrive soon. Bresnahan, who for months has had to be the “bearer of bad news to the clients and the landlords,” will hold her breath for just a little bit longer. With March rents now past due, TCHSC is prepared to process all payments the moment the funds are available. At that point, the immediate eviction crisis will be resolved.

However, a great deal of damage has been done. Families whose lives are already challenging have been forced to endure the stress of living in fear they would lose their homes. Many of these people have experienced homelessness before and are terrified at the prospect of facing it again. Sadly, one woman who was being actively confronted by her landlord passed away. TCHSC staff describe her death as “anxiety related.” Bresnahan reports that the staff was also “seriously concerned about suicides” among the other tenants.

TCHSC staff, too, have been struggling for the past four months to carry the burden caused by the HUD disruption. In addition to reassuring tenants and convincing landlords not to evict, the staff has been unable to go about its regular business of accepting new clients and moving people they encounter through their outreach into safe housing. Bresnahan says of her job, “It’s rewarding when we can actually house people. These past several months have not been so rewarding because it’s the worst thing … to watch people return to homelessness. That’s not what our agency is about.”
Another potential long-term consequence of the disruption is the loss of landlords willing and able to rent to low-income families. They are already in short supply. Learning that federal funding can’t necessarily be counted on is liable to shrink the number even further.

With this year’s contract secured and funding on its way, the immediate crisis has passed. Recent court orders have effectively stopped HUD from implementing sudden, drastic changes to current funding priorities. It would be nice to think the community could breathe a sigh of relief and get to work solving another problem.

However, uncertainty around future funding remains. Nuckles is clear-eyed about the challenges ahead. “The community needs to pull together to solve this problem,” he says. “There simply isn’t enough subsidy to help the people in need. That’s the reality we’re in.”