Lawsuit: San Diego’s housing commission approved illegal rent hikes

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The San Diego region is home to at least 10,000 unsheltered people. The wait to get into low-income housing is only getting longer.

“Section 8 vouchers were not created to make you wait for ten to fifteen years to get help,” said Francine Maxwell.

Francine Maxwell is the chair for Black Men and Women United San Diego. The group filed a lawsuit against the San Diego Housing Commission, alleging that it is approving rent hikes that exceed the state’s annual cap of 10%.

“You’ve had the same rent for maybe six years, and then all of a sudden, someone says in the next two months, I’m going to give you an almost 15% increase nobody can afford that in this economy,” said Maxwell.

“During a homelessness and housing crisis, how it is unacceptable for the region’s largest public housing agency to be not only rubber stamping illegal rent increases but to be diverting limited taxpayer funds to pay for those illegal rent increases, ” said Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi of Pease Law.

A tenant with a federal housing choice voucher pays 30% of their income to rent. The rest is paid to the landlord out of federal money. The lawsuit states more than 40,000 low-income men, women, and children rely on the program to avoid homelessness.

“It undermines the purpose of the Section 8 voucher program which is to ensure that low-income residents of San Diego County. Many are unhoused, are able to obtain and maintain stable housing,” said Ijadi-Maghsoodi.

A spokesman with San Diego’s Housing Commission released a statement that says, “Whether or not AB 1482’s rent increase provisions apply to Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher households is a still-unresolved legal question. Differing legal opinions have been issued on that subject, including the attached opinion from the California Legislative Counsel Bureau in February 2020, shortly after AB 1482 was enacted, that said Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers are exempt from those provisions. The California Attorney General’s letter in the summer of this year provided the opposite opinion. All six public housing authorities in San Diego County and many throughout the state, including the California Association of Housing Authorities, have operated with the understanding that AB 1482’s rent increase provisions did not apply to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which oversees the federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, has not provided any guidance on this issue. That is why SDHC is continuing to move forward with its own local rent cap policy, subject to HUD approval. SDHC began discussions about a possible local policy months ago. The proposed local policy would limit rent increases to the lesser of 5% plus the Consumer Price Index or 10% per year for all Housing Choice Voucher programs subject to SDHC’s jurisdiction and authority. The exemptions provided in California Civil Code 1947.12(d), as enacted through AB 1482, would not be part of SDHC’s local policy. SDHC looks forward to continuing to work with the Council President and the City Council regarding the implementation of SDHC’s local policy, depending on HUD’s approval of the policy.”