Vancouver Housing Authority approves $61 million budget for 2019

Vancouver Housing Authority’s $61 million proposed 2019 budget was unanimously approved Thursday during its board of commissioners meeting. The agency anticipates starting as many as five construction projects in the coming year, three of which are rehabilitating existing properties.

“In the past, we have started one every couple of years,” said Mila Fabyanchuk, the housing authority’s financial analyst.

She said there was less uncertainty for 2019 in terms of how federal dollars will shake out. Slightly less than half of the agency’s budget comes from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, primarily for housing assistance payments, or Section 8.

The 2019 budget is an increase of about $3.3 million from 2018; much of that is due to an increase in salaries and housing assistance payments, the agency’s largest expense. About $22.9 million is budgeted for those payments that will serve approximately 2,900 low-income households in 2019. This year, tenants began putting more of their income (35 percent) toward rent to help stretch the Section 8 budget. Vancouver Housing Authority can deviate from some federal requirements because it’s one of 39 Move to Work authorities in the country — a program that gives it more flexibility.

Salary increases are mostly due to staff growth at the agency and at Council for the Homeless, whose employees are under the umbrella of the housing authority. Fabyanchuk said the housing authority is in negotiations with the council to increase the nonprofit’s contributions to services, such as human resources and information technology.

Extraordinary maintenance is also up for 2019 due, in large part, to planned improvements at shelters the housing authority owns: Valley Homestead, a family shelter, and SafeChoice, which serves victims of domestic violence. The city gave the housing authority a combined $471,637 from the Affordable Housing Fund to make improvements to the two shelters.

Part of the housing authority’s budget includes contributions to other agencies. In 2019, it will provide $100,000 to the Vancouver Navigation Center, a day center for homeless people officially opening Monday, and $260,000 to Bridgeview, which is opening its resource center next year.

“We have a variety of types of initiatives, enterprises and that enormously strengthens the organization in the long run,” Commissioner Lloyd Halverson said. “I’m really happy to see this budget strengthens some areas.”