Frequently Asked Questions

Rental assistance in the form of vouchers allows these families to continuing contributing to the community while offering a fair price to property owners.  Rental assistance also makes these individuals less susceptible to losing housing due to an economic shock, like COVID-19 or a job loss.  When this happens, the Housing Authority is able to adjust the tenant’s rent portion to reflect a loss of income so the rental portion for the tenant remains affordable.  Vouchers provide an assurance to property owners and landlords because most of the rent is guaranteed. This assurance is not something that other households can offer their landlords.

Homelessness is an economic issue that impacts all sections of our community from schools to property managers.  Most people experiencing homelessness are from Sonoma County and support our local economy by working in our major industries and sending their children to our schools.

Most of the individuals we support are long-term tenants with little or no tenancy issues.  

• The average length of tenancy is 6.6 years

•  Our longest tenancy is 35 years  

• 25% of households have lived in their units for 10 years or longer  

Moving every 5 years is typical for any household and happens for many reasons.  The difference of rental assistance households is that research shows that vouchers and other assisted housing programs lift more than a million people out of poverty and give families an opportunity to move to safer neighborhoods, which improves children’s lives, and reduces costs in other public programs like: food stamps, welfare and other social programs.

Every year in late January, volunteers and guides spread out across Sonoma County to count and understand the needs of people experiencing homelessness. This effort, known as the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, helps measure how many people are homeless in different communities. The count includes those in shelters, transitional housing, and those sleeping on the streets, in cars, or other unfit places.

The PIT Count is important because it’s the main way we gather nationwide data on both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandates this count for all jurisdictions that receive federal funding to support people experiencing homelessness.

The Sonoma County Continuum of Care (CoC) shares their annual findings from the PIT Count with HUD. This information is vital for the federal government to understand the depth of homelessness across the country. Additionally, this data helps local communities plan their strategies, enhance their capabilities, and advocate for solutions to prevent and reduce homelessness.

View the PIT Report Here