The Seattle Housing Authority recently completed the first year of a three-year pilot designed to increase the number of people SHA is able to house. By helping households that are living in units larger than they need find more appropriately sized units, SHA can then help families on the waitlist who need those larger units. During the first year, SHA piloted the program at its NewHolly community and also the Scattered Sites program.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires housing authorities to transfer households that become smaller than established occupancy for their unit size. With this pilot, SHA provides additional support for those who need to move. Households who no longer need the larger size unit they are occupying receive an array of resources to support a move, including a choice of two options for a suitable new home within SHA, reimbursement for moving costs or professional moving services, funds for incidental costs and a free month of rent.

In 2019, SHA helped 40 households move to a new unit. As a result, twice as many people as previously housed in the larger units were able to come off the wait list into a home. The average family housed increased from two people to five people per unit.

One resident was living alone in a three-bedroom unit after her children had grown up and moved out. SHA staff found a new unit for her in her preferred neighborhood. After moving she reported, “The previous place was good for my kids, but for single people this unit is better. There are more people here. I am close to jobs. There are more possibilities than the other place.”

Encouraged by success in the first year, SHA plans to expand the pilot to additional communities.