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The San Diego Housing Commission will stop adding people to its lengthy waitlist for federally subsidized housing vouchers on Feb. 1.
No one has been pulled off the list for nearly three and a half years, since August 2022, and it has swelled to more than 76,000 people, with 1,000 new applicants being added each month. Today’s long list remains after more than 80,000 people who were no longer interested in participating were removed in 2023.
Officials said getting people off the list and into housing can take 15 years and federal funding has not kept pace with San Diego housing costs.
“We have been receiving insufficient funding to pull new families from our waiting list, and one can even say to sustain the existing families,” Azucena Valladolid, vice president of rental assistance at the commission, said. “It was providing a false sense of hope to families who were applying to the waiting list, hoping that they would get selected.”
The housing commission doesn’t anticipate being able to pull people from the waitlist for rental assistance in the foreseeable future.
The Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly called Section 8 after the relevant federal code, helps low-income households pay rent in the private market. The program was started in 1983 and provides rental assistance to more than 5 million people nationally.
Eligible families typically contribute a percentage of their income toward housing, with the federal government covering the rest through a subsidy paid to landlords.
Federal proposals currently being considered could restrict access to the program, including putting time limits on how long a family can receive aid and adding work requirements.
Local housing authorities, such as the San Diego Housing Commission, administer the program using funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The San Diego Housing Commission provides $310 million in rental assistance, with about 17,000 low-income households, or over 35,000 people receiving Section 8 rental assistance vouchers in 2025.
The housing commission’s average housing voucher subsidy has increased by 80% since 2020 as rents have climbed, but federal funding has not kept pace, according to a 2026 budget report.
Housing commission officials project a $16.9 million gap between Housing and Urban Development funding and rental assistance costs in the coming fiscal year.
As a result of looming fiscal challenges, substantial rent increases are likely for those on section 8. The Housing Commission has asked HUD to approve rent increases for those on vouchers to avoid having to kick 1,700 families – about 10% of the beneficiaries – off the program entirely.
“The decision did not come lightly,” Valladolid said.
The commission doesn’t anticipate households having to pay more until the end of 2026 and added that it would be helping to connect families with additional resources to prepare for the increased rent, Valladolid said.
