Thumbnail photo: Members of the former Crescent City Council, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and the Crescent City Planning Commission break ground on Battery Point Apartments in this Sept. 10 file photo. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews The earlier-than-anticipated end of a COVID-era program will push some families ahead of the line when it comes to obtaining Section 8 housing vouchers. Nine families are currently being housed through the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, which was created in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, Crescent City Housing Authority Director Megan Miller said Monday. With the program’s funding expected to run out four years earlier than anticipated, however, the City Council, acting as the Housing Authority Board of Directors, approved transitioning those nine families into the Housing Choice Voucher program. “To do that we have to create a waiting list preference,” Miller told councilors. “We would take EHV families and have them submit applications for the HCV waiting list, and then we would apply this preference that says any EHV family at risk of losing assistance because of the lack of program funding will be moved to the top of the list. And we would place them on the list with preference to immediately pull them off and transfer them to the HCV program.” Giving the EHV families preference on the Housing Choice Voucher waiting list will not mean a longer wait time for those already on the list, Miller told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday. There are currently 488 people on the waiting list, 264 from out of the area, Miller said. Even though the nine families taking part in the EHV program will be moved ahead of the 224 local families that are on the list, Miller said the Housing Authority can no longer serve new families this year. “It’s because we only have a certain amount of money every calendar year,” she told Redwood Voice. “As you get closer to the end of the year, (you look at) how many new families we can take on.” The Emergency Housing Voucher program was created to try to reduce the spread of COVID by getting homeless families into permanent housing. The funds were supposed to last through September 2030, but because of the increased cost of housing nationwide, those dollars are running out in 2026, Miller said. According to Miller, the Crescent City Housing Authority facilitated the EHV program through a partnership with Del Norte County and Del Norte Mission Possible. But currently, the best option for those seeking a way out of homelessness is to obtain a referral to the Legacy, Del Norte’s permanent supportive housing program. Miller also mentioned the county’s emergency homeless shelter and pallet home program being constructed on Williams Drive. “I believe the shelter is opening first,” she said. “I have heard that it is supposed to open before winter of this year and then the pallet village will follow later in the spring.” The Council’s action comes as Harbor Point Apartments, a 26-unit senior housing facility at 665 H Street, is starting to move residents in, according to City Manager Eric Wier. The City Council in 2023 dedicated 26 project-based housing vouchers to the facility, which was constructed by Arcata-based DANCO Communities at the former El Patio Motel site. Meanwhile another housing project, Battery Point Apartments at Gary and E streets near Joe Hamilton Elementary School, has been delayed, Wier said. Battery Point Apartments, spearheaded by Synergy Community Development Corporation and Step Forward Communities, will consist of 40 senior housing units and 120 units for families. According to Wier, they, too, will receive project-based housing vouchers. “We were hoping it would be open this fall, but it looks like it’s going to push deep into spring 2026 for the senior housing,” he said, “and then there rest of the units will follow after that.” The Housing Authority pulled 250 families from its waiting list, but only issued 120 vouchers this year, Miller told councilors. She said she was expecting to have 40 new units available in October at the Battery Point Apartments development, but because those have been delayed the authority is finding other options for those families. “The people EHV families are jumping ahead of haven’t been waiting for a super long time in most cases,” she said. “The HCV (list) is open, but it’s going to be a wait for assistance and that’s probably 12 months.” Miller estimated that the Housing Authority is able to find vouchers for at least 300 families on average a year. The Housing Authority was expected to receive $4.6 million in revenue for the 2025-26 proposed budget, Finance Director Linda Leaver told the City Council at its June 16 meeting. The authority was projected to expend about $4.7 million, she said, mostly on project-based vouchers. According to Miller, the Housing Authority’s funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Council’s action also included amending the language in the Housing Authority Administrative Plan that have to do with closing and purging the program’s waiting list, which Miller said the authority “don’t have a reason to ever do those things.” Councilors Isaiah Wright and Daran Dooley were absent.