Pima Countyβs veterans are finding fewer rental options here, and about 150 have been displaced in the last year because they couldnβt afford where they were living.
Itβs not a trend veteran Dennis Hoban wants to join.
Hoban, 75, lives at The Place at Wilmot North, a 55-and-older complex that includes veterans using federal housing vouchers through the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program. HUD-VASH, as itβs commonly called, pairs rental assistance with case management to help veterans stay housed.
Hoban, an Army veteran, has lived in his apartment for the last five years and doesnβt want to move. However, with his monthly rent climbing from $815 to $1,095 in June, heβs not sure he can stay. His rent a year ago was $742 per month.
The cap by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on a one-bedroom apartment in Tucson is currently $913 per month. Tenants using HUD-VASH vouchers typically pay about 30% of their gross monthly income toward rent, and the rest is subsidized.
βThe only way I can continue to live here is if the housing authority grants me a waiver and allows me to pay the overage, which I can do,β Hoban said. βIt will be a great hardship, but I could do that, and that would be preferable to having to move in an area with a gross shortage of affordable housing.β
Unfortunately, HUD doesnβt allow its voucher holders to pay the difference, said Terry Galligan, the cityβs deputy director for housing and community development. Instead, she said the city usually tries to get landlords to adjust the rent.
About 448 veterans in the Tucson area are using these federal vouchers out of a total 636 available. Tucsonβs current average monthly HUD-VASH payment is $230,528.
The Southern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System has around 53 staff helping veterans find and maintain housing. It is not clear if some of the veterans recently displaced all found new places to live, or if some have become homeless.
Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik said people, including veterans, call his office weekly about rising rents. A number of them are afraid to have him repeat their names to landlords and property owners because they fear having their rent raised even more for speaking up.
The Arizona Daily Star contacted seven people in Hobanβs complex, but only three would allow their names to be published because they were afraid of retaliation.
Kozachik said most of the people he hears from live in rental properties owned by corporations not based in Tucson, or even in Arizona. He has not been successful in getting them to ease up on rental increases.
βI tell them, βI understand you have the right to jack up the rents, but youβre evicting senior citizens, youβre evicting veterans, youβre evicting people with disabilities,ββ he said. βThese are people living in the only places they can afford.β
MC Residential Communities owns the apartments where Hoban lives, along with 11 other complexes in Tucson as well as sites in Phoenix and Flagstaff. The company also owns rental sites in Texas and Oklahoma. Messages and emails left with the company Friday were not returned.
Hoban said some of his neighbors are not facing the same rental increases, which makes him wonder if the goal is phasing out tenants who get assistance.
Thatβs what Donald Lee Allen fears.
Allen is also a veteran at the complex. In September, it will be six years since he moved in. He is anxious to see if his rent is also going to increase. He currently pays $360 toward his rent, and thatβs a third of his income.
βItβs one of the nicer places in town,β he said. βIβve looked around, and thereβs nothing else out there.β
Allen, 69, served in the Army and, due to hip problems, has to use a walker to get around.
Money is already quite tight, he said. He had to cancel his Wi-Fi services because his monthly rate kept going up.
βI go to bed at night wondering where I am going to be in the future,β he said. βWhere am I going to go if I canβt afford it here?β
