Davenport Housing staff plan targeted waitlist pulls after stabilizing funding; utilization report approved

Malaya, a housing office staff member, told the Davenport Housing Commission on April 14 that the office expects to resume pulling households from the Housing Choice Voucher waitlist after stabilizing funding and reviewing caseload capacity.

"We are looking to start pulling people from the wait list, hopefully sooner than later. We've stabilized our funding, so we don't anticipate that we'll go into a shortfall," Malaya said. She said the office has not pulled from the waitlist since May 2024, when the payment standard was decreased to avoid a shortfall.

Staff described a more strategic approach than the open intake drive used in 2022, when the authority received more than 1,100 applications and later found many nonresponsive applicants. Malaya said staff are considering staggered openings and targeting populations such as people 62 and older and those with disabilities so the authority can manage issuance and staff workload.

The authority reported ongoing attrition of about 22.1 percent — staff described attrition as the share of vouchers that fall off the program — and said current voucher utilization figures feed administrative funding that pays staff salaries and benefits. "So we do need to kind of look at our numbers and decide how many we're gonna pull," Malaya said.

The commission moved and seconded approval of the March utilization report; the motion passed by voice vote.

Ending: Staff said they will purge the waitlist before reopening it and will present more detailed numbers and a proposed pull plan at a future meeting.