Clarification, March 31, 2025, at 9:12 a.m.: This story was clarified to reflect that William Kitts was removed as the Brunswick Housing Authority’s chairman in 2023.
Winter Storm Enzo produced snow for the first time in 35 years in Brunswick. For most, it was a sight to behold. For James Joiner, 62, the rare weather complicated his already difficult task of finding shelter.
Joiner spent days at The Well, the only permanent day shelter in the county, and several nights at an abandoned car wash in the ARCO subdivision before securing a coveted spot in the Salvation Army shelter. That’s where he met a man with a suggestion that potentially could solve his housing woes: Hand in Hand of Glynn.
“I was just walking from place to place, going to The Well, spending a night at The Well, spending a night at different places. My legs were swollen because I was walking so much,” the Jesup native recalled.
“I’d probably still be on the streets, my legs would probably still be swollen. I might even be dead.”
Joiner considers himself one of the fortunate few of the hundreds of Glynn County residents desperate for stable affordable housing solutions. He passed Hand in Hand’s background check and is able to pay subsidized rent there thanks to disability checks. Hundreds of other county residents, however, are waiting for such an opportunity.
For most of those who are unable to secure a placement at Hand in Hand, which has 60 properties, or Veterans Village, the Brunswick Housing Agency is a place of last resort.
But the agency is struggling with challenges of its own. One out of every eight of the agency’s 763 federally subsidized rental units sit empty. The waitlist for those properties exceeds 1,000. The agency director says they don’t have the finances to hand out vouchers for new tenants who qualify for their federally subsidized rents. And with the new presidential administration, it’s unclear what the future of the federal housing program will be.
Here’s a look at how those local and national problems affect Glynn’s most vulnerable people.
What type of challenges?
To get approved for one of the Brunswick Housing Authority’s properties, a person needs a voucher — something that the agency has in short supply. As a solution, it wants to implement work requirements and increase the rental costs it mandates for both prospective and current residents.
Since July 2024, the BHA has not disbursed any vouchers other than those reserved for teenagers aging out of foster care or for veterans. That leaves dozens of other people in limbo, even though they might qualify for other federally subsidized rental assistance, known as tenant-based and project-based vouchers.
The problem, says the housing authority, is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“We pretty much have to wait on HUD to disburse any more vouchers, we will be getting more vouchers in…we’re just waiting on HUD to clear us of the shortfall, and then once they have cleared us, we will start to distribute vouchers,” said Kristin Walker, who is the Brunswick housing official in charge of those two types of vouchers.
The voucher shortfall in Brunswick aligns with national trends, according to Deborah Thrope, the deputy director of the National Housing Law Project (NHLP), which is dedicated to advancing housing justice for low-income individuals. But Thorpe says BHA has experienced a shortfall for a longer than usual period.
“Housing agencies in the shortfall are in a tough spot, and my understanding is many of them are forced to take such actions as they stop issuing vouchers, and that’s something that HUD requires them to do, it says, listen like you can’t apply for any additional funding until you stop issuing,” she said.
Eric Oberdorfer, director of policy at the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), says that the quick changes by the current presidential administration have fostered an environment of uncertainty among public housing agencies around the country.
NAHRO is the oldest affordable housing organization in the country, with over 26,000 members, including BHA.
Oberdorfer says that many municipal housing agencies are choosing to be conservative in disbursing vouchers.
“They don’t want to get into a position where, if there is a cut, they would have to have a family lose their assistance and then not be able to pay their rent with the landlord,” he said. “So I will say it’s putting agencies in a difficult situation and they are trying to figure out how they can make sure they’re housing as many families as possible while also trying to avoid any kind of disastrous impact.”
New employment policy, higher rents
When the BHA experiences a voucher shortage, those struggling to find housing have few other options. The waitlist for public housing currently stands at more than 900 people. The Section 8 waitlist has over 150 applicants and a capacity of 1,000.
BHA’s new policy means that people who are employed will have a better chance of securing a housing solution.
“If you are working and have some type of income coming in, then you get a higher point, we want to move toward, if you were able-bodied, you need to get out there,” Walker said.
The new policy isn’t followed elsewhere in Coastal Georgia. For example, the Savannah-Chatham Housing Authority does not include a work requirement.
Douglas says that one of the reasons for changing policies is that BHA is paying most, if not all, of ae tenant’s rent. “We can’t issue vouchers because we financially can’t pay for them,” she said.
Meanwhile, BHA is looking to phase in higher rental payments, according to Natasha Douglas, the BHA Section 8 Manager.
“The crux for us is to get them to pay more,” she said at the agency’s February board meeting.
HUD determines rates for federally-subsidized rents on an annual basis, standards that then dictate the value of vouchers and rent amounts for landlords.
People who currently have tenant-based or project-based vouchers pay 40% of the federal rate standard. Previously, if they couldn’t afford that rate, the BHA covered the difference.
The reduction in the payment standard will impact tenants in varying ways; however, all tenants will now need to contribute more, including those who were previously assessed as unable to pay rent amounts.
“With them getting lowered, it’s kind of going to force people to get out and work,” Walker said.
Oberdorfer, with the national housing group, says that the majority of residents in the Housing Choice Voucher program already work if they are physically able. Nationwide, only 4% of families with housing vouchers consider federal welfare benefits as their major source of income, he said.
What is the delay with Hand in Hand housing?
One of the organizations in Brunswick stepping up to bridge the gap is Hand in Hand, where 23 chronically homeless individuals, including Joiner, have found a home.
BHA awarded the group 10 tenant-based vouchers in the summer. According to Hand in Hand, it needs assistance from BHA to fill the 38 vacant units.
The former BHA chair, William Kitts, who was removed in 2023 after a federal probe into misspending at the office. He had promised Hand in Hand 60 project-based vouchers in May 2022. Requests by BHA were made to HUD as late as December 2023 for those vouchers.
HUD approved the request, according to records obtained by The Current.
Chris Baisden, who took over the BHA in October 2023, now asserts that HUD was wrong in affirming the commitment because Hand in Hand did not have the services in place that would justify project-based vouchers, namely medical services.
Properties located in areas with more than 20% of residents living at or under the poverty line must offer supportive services to be eligible for project-based vouchers.
In March, Hand in Hand signed an agreement to start medical services with Southeast Georgia Health the following month.
The organization already provides classes on financial literacy, computers and typing, cooking, gardening and knitting, along with a food pantry and laundromat.
“We’re trying to change the trajectory of 60 lives. We’re trying to find those who are what I call chronically homeless,” said Linda Heagy, the treasurer of Hand in Hand. “Some of them may find a couch with a friend or sister, and two months later, they’re back out on the street again.”
What are the next steps?
BHA said it is focused on passing the new policies while waiting for HUD to solve the voucher shortfall.
In the meantime, BHA signed in January an agreement with Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) that should allow the state agency to disburse project-based vouchers in Brunswick through 2030.
The agreement sets forth a complicated formula to obtain project-based vouchers like the ones Hand in Hand desires, according to a copy reviewed by The Current. The state agency, rather than the local housing authority, will be responsible for monitoring that the requirements are met.
For now, however, BHA holds the power to approve any new vouchers.
Walker, with BHA, said her agency will notify the public 30 days before it starts disbursing vouchers again. She says that Hand in Hand will get the same opportunity as others, but did not disclose what type of vouchers the group would be permitted to request.
That leaves Hand in Hand waiting patiently for a change in the status quo.
“You know, if there was another alternative for us, we would probably be doing it right now, said John Williams, president of Hand in Hand of Glynn. We need the housing authority to help these people.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.