About 9 million Americans receive federal rental assistance money through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and at least 122,036 of those recipients live in South Carolina, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
The issue at stake for these residents is that federal funding to support rental assistance programs is running low and facing cuts – as much as $168 billion nationally. These funds can can only be replenished by Congress.
The main programs for renters are HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher prgram (HCV) and the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program.
HCV assists very low-income households to find affordable housing in the private market.
EHV provides rental assistance to those in or imminently facing homelessness and to those fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking. The program covers about 60,000 Americans, according to a study by the Associated Press. In South Carolina, 436 EHVs could be at risk.
Funds for federal rental assistance programs are on course to deplete beginning in 2026.
Extremely low-income households at risk
The latest data charting extremely low-income (ELI) households in South Carolina is from 2023. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 149,631 households in South Carolina qualified as ELI that year – translating to a shortfall of 79,089 rental homes available to ELI households.
Seven in 10 renter ELI households in the state were considered severely cost-burdened, meaning that these households spent at least half their incomes on household expenses alone.
For comparison, 2 percent of households making at least 80 percent of area median income were severely cost-burdened.
Numbers like these – and the fact that real safety nets for financially stressed renters could disappear – worry housing and social services workers like Brandi Ross, Continuum of Care director for the United Way of the Midlands.
“Federal funding right now, and how it's going to impact our families or individuals experiencing homelessness, or just those at risk of imminently experiencing homelessness, is concerning,” Ross said.
Ross oversees the Midlands Area Coalition for the Homeless (MACH), which operates several programs funded through HUD’s Continuum of Care Program. If funding dries up for these programs, she said, it would undo progress made MACH has through efforts to provide extensive, wrap-around services for residents transitioning from homelessness.
“It’s not a temporary fix,” Ross said. “We see long-term results. They're moving from homelessness to permanent housing. [In] South Carolina last year, almost 11,000 individuals were served by continuum of care funding, which is a huge number.
“And out of that, between 91 percent and 94 percent of those people being served don't return to homelessness once they're exited from the program. So, any cuts to funding that is serving our population is very concerning to me.”
Domestic violence and trafficking
EHV was launched with $5 billion as part of the American Reinvestment Plan Act in 2021.
Exactly how cuts or depleted funds involving EHV could affect South Carolinians in or fleeing partner relationships isn’t known. But Sara Barber, executive director of the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA), said any loss in funds to support abuse victims would be troubling.
“What we do know is that there's never enough of that kind of assistance for people,” Barber said.
For Barber, the fact that so many people have trouble affording a place to live is problematic enough. But when you tack something like domestic violence onto housing insecurity, she said, trouble compounds quickly.
“When we look at domestic violence, you're fleeing a home,” Barber said. “And then you can't find anywhere to live that you can afford. And often when you're dealing with domestic violence, the question people ask victims and survivors is, why didn't you leave? And the answer is, leave and go where?”
People in domestic abuse situations, she said, decide to stay where they are “because they think it's safer to stay in an abusive home than it is to risk homelessness and be on the streets. Dismantling programs that help survivors build safety for themselves and their children, and the ability to keep their jobs, to keep their children in schools, is obviously going to have another negative impact.”
According to SCCADVASA, there are approximately 80,000 incidents of domestic violence reported annually in South Carolina. Barber said that these environs throw a “shadow of fear” over those trying to figure out how to escape one situation and manage another.
“The ability of people to live [comfortably] is decreasing as life in general becomes more expensive,” she said. “And then we're taking away the very few social supports that there are. And yet, somehow, miraculously, we expect someone in the midst of trauma to figure all this out.”
Residents receiving rental help in SC, by county
Richland: 16,735
Charleston: 14,196
Greenville: 11,803
Spartanburg: 9,028
Anderson: 5,089
Florence: 4,432
Horry: 4,315
York: 4,046
Aiken: 3,883
Dorchester: 3,739
Lexington: 3,350
Sumter: 3,035
Greenwood: 2,974
Beaufort: 2,812
Berkeley: 2,687
Darlington: 2,214
Orangeburg: 2,192
Cherokee: 1,646
Newberry: 1,566
Lancaster: 1,482
Marion: 1,411
Laurens: 1,389
Pickens: 1,358
Oconee: 1,350
Georgetown: 1,155
Union: 1,099
Marlboro: 1.047
Abbeville: 1,025
Chester: 984
Chesterfield: 973
Colleton: 950
Kershaw: 935
Barnwell: 822
Clarendon: 789
Edgefield: 707
Williamsburg: 650
Dillon: 578
Bamberg: 504
Fairfield: 495
Allendale: 486
Lee: 425
Hampton: 415
Saluda: 374
McCormick: 255
Jasper: 228
Calhoun: 161
Missing: 247
South Carolina: 122,036
ELI: 88,906
Older Adults: 36,266
Disabled: 20,605
