The first official Scott administration report on the motel voucher program showed the urgency of our affordable housing shortage. Out of 1,250* households in the program on June 30, 174 had left the program by late July — but only 42 did so because they had managed to find housing. Most of the rest, 113 in all, simply disappeared from the program, destination unknown. Ditto the 31 households evicted for “misconduct” as defined by motel operators.

*In the second report, described below, that June 30 number somehow rose to 1,266 two months after the fact. Given the Scott administration’s track record, I have to assume this is another case of lax record keeping. Anyway, from now on I’ll use 1,266 as the June 30 number.

Well, the report for August* reveals more of the same. Total enrollment was down to 929 households as of 8/28. Of the departed, 110 disappeared, 20 were kicked out for misconduct, and 26 actually found housing.

*The administration “published” this report on September 6, but it went unnoticed at the time. I found it 20 days later when looking for information on the 9/27 meeting of the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee.

To sum up: As of June 30, there were 1,266 households in need of emergency motel rooms. Reminder: until the very last moment, the administration and Legislature had planned to cut off the voucher program and immediately unhouse all those people. Instead, realizing they were about to cause a humanitarian crisis, they cobbled together a compromise that extended the program under new rules and restrictions.

Well, of those 1,266 households, only 68 have found housing so far.

Sixty-eight. That’s a success rate of 5.4%. Which shows you just how inadequate our supply of affordable housing is. And just how vital the voucher program remains.

If Our Dear Leaders had gotten their way in June, 1,198 more households would have been homeless since June 30. (Also, lest we forget, the compromise excluded all those who’d been kicked out of the program in June. An unknown number of them are still unhoused.)

When I say “disappeared” I mean exited the program without explanation or follow-up. At the last Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee meeting, this was a bone of contention between administration officials and housing advocates. The former insisted they’d made thorough, diligent efforts to keep in contact with clients. Reports from the field indicated otherwise.

Since then, we’ve learned that the administration (1) is requiring that voucher clients reapply weekly and (2) has a woefully understaffed call center, resulting in clients waiting on hold for hours and hours and sometimes failing to get through at all. Given those facts requirement, I find it remarkable that 929 households managed to stay in the program. The administration certainly hasn’t made it easy for them.

So. The administration is doing its level best to close out the voucher program. It and the Legislature established a rule that any client who is offered alternative housing of any sort must accept it immediately or be ousted from the program. And yet, only a tiny percentage have been successfully transitioned into non-voucher housing.

The last-minute deal to extend the program will end next April. Does anyone feel any confidence whatsoever that the housing crisis will be over by then? I don’t. But then, I doubt that the goal is really to solve the crisis. The goal is to reduce the human toll sufficiently so we can ignore it without too much damage to our consciences.