Empowered By Orange County United Way

HUD Assistant Secretary on Hand to Voice Support for Public-Private Partnership on Landlord Engagement to Help End Homelessness in OC


OC Board of Supervisors Chairman Andrew Do presents Orange County United Way President & CEO Sue Parks with check to support landlord incentive program.

IRVINE, Calif. (Nov. 15, 2018) 

We are excited to announce a significant milestone in our collaborative effort to create additional supportive housing for homeless individuals in Orange County.

The County of Orange announced that it will partner with United to End Homelessness and commit $250,000 in funding for a pilot program that will remove barriers to placing homeless men and women with rental vouchers into their own apartment homes while receiving the supportive care needed to bring stability to their lives.

The apartment units are being made available for the pilot by Ernie Schroeder and Schroeder Management Company. Schroeder is a member of the Orange County United Way Board and the United to End Homelessness Leadership Council. He and company have been involved in HUD Section 8 housing programs for 30 years.

“The residents are our neighbors, people like all of us, that just need help,” he said. “It’s so important for people to have a place to live that’s clean and safe to help them get off the streets.”

Under the Landlord Incentive Program implemented and administered on behalf of the OC Housing Authority (OCHA), United Way will engage private-market landlords as part of the United to End Homelessness initiative to place people holding OCHA homeless set-aside or other homeless-targeted rental vouchers in housing. The goal of the program is 40-55 households. Vouchers will include one year of supportive services.

Under the Landlord Incentive Program implemented and administered on behalf of the OC Housing Authority (OCHA), United Way will engage private-market landlords as part of the United to End Homelessness initiative to place people holding OCHA homeless set-aside or other homeless-targeted rental vouchers in housing. The goal of the program is 40-55 households. Vouchers will include one year of supportive services.

The ultimate intent of the program is to open the number of units necessary to house all chronically homeless neighbors through rental housing scattered throughout Orange County.

This approach is in line with the 2017 “Homelessness in Orange County: The Costs to Our Community” study conducted by the University of California, Irvine, School of Social Sciences, which recommended that specific numeric goals be developed for the creation of housing types needed for varying homeless populations and an agreed upon action plan to increase housing stock.