County Council approves funding to 2026 Senior & Disabled Rental Subsidy Program

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Submitted by San Juan County.

During the April 21 Council meeting, the San Juan County Council voted to approve funding for all applicants to the 2026 Senior & Disabled Rental Subsidy Program, made possible via Health & Community Services Affordable Housing Fund.

“This is such an important program that I’m glad our County continues to champion,” said Council Chair Justin Paulsen. “It’s another example of San Juan County working to serve those in our community who are most at risk.”

Each year, San Juan County opens applications for 12 months of rental subsidy from qualified, income-verifying housing providers on behalf of their qualified, extremely low-income senior and disabled tenants. These tenants are often on a fixed income, making the high cost of rental housing in the county especially difficult to manage. The program seeks to reduce the tenant’s rent to 30% of their income, which is considered affordable by HUD standards.

Funded by document recording fees, the subsidy program has been operated by Health & Community Services since 2008. The program has grown since that time, from an annual award of $22,000 to subsidize the rent of 11 tenants, to now over $150,000 to subsidize rents for 27 tenants across the entire county. Since then, the average rent for these tenants has more than doubled, while the average income for applicants to our program has only increased 43%.

Another change since the early days of this program has been the addition of new affordable rental housing funded in part by San Juan County’s Home Fund. Seventy-five percent of eligible tenants in this year’s program live in housing built or acquired with Home Fund dollars.