The initiative involves allocating $500,000 from the Fiscal Year 2027 Rental Assistance Program Budget.
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio city leaders are working to expand housing access with a focus on military veterans through a proposed program aimed at incentivizing landlords to accept federal housing vouchers.
District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo introduced a program that would provide financial incentives to landlords who rent to tenants using federal housing assistance, including Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers.
The proposal comes in response to advocates who argue veterans continue to face barriers when trying to secure housing despite having guaranteed rental support.
“We just want to give our veterans a choice to live where they would like to live,” said Air Force veteran Rich Acosta, treasurer for the American GI Forum of Bexar County.
Acosta and the organization have been pushing since 2023 for the city to address what they describe as income-based discrimination against veterans who rely on vouchers to pay rent.
“You deny them solely for the purpose of one thing, that the veteran is using a federal housing program to pay for their rent,” Acosta said. “That’s blanket discrimination in my book.”
VASH vouchers, funded through the federal government, are designed specifically to help veterans secure stable housing. However, some landlords choose not to accept voucher holders, often citing concerns about delays in receiving payments.
Castillo acknowledged those concerns but said the city’s proposal is designed to address them directly.
“The City of San Antonio will work in partnership with Opportunity Home to incentivize landlords to accept Section 8 and VASH vouchers,” Castillo said.
The initiative involves allocating $500,000 from the Fiscal Year 2027 Rental Assistance Program Budget. Landlords who accept tenants with housing vouchers could receive up to $500.
“We had a veteran in which they had both a Section 8 and a VASH voucher. But they had other struggles, right? Meaning that they opted to live in their car rather than using the match voucher,” Castillo said. “So, with this fund, it’s nearly half a million dollars, the goal is to house 900 additional families.”
“Here in the city of San Antonio, there’s a 95% acceptance rate for VASH voucher holders, meaning there’s roughly 5% that are in need of one assistance. Whether it’s identifying why they have been denied a unit, it could be because of criminal history, credit score, rental history, or like our constituent, which had the voucher he didn’t use, it expired. So, it’s tracked as it was not accepted,” Castillo said. “So, we need to dig into the weeds of that 5% that’s taking place ultimately connect them with housing long term.”
According to Castillo’s office, more than 15,000 families in San Antonio rely on the Housing Choice Voucher and VASH programs. In 2023, more than 1,000 vouchers went unused and in 2021, Opportunity Home piloted a similar effort that ended with more than 3,000 vouchers being used.
Castillo said the incentive program would work alongside a separate effort backed by Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, an ordinance that would prevent landlords from denying tenants solely because they use veteran housing vouchers.
Together, the proposals aim to both encourage participation through financial incentives and limit discriminatory practices.
While the primary focus is on veterans, Castillo noted that the funding could also support residents using traditional Section 8 vouchers.