Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program (TBRA)

The Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program (TBRA) is an emergency, short-term, rental assistance program originally developed by the San Luis Obispo Supportive Housing Consortium. The program has two components, the first for Supportive Housing Consortium clients and the second for Department of Social Services clients. The Housing Authority of the City of San Luis Obispo (HASLO) administers the program for the Consortium and Department of Social Services.

The program assists individuals and families who are clients of the Supportive HousingConsortium member agencies and Department of Social Services. The clients must have extreme housing needs such as homeless, involuntarily displacement, or disabilities and limitations that keep them from finding or keeping housing on their own. When clients of the Consortium agencies or Department of Social Services find themselves with extreme housing needs, their caseworkers may refer them to HASLO for assistance under the TBRA program. Referral by a Supportive Housing Consortium member agency caseworker or Department of Social Services caseworker is the only way for a family or individual to access the TBRA program.

The TBRA program can help those who qualify pay part of their rent in the private rental market, as well as assist those who need it with a small loan for security deposits to property owners and utility companies. Some of those assisted by the TBRA program may be eligible for long-term rental assistance through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program. (Refer to the link for the Section 8 program for more detailed information.)