One rule would only allow tenants to miss one housing inspection appointment or deadline to show their financial need for low-income Section 8 housing. If the appointment is missed for good cause, such as an illness, a one-time counseling session would be allowed. If participants miss a second appointment, they would be permanently removed from the program.

The second change involves what is called the "look-back period." Currently, anyone with a violent or drug-related conviction within the last three years is ineligible for Section 8 housing. The Housing Authority wants to extend that period to five years.

The Los Angeles County Board of Commissioners was initially scheduled to rule on the proposals next week but delayed the matter until July to give Housing Authority officials time to meet with advocates and defend the changes.

The new rules would make it more difficult to get into affordable housing and much easier to get kicked out, said Mark Casanova, executive director of Homeless Health Care Los Angeles.

"On the front end you restrict people coming in who have a hard enough time getting housing, said Casanova, who provides health care services to the county's homeless and works to place its clients into affordable housing. "On the back end you're going to change the rules to kick out these very people that are the most costly to the county."

In 2007, the county provided Homeless Health Care Los Angeles with 115 Section 8 vouchers to place homeless citizens with chronic health problems into independent housing.

Casanova believes the stricter standards will be a serious challenge for those adjusting to independent living, grappling with mental illness or struggling to meet a host of healthcare appointments to treat serious health conditions.

"It just seems to be creating an additional burden on people that already have plenty of burdens."

Gary Blasi is a professor at the UCLA Law School. In February, he and the United Homeless Healthcare Partners appealed to the housing authority to reconsider its proposal.

In his statement, Blasi said the new regulations would directly affect the chronically homeless and those with mental disabilities because their conditions "impede the ability of a person to manage their time and have the orderly life that most of us take for granted."

"I cannot think of another example where you miss an appointment and the punishment is so harsh--even when applied to ordinary folks. It's pretty extraordinary, then, to apply it to people with significant disabilities."

Blasi said homeless people are more likely to have criminal records because many people are prone to call the police to deal with the homeless. To extend the look-back period, said Blasi, will make attaining housing more difficult and increase the likelihood that these people will remain on the streets. Blasi also said that by making it more difficult to house the chronically homeless, the financial burdens to the county increase.

A 2009 study conducted by the Economic Roundtable, entitled "Where We Sleep," found that it is significantly cheaper to place the city's homeless in supportive housing rather than allowing them to remain completely dependent upon county services. The study concluded that the typical cost for supportive housing is $605 per month compared with $2,897 to assist people living on the streets. For those who are dealing with chronic health issues or drug addition, supportive housing provides case workers and on-site health and counseling services to the formerly homeless.

Linda Langridge once had a successful catering business in Los Angeles. In 2007, she was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent severe radiation treatments that left her unable to speak and in need of speech therapy. The frequency of her treatments and her depleted physical condition interfered with the long hours of the catering business. Work continued to slow until she eventually lost her business and her home. She managed to get work as a personal assistant, and lived and worked in her employer's house. Langridge was fired in 2008 and lost her job and her home. 

Langridge lived in her car for over a year until contracting pneumonia and landing in County Hospital. It was there that she was encouraged to look for help at Homeless Health Care. The program referred her for Section 8 assistance and she has been housed since last August. Though she does not have any drug related or violent charges on her record, she plans to speak before the Board of Commissioners to advocate for those who do. She said the extended look-back period could harm those who are making an effort to turn their lives around. 

"You're not the same person you were five years ago. You want to better your life."

Dorian Jenkins, assistant executive director of housing at the Los Angeles County Housing Authority, said the goals are to safeguard against trends of criminal activity and ensure that tenants follow Section 8 rules.

"We want to be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars."

The changes are also an attempt to improve the Housing Authority's reputation. Until last year, the department was labeled "troubled" by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development because of the housing authority's failure to meet federal deadlines. Jenkins said that was largely due to residents missing deadlines and housing inspection appointments. This, he said, created a cycle of inefficiency and contributed to the agency's tarnished image. Jenkins said that if federal deadlines are not met, the existence of the program would be threatened, which would be a detriment to families that are following the rules.

Jenkins emphasized that Section 8 is a low-income program, and was not designed to serve the homeless. Yet, a percentage of the homeless population is benefiting from the program.  Of the 22,000 vouchers available to the county, 410 are reserved for the homeless.

The county also receives federal funds for the Shelter Plus Care Program that distributes certificates to provide subsidized supportive housing to the city's homeless. Community based organizations refer clients to the housing authority for the certificates, which they receive upon approval by the housing authority. There are 715 certificates available to the county. Greg Spiegel, a lawyer at the Inner City Law Center said that Shelter Plus Care funds are not nearly enough to address the county's homeless population and that Section 8 is imperative to providing supportive housing.

"Every city that's used supportive housing to grapple with homelessness has had to use Section 8. This is going to make it impossible to use Section 8 for the chronically homeless population."

Some 170,000 people are on the Section 8 waiting list, which was closed in December 2009.  The wait is about seven years. Given the state of the economy and the lack of affordable housing in the city, applicants are becoming more impatient, said Jenkins.

"Every time we set a voucher aside for a homeless person that means 170,000 people have to wait longer," Jenkins said. "That's something we have to keep in mind."