interview by Christian Jiminez
Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV) are federal rental assistance vouchers authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to help individuals and families who are homeless, at-risk of homelessness, or fleeing domestic violence. Administered by the department of Housing and urban Development (HUD)through local housing authorities, these vouchers provide long-term, tenant-based rental subsidies for private market housing. The program was intended to run through 2030. However, HUD announced in March 2025 that under the Trump administration, funding for the program was cut from the budget. EHV funding through the San Francisco Housing Authority is projected to expire around September 2026. Federal funding cuts to the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program are impacting 920 householdsin San Francisco.
Street Sheet spoke with one EHV beneficiary, Jessica Boykins, a mother of three who works as a paraeducator for the San Francisco Unified School District. In our interview, she relates what it felt like for her family to live without a roof and why it is vital for the voucher program to continue. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
My name is Jessica Boykins. I was born in Oakland, but raised in Richmond, California. I came to San Francisco, because, you know, I had kids and my dad was not having that, so I came out here, because you guys had resources here, and I came into a shelter. trying to get housing. I came out here back in 2015 when I was pregnant with my son. Then I had got like a subsidy for a year. I moved to Sacramento. Things didn’t work out. It was just too far. I came back in 2018, got back into a shelter, and I got permanent supportive housing on May 20, 2019 at Eddy and Taylor (in the Tenderloin). I stayed there for about four years and then got put in a mercy, like transfer, because I didn’t like the area for my kids and my kids’ safety. So after that, I was able to get the opportunity to get an emergency housing voucher to find my own private market rate housing and I’ve been having it ever since 2023.
What was your housing situation before the emergency housing voucher?
I was at Eddy and Taylor permanent supportive housing in the Tenderloin.
What has EHV done for you and your family?
I mean it gave me the ability to be more stable, to find private market-rate housing in like different areas besides the Tenderloin, so what I like about that is I’m able to move (the voucher) where I want to move it. You know, so I really like that. It’s brought a lot to me and my family, as in the areas, being more stable, you know, not having to worry about. But I appreciate the subsidy. It helped me move my family out of an unstable situation where, you know, Tenderloin and all the drugs, all of, you know, people pooping and dying, like where I was staying at, like people were dying from overdoses in front of my building. Yeah, so my kids were like, “I don’t want to be here.” They didn’t want to go outside and just the area was just like, you know, but when I moved here I don’t recall it being like that, because maybe I wasn’t too focused on it until I really like started staying there for like two or three years, and then I started seeing it, and it was bad. So I’m happy for the emergency housing voucher. I am, but I hate that it’s gonna end because now it puts me back in a stressful state, you know?
And how old are your kids now?
So my oldest son is 15. My daughter’s about to be 14 in July. My son will be 10 in May and my daughter will be 5 in June. I don’t regret the voucher, but in a way, I do, because if I knew this was gonna happen I would never move because it’s now like I’m feeling like I didn’t set my myself back because I did come a long way from the shelter, from a domestic violence situation and things like that, and being homeless and it’s like, I don’t want to be back in that again.
You know, now I’m stressed. I’m worried … I understand they’re gonna put us in project-based housing or we’re not gonna be home, but still, it doesn’t matter that puts me back in the state that I was in when I was in a shelter. You know, so it’s been kind of a little stressful for me lately. My daughter has a disability – she’s on the (autism) spectrum. This is new for me, I don’t want my daughter in a type of environment where it’s not safe or being back in the shelter, because she didn’t experience that like my other three kids experienced the shelter.
So I’m happy about that, but I don’t want to put my kids through that again, you know? They’re older, you know, you know how things are nowadays. You know, the self-esteem and, you know, I have teenagers—back then when we’re in the shelter, they were younger. It was a little bit different, so it’s just very stressful. I just hope that something comes through for me, my children and things. I also have been applying to other housing and stuff like that, (through) DAHLIA. I recently just got an email from 730 Stanyan St. (new affordable housing buildings across from Golden Gate Park). So I just got an interview with them, and I turned in my paperwork last Friday, so now it’s just a waiting process right now. Just trying to keep myself busy and stuff, ‘cause this is a lot. It’s been very stressful for me since I got the letter from the Emergency Housing voucher and I hate that other people are going through what I’m going through. I care about them as well as me because you don’t know people’s situations, you know? So, it’s a lot. And I just hope things get better for us.
I’ve been working with Jenny (Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness). She’s been supporting me. I’m trying to fight it. You know, so I just hope, you know, (the City) can pay for us for two more years and then move us, you know? So I’m hoping. Yes. I’m hoping. hoping.
I appreciate the Coalition. I don’t know if you know I used to work there. I used to work there back before I got my place. So in 2018-19, I was on Calworks and they gave me an opportunity to work there at their sites. I love the Homeless Coalition. You know, I love fighting for people, people’s rights. I understand homelessness. I’ve been homeless, you know, like I love to help people. I’m a very caring person. If I can give anybody any type of resources, that’s me. I’m a very caring person. I love to fight for people. I always want to do that because I feel like I have so much support that I can give to others who are in crises or homeless or families.
Yeah, I always wanted to do that, or be like a peer counselor to young women with kids, you know, since I have kids. Yeah, tell other young mothers, my stories, see, support them and things. “This is Jessica Boykins. Her life. Yes. I work at the San Francisco school district. I work with all autistic, autistic children first and second grade. I work at Rosa Parks Elementary. This is my life. That’s my life.”
