Bangkok--10 Sep--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'AA-' issuer credit rating (ICR) to the Vancouver Housing Authority (VHA), Wash. The outlook is stable.
"The rating reflects our view that VHA has a well-established record of development and leadership in housing for Clark County," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Lawrence Witte. "The authority's achievements have served to expand affordable-housing opportunities for residents of Vancouver and Clark County."
The credit assessment reflects the high essentiality and strong finances of VHA. VHA owns and/or operates approximately 3,400 units of housing and administers nearly 2,000 rental assistance vouchers. VHA serves over 12,500 residents including more than 3,300 children.
VHA has expanded its housing units significantly over the last 19 years, nearly doubling its portfolio in that time. The increase has shifted the proportion of units to market-rate affordable rental from low-rent public housing. The authority has nearly a 4:1 ratio of affordable units to public housing.
VHA's essentiality to the market it serves is evidenced by the waiting lists it maintains. Both the public housing and Section 8 waiting lists have been closed since 2006. The public housing list has 899 households, and the average waiting time is three years. The Section 8 waiting list contains more than 2,500 households, and the wait for a voucher is six years.
RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
USPF Criteria: Public Housing Authority Debt, June 22, 2007
General Criteria: Enhanced Methodology And Assumptions For Rating Government-Related Entities, June 29, 2009
Complete ratings information is available to RatingsDirect subscribers on the Global Credit Portal at www.globalcreditportal.com and RatingsDirect subscribers at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left column.
Media Contact:
Ana Sandoval, New York (1) 212-438-5095,
[email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Lawrence Witte, San Francisco (1) 415-371-5037
Karen Fitzgerald, San Francisco (1) 415-371-5023