My name is Charlene Aston, and for more than 40 years, I have been a Housing Choice Voucher holder. During that time, I have complied with the program’s requirements and done what was asked of me to maintain my housing assistance.
But after I was involuntarily displaced in July 2017, I found myself fighting not only to find housing, but also to get assistance from the very agency responsible for administering my voucher: the Sacramento Housing & Redevelopment Agency (SHRA).
I contacted SHRA for assistance after my displacement. I received none.
For years afterward, I kept my voucher active and ongoing without that support. Then, in May 2026, I received a 60-day notice stating that if I was not housed, my voucher would be terminated.
That notice came despite my long history of compliance and despite the fact that my displacement was not caused by any violation or misconduct on my part.
My experience with SHRA has involved far more than a dispute over my voucher. It has included what I believe to be the denial of reasonable accommodations, obstruction of my attempt to port my voucher to another housing authority, serious irregularities involving my mail and money orders, and repeated mishandling of critical documents in my SHRA file.
One of the earliest and most troubling incidents occurred when I tried to obtain copies of my own SHRA file.
SHRA required me to pay 10 cents per page, so I mailed a $20 money order to cover the cost. After a couple of weeks passed without a response, I contacted SHRA to find out what had happened to my request.
I was told SHRA had “never received” my money order.
But that was not what the evidence showed.
Because SHRA claimed it had never received my first payment, I sent a second money order. This time, I sent it by certified mail so I would have proof of delivery.
Eventually, both money orders came back to me on the same day.
The first $20 money order showed that it had, in fact, been received. It had been time-stamped and initialed by SHRA staff.
Even more concerning was the condition in which it was returned. The original envelope had been opened, its contents had been disturbed, and the money order had been removed and placed inside an entirely different envelope.
That envelope carried a different return address: 600 I Street, Riverwalk Community, which was not the address where I originally mailed the payment.
To me, the physical evidence directly contradicted the assertion that SHRA had never received the money order. Someone had received it, handled it, opened the envelope, removed the money order, repackaged it and sent it back from a different location.
The second money order presented another problem.
Although I sent it by certified mail and addressed it according to SHRA’s instructions, it was returned as undeliverable. Again, both money orders were returned to me on the same day.
I believe these circumstances raise serious questions about the handling and chain of custody of my financial instruments, the accuracy of statements made to me by SHRA staff, and whether my efforts to obtain my own records were improperly obstructed.
Those problems did not end with the money orders.
In May 2024, after years of maintaining my voucher without assistance, I attempted to port the voucher to another housing authority. The receiving agency agreed to accept me.
But the transfer could not move forward because SHRA refused to send the required RA packet.
I requested the packet multiple times. My requests were either ignored or denied without explanation. Without the required documents from SHRA, I could not complete the portability process and could not secure housing through the receiving agency.
I also submitted a reasonable accommodation request to add a live-in aide for my partner, who is an amputee. That request was denied without what I believe was a valid justification.
SHRA later claimed there was a “gap in time” in my file. But from my review of the records and what happened throughout this process, I believe that gap resulted from SHRA’s own mishandling of records rather than any failure on my part.
I remained compliant with the program requirements.
The irregularities involving my mail also continued.
In one instance, SHRA emailed me and stated that multiple packets had been mailed to my old P.O. Box. Yet the very next day, those same packets arrived at my current residential address.
They arrived opened, resealed and taped shut.
That raised an obvious question: If SHRA did not have my current address, how did those documents arrive there the following day?
To me, the incident demonstrates that SHRA had my correct address while correspondence was nevertheless being directed to an old P.O. Box. Combined with what happened to my money orders, it represents a troubling pattern of irregularities involving documents and correspondence connected to my housing assistance.
The condition of my SHRA file has raised still more concerns.
My file contains missing pages, pages with redactions that I believe should not have been redacted, pages printed backward, duplicate pages, pages placed out of order, inconsistent timestamps and contradictory entries.
Most disturbing, my file contains subsidy notices belonging to other voucher holders.
Those documents do not belong in my file, and their presence raises serious privacy concerns for the other voucher holders as well as broader questions about how SHRA maintains and safeguards its records.
These are not insignificant clerical problems. The accuracy of my file matters because decisions affecting my housing assistance have been based on those records.
When records are missing, contradictory, improperly organized or mixed with another voucher holder’s information, the consequences can fall directly on the person whose housing depends on the agency getting those records right.
In my case, I believe these failures contributed directly to my continued displacement and the termination of a voucher I had maintained for decades.
Throughout this process, I did what I was supposed to do.
I submitted the required paperwork. I responded to notices. I attempted to port my voucher through the proper process. I requested reasonable accommodations. I maintained communication with SHRA. I repeatedly tried to obtain and correct my records.
Yet instead of receiving meaningful assistance, I have spent years trying to resolve administrative problems that I did not create.
Housing vouchers are supposed to provide housing stability for people who qualify for assistance. They cannot fulfill that purpose when the administrative system itself becomes an obstacle to obtaining housing.
For someone who has held a voucher for more than 40 years, the prospect of losing that assistance because of administrative failures is devastating.
That is why I am asking for immediate reinstatement of my Housing Choice Voucher and a complete review of what happened in my case.
I am also requesting that SHRA correct and reconstruct my file so that it accurately reflects my history and removes records that do not belong to me. I want acknowledgment of the administrative errors that occurred and a full investigation of the handling of my money orders, correspondence, portability requests and reasonable accommodation request.
I am seeking compensation for the displacement and harm I have experienced, as well as a fast-track review because of the urgency of my housing situation and the documentary evidence supporting my concerns.
After more than four decades as a Housing Choice Voucher holder, I should not have to fight simply to preserve the assistance I have worked diligently to maintain.
I am asking SHRA and the agencies responsible for overseeing this program to examine the evidence, correct the record and restore my voucher.
More than anything, I am asking to finally have the opportunity to use the housing assistance that I have spent years trying to protect. Only after I contacted the Fair Housing Council of Greater Sacramento did anyone seem interested in helping me get housing.
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