Tens of thousands of Los Angeles County’s low-income renters could see a loss in their housing subsidy because of the federal sequester, leading to higher rent payments and a spike in homelessness, according to local officials.

City and county officials are in Washington D.C. this week lobbying to try to soften the blow of the cuts, pushing for permission to increase rents so they don’t have to throw most recipients off the program altogether.

“This is absolutely going to hurt the most vulnerable people in LA county,” said Sean Rogan, who heads the L.A. County housing authority, HACoLA.

Among those most vulnerable are people like Sylvia Juarez, a 39-year-old single mother of six, who has been on Section 8 housing subsidies for a year, receiving $1,825 in assistance for a three-bedroom Panorama City apartment after escaping an abusive relationship.

Juarez can work only part-time as a hairdresser because her two youngest children have health problems, but she found out last week that she would have to pay $100 more in rent each month, doubling the amount she pays out of her own pocket.

“With six kids, that would definitely make a big impact,” she said while seeking help at the emergency food bank at MEND-Meet Each Need with Dignity, in Pacoima.

“It’s going to be a struggle but I need the housing, so I have to figure out a way to get that money,” she added. “I have no choice.”

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