Section 8 Housing

How Does Section 8 Piece of work?

The Housing Choice Voucher Programme provides housing assistance, in the form of Department viii vouchers, to low-income families. The Section 8 vouchers are used to aid the family pay for housing. Local public housing agencies (PHA) administrate vouchers based on household income and family size and recipients are free to choose any housing that meets program requirements.

To observe your local PHA to utilise, and to learn more about Section eight voucher rules, visit the HUD website.

In general, Section eight housing program follows the beneath structure:

  • The individual/household applies for the Department 8 Housing Choice Voucher Programme.
  • The applicant is probable placed on a waiting list that may have more than than one-2 years.
  • During this time, the applicant can besides choose to accept project-based vouchers.
  • Once the bidder is approved for a tenant-based voucher, they can begin to look for an apartment or domicile.
  • The applicant can only use the voucher at backdrop that take Department eight vouchers and meet Department viii requirements, including a physical inspection.
  • Once the property is canonical, PHAs will pay a portion of hire on their behalf.
  • If the applicant is canonical for project-based housing vouchers, a PHA tin can refer the bidder to a project-based assist property possessor with a vacant unit.
  • If the bidder is screened and accepted by the holding possessor, the PHA will pay the portion of hire on their behalf.

Steps to Get Section 8 Housing or Section viii Apartments

  1. Find your local Public Housing Agency (PHA).This is the starting time place to starting time. The Housing Choice Voucher program, although overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is administered past local PHAs. Click here to find your local Public Housing Bureau. The website categorizes local PHAs by state, metropolis and/or nil code and includes all available contact information.
  2. Decide if you lot are eligible.The PHA will aid determine if you are eligible for Section 8 assistance. This is based on both the family size and the total annual gross income — in full general, the income may non exceed l pct of the area's median income. Department 8 is also limited to Usa citizens and certain categories of non-citizens with eligible immigration status.
  3. Obtain an application for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher programme.Applications for the Housing Choice Voucher program are entirely free, and depending on the PHA, volition available online, by mail or at the local housing authority'southward part.
  4. Fill up out and submit the Department eight Housing Choice Voucher plan application. Typically, the application volition enquire for the following from all household members: proper noun, date of birth, Social Security Number and gross income of those applicable. Other requirements might include mailing addresses, email addresses, housing history, criminal history, telephone numbers and more. Follow all instructions when submitting the application to ensure information technology volition be processed correctly and efficiently.
  5. Find out Waiting List condition.Afterward the housing role processes the application, individuals and families will either be rejected or placed on a waiting list. Even if applicants are eligible, applications can be rejected because of loftier demand or because they weren't chosen in a random lottery; the PHA must provide reasoning, however, and applicants can request an breezy review.
  6. Confirm waiting listing placement:Unfortunately, many waiting lists tin can exist years long, given general lack of funding in relation to the increased demand for affordable housing. It can have upward to a few months to process the application, but in one case it is processed, housing authorities volition either confirm waiting listing placement by mail service or past logging into an online portal.
  7. Once you receive your voucher, find qualified housing. Under the Department 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, tenants will typically pay 30 pct of their monthly income toward rent. The voucher will encompass the rest. Individuals must find housing that accepts Department 8 vouchers and meets programme requirements, including a physical inspection. Once housing is secured, PHAs volition pay the rent directly to the landlord.
  8. What about project-based vouchers?The to a higher place references tenant-based vouchers, which can move with the tenant from diverse housing options and even across state lines. Even so, PHA'southward can use up to twenty percent of their housing choice vouchers for projection-based vouchers, which are attached to specific properties. Whatever applicant on a PHA waiting list can cull to receive projection-based vouchers.

Section 8 Eligibility

At that place are four factors that the Public Housing Authority (PHA) considers to make up one's mind Section 8 programme eligibility.  These include:

  1. Your family unit size.
  2. Income limits .
  3. Your citizenship status.The applicant must come across the documentation requirements of citizenship or eligible clearing status. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for voucher help.
  4. Any previous evictions yous've had.  Anyone evicted from public housing or any Department 8 program for drug-related criminal activity are ineligible for assist for at least 3 years from the date of the eviction.

Employ for Section 8 Housing Vouchers

To employ, the family provides data on family income, assets and family unit size/composition to their PHA. The bureau uses this information to decide programme eligibility and to calculate the housing aid voucher corporeality.

How practise I apply for the Section viii Housing Choice Voucher Program?

  1. Observe your local public housing agency. This is the first stride. Visit the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to observe your local Public Housing Agency. The website categorizes the PHAs by state, urban center and/or zip code and includes all available contact information.
  2. Confirm that y'all run into Housing Choice Voucher programme requirements.The PHA tin aid determine if an individual is eligible. In general, the applicant must be 18 years old and a U.Due south. citizen or eligible noncitizen with a household income of less than 50 percent of area median income. Eligibility is also based on family unit size.
  3. Determine if the local PHA has any restrictions or preferences. Sometimes, local PHAs volition have preferences for applicants who tin can receive assistance before others — elderly, people with disabilities, those experiencing homelessness and local residents. If you fall nether a PHA's list of preference applicants, be sure to let them know. If non, your expect list time might be extended.
  4. Obtain an application for the Section 8 Housing Pick Voucher program.Applications for the Section 8 Housing Option Voucher program are entirely free, and depending on the PHA, will available online, by postal service or at the local housing authority's office.
  5. Complete all required parts of the application. The length of the application might vary, simply most will request the following information from applicants: proper noun, date of nascence, Social Security Number, gross income of those applicable, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, housing history, criminal history, phone numbers and more. To ensure that an application is processed completely and efficiently, be sure to follow all instructions given by the housing authority.
  6. Submit the application. Follow the PHA'due south instructions to submit the full application and plow it in by the due date or take a chance application rejection.
  7. Wait for the PHA to process the application.It can take up to a few months to process the application, but once it is candy, housing authorities volition either confirm waiting list placement or rejection by mail or by asking the bidder to log into an online portal.

Department 8 Waiting List

If your family is eligible, you will exist placed on a await list, or, in very rare cases, helped immediately. When a spot opens upward, the PHA will contact you and issue a housing voucher.

How Does the Section 8 Waiting List Piece of work? How to get on the Department viii Waiting List.

The need for housing assistance is greater than the number of vouchers available; long waiting times are common. Some PHAs merely accept Section 8 voucher applications during designated time periods. When a PHA has more applicants than it tin can assist in the almost future, it may close its waiting list. If your local PHA has a long or closed waiting list, you tin utilize for vouchers through multiple PHAs. Your PHA tin provide a list of locations where your voucher can be used.

If your family is eligible, yous will exist placed on a waiting list, or, in some rare cases, you volition be assisted immediately. When your proper name is reached on the waiting listing, your PHA volition contact y'all about receiving a housing voucher.

Local criteria may be fix by your PHA for choosing families from its waiting list. Some examples include families who are:

  • Homeless
  • Living in substandard housing
  • Paying rent totaling over fifty% of family unit income
  • Involuntarily displaced

Families who qualify nether local preferences motion ahead of other families on the list. PHA's accept the say-so to determine selection preferences that address community priorities and housing needs.

Generally, a family must pay thirty% of its income or, at least, $l for hire and utilities, whichever is higher. The voucher covers the remaining costs, upwards to a cap, known every bit a "payment standard," set by your PHA.

Your PHA will calculate the maximum voucher amount. The maximum amount is usually the xxx% of a family'southward monthly adjusted income minus the payment standard OR 30% of monthly adjusted income minus the rent payment, whichever is less. In 2014, the maximum monthly voucher value was $2200.

The payment standard represents the toll of renting a moderately-priced home in the expanse. Families tin select a home with a rent below or above the calculated payment standard. The family is responsible for paying the deviation if rent is more than the payment standard.The recipient is obligated to pay thirty%, simply cannot pay over 40%, of its monthly-adjusted gross income toward rent and utilities.

Voucher Value

In general, Department eight voucher recipients must contribute 30% of their household income or at least $50 for rent and utilities, whichever is college. The voucher covers the rest of those costs, upwardly to a limit ("payment standard") set by the PHA.

Choosing Affordable Housing through the Department 8 Program

Families can choose any affordable housing, including their current habitation and whatever other single-family homes, townhouses and apartments that meets the requirements of the programme. Your PHA tin advise yous of all housing requirements earlier you begin your housing search.

Using Section 8 Housing Vouchers

A payment for the Section eight voucher amount will exist made directly to your landlord each calendar month past your PHA. You volition and so pay the difference between the actual rent charged by the landlord and the amount covered by the voucher.

Obligations Once Yous Are Chosen for Section 8

After choosing a habitation, the family signs a minimum 1-year lease with the landlord. The tenant may exist required to pay a security deposit before moving in. When the lease is up, the landlord may initiate a new lease or allow the family to remain in the home on a month-to-month basis.

After the family unit moves in, they are expected to follow the rules of the lease agreement, proceed to meet all program requirements, pay rent on time, keep the housing unit of measurement in good condition, and notify the PHA of any changes in income or family limerick. While receiving voucher assistance, no family members can appoint in drug-related or violent criminal activeness or commit fraud, bribery or whatever other or criminal act.

Housing Choice Voucher - Section 8 Voucher Program

Here's how to qualify for Section 8.

If you don't make earn income to pay your rent or mortgage, you lot may authorize for the Housing Choice (Section viii) Voucher Program. The federal Housing Selection Voucher Program is the largest form of federal housing assistance in the U.S. The program is administered by the U.Due south. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Low-income families use vouchers to help pay for private housing, including unmarried-family homes, townhomes and apartments. The abode does not need to be located in subsidized housing projects — recipients can cull any habitation that meets program requirements. This may even include the family's present residence.

The Housing Choice (Section viii) Voucher Program helps elevator more than one million people out of poverty. Housing vouchers reduce homelessness and alleviate hardship by giving families an opportunity to movement to safer, less poor neighborhoods. Effects of the program can improve children's long-term well-existence and reduce costs in other public programs past providing educational, developmental and wellness benefits.

Department viii vouchers are distributed through a local public housing agency (PHA) based on a family unit'southward total almanac income and family size. Yous must likewise be a U.S. citizens or have eligible immigration condition to qualify.

Detect your local PHA to apply hither

Section 8 Family Definition

A family includes:

  • A family with or without children. A child in foster care and temporarily out of the dwelling house is considered a fellow member of the family.
  • An elderly family unit, which is defined as a family whose household head or single fellow member is at least 62 years old; or two or more people who are at least 62; or at least 1 person who is at to the lowest degree 62 living with at least i live-in aide.
  • A disabled family, which ways a family whose household head or single fellow member is a person with disabilities; or 2 or more people in the household have disabilities; or at least 1 person with disabilities living with at least i live-in aide.
  • A displaced family, which is a family unit in which all members take removed from their home through governmental action, extensive harm to the home or who's home has been destroyed by a disaster (must exist recognized by federal disaster relief laws).
  • A remaining member of a tenant family is a family fellow member of a family currently receiving voucher assistance who remains in the abode when other members have moved out.
  • A unmarried person who does non fit in a category in a higher place.

Your PHA can provide additional information specific to your area regarding the definition of family unit.

2017 Section eight Family Income Limits

Federal rules are designed to make certain vouchers go to families who need them about. In general, a family'south income cannot equal more than 50% of the area's median income for where the family unit chooses to live. By police, a PHA must provide 75% of its vouchers to recipients from extremely low-income households (household income below 30% of the local median or poverty line, whichever is college). HUD publishes median income levels, which vary by location. To find the income limits for your area visit the website beneath or contact your local PHA.

Department eight Income Limits by Land

Families with Varied Citizenship Statuses

Families that include members with citizenship or eligible clearing condition too as members who don't (or do non to state that they practise) are eligible for prorated voucher assistance. Voucher amount is based on the number of family members with citizenship or eligible immigration status.

To utilise for a voucher, contact your PHA.

Yous'll demand these documents to apply for a voucher:

  • Birth certificates for all family unit members
  • Social security cards for all family members
  • Driver'south license
  • Land or alternate government issued photo ID.
  • Passport (if y'all are not a U.S. citizens)
  • Clearing papers (registered immigrants and aliens)
  • Signed verification of immigrant status

Income data you lot demand to provide:

  • Social Security Verification Letter and Proof of Benefits
  • Proof of income (pay stubs, W2, revenue enhancement returns)
  • Banking concern statements
  • Documentation of public assistance benefits
  • Data on any assets you own

When you apply, your PHA will gather information on total family unit income, assets and family size/limerick. This data will be verified through other local agencies, your employer and your depository financial institution and used to make up one's mind eligibility and your voucher payment amount.

Choosing Affordable Housing Programs

Families tin choose any housing, including single-family homes, townhomes and apartments, that meets plan requirements.This may include the family's present residence. Requirements include meeting Housing Quality Standards (HQS) and reasonable unit size and rent. Housing is not limited to homes within subsidized housing projects.

The 13 key aspects covered under the HQS are:

  • Overall cleanliness
  • Germ-free bathrooms
  • Working kitchen and expanse to dispose trash
  • Space and security
  • Temperature control
  • Light and electricity
  • Structure and materials
  • Within air quality
  • Water availability
  • Free of lead-based pigment
  • Admission
  • Area and neighborhood
  • Smoke detectors

Your PHA will suggest yous of all housing requirements before you look for a home.

A family has at least 60 days to utilise a voucher after it's received. A voucher tin be used to help pay rent in a family unit'due south electric current abode or a new one. In both cases, the landlord must agree to take Housing Pick (Section 8) Vouchers and your local PHA must ostend that the home meets HQS and that the hire is reasonable in comparison to like homes in the area. Your PHA will tell you the eligible unit size based on family size and composition.

The PHA pays the voucher value to the landlord directly. The family is responsible for paying the divergence between the total rent and the portion covered past the voucher to the landlord direct.

Your Responsibilities for Section 8 Housing as a Tenant

After a PHA approves a family'due south home, the family and landlord sign a one-yr lease. During this fourth dimension, the PHA and landlord sign a housing help payments contract valid for the same time period. All parties involved, including the recipient (tenant), landlord, PHA and HUD have responsibilities under the Housing Pick (Section 8) Voucher Program. It's important to understand these roles when applying for assistance and participating in the programme.

Tenant's Obligations:When a family selects an approved housing unit of measurement, they sign a 1-year lease with the landlord. The landlord may enquire the tenant to pay a security deposit, which cannot exceed ane-month's hire. Later the first twelvemonth the landlord may initiate a new year's day-long charter or permit the family to go along renting on a month-to-calendar month basis.

After the family moves in, they are expected to follow the lease agreement and program requirements, brand hire payments on time, keep the home in good condition and notify the PHA of any changes in income or family composition.

While receiving voucher assistance, no family members tin appoint in drug-related criminal or vehement criminal activity or commit fraud, bribery or any other corrupt or criminal human action.

Landlord'due south Obligations:The landlord provides clean, rubber and decent housing to a family unit at a reasonable hire. The housing unit must be up to housing quality standards (HQS) and reaming and then while the landlord receives voucher payments. They are also expected to follow the lease agreement and and the housing assistance payments contract signed with the PHA.

Housing Authority's Obligations: The PHA administers the housing voucher assistance to the family. The PHA also enters into a housing assist payments contract with the landlord, which makes them responsible for providing voucher payments to the landlord. he PHA has the correct to stop assistance payments if the landlord does non meet the requirements of the lease or housing assistance payments contract. In improver, the PHA executes annual reviews of the family's income and composition and inspects each habitation at least annually to ensure that it continues to meet minimum HQS.

HUD's Role: HUD administers funds to the local PHAs and then they can make housing assistance payments. HUD also pays the PHA a fee for the costs of administering the plan. HUD invites PHAs to utilize for funds for boosted housing vouchers when funds become available. HUD so reviews the applications and awards funds on a competitive footing. HUD also oversees PHA administration of the program to ensure program rules are being followed.

Continuing Section 8 Benefits After a Move

The Housing Option (Department eight) Voucher Program allows families to move without a lapse in their voucher assistance. Withal, the family must notify the PHA alee of fourth dimension. The family is likewise responsible for ending its existing charter inside the terms of the lease agreement and finding housing that meets HQS wherever they motion.

New voucher recipients can selection housing anywhere in the U.South. as long as the family lived within the service area of the PHA who issued the voucher when they commencement applied for vouchers. If a family did not live within the service surface area of the PHA they practical with at the time of awarding, they must lease a home in that service surface area for at least one-year while receiving voucher aid. If you want to move, contact your local PHA to confirm procedures before moving. This will ensure y'all do not lose or take a lapse in benefits.

Some PHAs participate in the Homeownership Voucher Programme, which allows families receiving Dwelling Pick (Section viii) Vouchers to use their benefits towards mortgage payments on a new home. All rules of the Housing Selection (Section 8) Voucher program apply and the benefit calculation is the same. You must be a recipient of Housing Choice (Section viii) Vouchers to participate. Additionally, families must encounter these criteria to be eligible:

  • First-time homeowner.
  • No family member has endemic or partially owned their home for a minimum of three years.
  • No primary member of the family unit owns or partially owns residential holding.
  • Minimum income requirement:
  • Qualified annual income of the homeowners must be greater than 2,000 times the hourly federal minimum wage
  • For disabled families, the almanac income of the homeowners must be greater than 12 times the monthly Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payment for an individual living alone.
  • Welfare aid is not counted when determining family income, except for elderly or disabled families.
  • Your PHA may establish a higher minimum income requirement for i or all family types.
  • At least one homeowner is currently employed full-time and has been for at minimum of ane year, except for elderly or disabled families.
  • Family meets any additional eligibility requirements prepare by their local PHA.
  • Family completes the PHA'due south pre-assistance homeownership and housing counseling plan.

Contact the Section 8 Customer Service Center

The Office of Public and Indian Housing'due south Client Service Center is a central source of data for all housing programs, including the (Section eight) Voucher Programme.

Hours: 9 a.m. - v p.thou. EST; Monday - Friday (airtight for Federal Holidays)

Phone: Cost-gratis 1-800-955-2232

Accept the following information ready when calling Customer Service:

  • Proper name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Clear clarification of question or issue

Eligibility Team

Written by

Eligibility Team

We are a team of experts dedicated to finding the right government programs for y'all. Our mission is elementary: help people quickly and easily understand which programs they might be eligible for—all in i place. Our team is dedicated to researching and providing y'all with the about relevant information. Nosotros compile merely the about trusted information from authorities sources into 1 identify so you tin discover the facts you demand and skip what you don't.