Each Wednesday, Dave Layfield, our founder and resident affordable housing expert, does a live video chat with our users at 3:00 pm ET on Blab.im. He usually spends an hour or more answering users’ questions about affordable housing assistance. Users can come on camera live with Dave and ask any question. Most of the time, he has the answer, but if he is unable to answer the question at the time, he will research the question after the chat and then reach out to the user.
Following are the questions and Dave’s answers from the live video chat of Wednesday, October 14, 2015. We have embedded the recording of the video chat for you to watch.
@tweety8_: “I just applied to a Section 8 waiting list a few days ago. How long does it take for them to contact me back saying if I have it or not?”
Dave: Usually, if you are placed on a waiting list, the office will send you a notification that you are on the waiting list. If you are not placed on the waiting list, usually you won’t hear anything. If you don’t hear anything from them, in all likelihood, you were not placed on the waiting list.
It would be helpful for housing authorities to send an email to all applicants of an online pre-application, since it doesn’t cost anything. Many do, but not all offices provide this service.
It is important to make sure your pre-application information stays up to date. If you move without changing your address on the pre-application, and the housing authority sends you a notice and does not get a response, you will be purged from the waiting list after about two weeks of no contact.
Some housing authorities have a form on their own website where you can make these changes. Other housing authorities require you to call or mail change of application information. If it’s a mail-in pre-application, finding out where you are on the waiting list is even harder. In that case, it is likely your name is written on a piece of paper with a date next to it. It’s hard to find out your status on those waiting lists, because someone must manually find your name on a list. So, finding out your waiting list status differs between each housing authority.
Contact the housing authority you applied through to find out its policy on knowing your status on its waiting list. You can search our database for housing authority contact information.
@nithia09: “How long does it take to get in a place if you are number 1,000?”
Dave: There is no definite answer to this question because it’s all relative to the voucher turnover rate of that specific housing authority. For example, if you are on a waiting list that has 1,000 people on the waiting list, and the housing authority processes 100 vouchers a year, your wait will be 10 years. If the office processes 500 voucher a year, then your wait will only be two years; and so on.
Knowing what number you are on the waiting list is just one part of the equation. You then have to know the yearly voucher turnover rate of that housing authority to estimate your wait time. Some offices will be able to give you this information, but others will not know this information. If you ask how to access the housing authority’s annual plan, there is a table on that document that will tell you its turnover rate for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.
Please search our database for housing authority contact information.
@2Intense2Handle: “Can you get your Section 8 voucher back if you didn’t find a place in time? I had my voucher for 10 years, and was on good terms with the housing authority.”
Dave: We need more information to give you a more complete answer. If you have had your voucher for 10 years, we wonder why you had a time limit to find a unit.
If you did not find a unit in the given time frame, the housing authority may have a policy that allows you to file for an extension. Having a good relationship with the housing authority in the first place should help you in that process. We recommend contacting the housing authority and asking to speak to a supervisor about this. You can search our database for housing authority contact information.
@courtneyediosn: “I submitted a pre-application. Now, do I just wait for the office to give me a call, or is there any way for me to check my status?”
Dave: Usually, if you are placed on a waiting list, the office will send you a notification that you are on the waiting list. If you are not placed on the waiting list, usually you won’t hear anything. If you don’t hear anything from them, in all likelihood, you were not placed on the waiting list.
It would be helpful for housing authorities to send an email to all applicants of an online pre-application, since it doesn’t cost anything. Many do, but not all offices provide this service.
It is important to make sure your pre-application information stays up to date. If you move without changing your address on the pre-application, and the housing authority sends you a notice and does not get a response, you will be purged from the waiting list after about two weeks of no contact.
Some housing authorities have a form on their own website where you can make these changes. Other housing authorities require you to call or mail change of application-information. If it’s a mail-in pre-application, finding out where you are on the waiting list is even harder. In that case, it is likely your name is written on a piece of paper with a date next to it. It’s hard to find out your status on those waiting lists, because someone must manually find your name on a list. So, finding out your waiting list status differs between each housing authority.
Contact the housing authority you applied through to find out its policy on knowing your status on its waiting list. You can search our database for housing authority contact information.
@courtneyediosn: “If I have an old felony, does that disqualify me from housing?”
Dave: The answer to that question depends on how long ago your felony offence occurred.
Criminal charges on one’s record is a major issue that can affect your eligibility for housing assistance as well as tenancy in both public and private rental housing properties. Specifically, Public Housing and the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program include regulations and other language that provides housing authorities a significant amount of latitude when deciding whether to admit persons with a criminal record. That can be good or bad depending on the policies and positions of housing authorities and their staff.
Since HUD is giving significant latitude to housing authorities to determine for themselves how to treat criminal charges, a housing authority in one city could enforce completely different standards than a housing authority not far away.
And since there is no specific length of time a housing authority must follow, we recommend you speak to each housing authority you are interested in applying to to learn their specific requirements. You can search our database for housing authority contact information.
With that being said, a charge that is 10+ years old probably won’t prevent you from participating in most housing assistance programs.
@adaritalinda: “I live in a HUD housing unit now. Can i still apply for Section 8?”
Dave: Currently living in a HUD financed rental unit will have no affect on your qualification process. Just keep in mind that even if you are currently on a HUD program, you must re-apply to an open waiting list as if you are a new applicant, and you cannot transfer your assistance from one place to another.
Please view all open Section 8 waiting lists we are aware of, and all open Public Housing waiting lists we are aware of. You may also search for your area of interest through our database.
@Ronda19631963: “Who makes the rules for the Section 8 program? Would it be HUD or Section 8?”
Dave: First of all, there is no such entity called “Section 8.” The term Section 8 is a part of the Federal Housing Act. There are several pages of the federal law, and the program is described in Section 8 of that law. The Section 8 housing program is managed by The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). There are other programs managed by HUD, such as Section 202 and Section 811, which are all sections of the housing law that authorize various housing programs.
HUD administers the Section 8 program, however the department subcontracts housing authorities at the local level to manage the Section 8 program in that area. For example, the Atlanta Housing Authority manages the Section 8 program for Atlanta, GA. These housing authorities are allowed to set their own local rules, as long as they do not conflict with HUD’s federal policies. So, rules are made a both the federal and local level.
Please visit HUD’s website to find more information about the Section 8 program, and other affordable housing programs.
@mirhan10: “If I’m paying less than 50% of my income for rent, am I eligible for Section 8 housing?”
Dave: Eligibility for Section 8 or any other affordable housing program is not based on how much of your income is being used to pay rent, although that metric is used by many affordable housing organizations for waiting list placement. If you are paying more than 30% of your income towards rent, this is known as being “rent overburdened”. However, that is not an eligibility criteria for any affordable housing program.
Still, keep in mind that this is not part of the eligibility process for any affordable housing program. Eligibility is determined by your percent of the area median income. This means you earn half of what the average family earns in that area. Our website provides the income limit to be eligible for affordable housing assistance for nearly every city in the country. Please search out database for your area, and scroll down to find its specific income limit.
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