Wilmington Housing Authority

400 North Walnut Street
Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware 19801

Wilmington Housing Authority is a Public Housing Agency that participates in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), Public Housing, Family Self-Sufficiency, and Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) programs.

Wilmington Housing Authority offers Public Housing and Section 8 Housing rental assistance in Wilmington.

Waiting List Statuses

Waiting List	Status
1, 2, 3, and 4-Bedroom Public Housing	Open Until Further Notice
Wilmington, Delaware Housing Choice Voucher	Closed

Open Wilmington Housing Authority Waiting Lists

Open Until Further Notice: 1, 2, 3, and 4-Bedroom Public Housing Waiting List

Please Note: Due to the decentralized nature of affordable housing information, the information about this waiting list may be out of date.

The Wilmington Housing Authority (WHA) waiting list for Public Housing apartments is currently open. Pre-applications are being accepted on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from April 30, 2019, until further notice.

To apply during the opening period, download and print the paper pre-application online here. Scroll down and select the "Pre-Application" button near the bottom of the page.

Once the application has been completed, it must be hand delivered to Parkview Apartments, located at 1800 N. Broom Street, Wilmington, DE 19802; from 9:00 am until 11:00 am, and from 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm; on Tuesdays and Thursdays only.

This waiting list has the following preferences:

Head or Co-Head of the household is Elderly or Disabled;
Head of Co-Head of the household is working a minimum of 20 hours a week

It is not known how selected applicants will be placed on the waiting list.

For more information, the WHA Apply page, the WHA Public Housing page, or the WHA website.

Service Area

This waiting list is for Public Housing rental assistance in Wilmington, Delaware. Apartments offered through this waiting list are only located within this service area.

Reasonable Accommodation

Applicants who need help completing the application due to disability can make a reasonable accommodation request to the housing authority via (302) 429-0954.

Next Steps

Learn more about what happens after the application is submitted.

Last Updated on 11/11/2019.

Other Wilmington Housing Authority Waiting Lists

Closed: Wilmington, Delaware Housing Choice Voucher Waiting List

The Wilmington Housing Authority (WHA) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher waiting list is currently closed. Applications were last accepted for one day on October 22, 2019. There is no notice of when this waiting list will reopen.

To apply during the opening period, applicants were required to complete the online application.

Preferences have not been confirmed.

It is not known how applicants were placed on the waiting list.

For more information, visit the WHA website.

Service Area

This waiting list is for Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance in Wilmington, Delaware. The Housing Choice Voucher jurisdiction may include additional areas, but it has not yet been confirmed.

Last Updated on 11/11/2019.

About Wilmington Housing Authority

Website: http://www.whadelaware.org/.

Phone: (302) 429-6701.

HCV Portability Status

As of September 24th, 2022, Wilmington Housing Authority is absorbing for Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher port-in requests. Learn more about porting Housing Choice Vouchers to a new area here.

About the Wilmington Housing Authority Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program

As of the HUDs most recent Voucher Management System report, Wilmington Housing Authority manages 1,923 active Housing Choice Vouchers.

The following is a summary of the types of vouchers managed and the monthly costs of each as of December 31st, 2021:

	Standard	Homeownership	Tenant Protection	Ported Out	VASH
Vouchers	1,483	24	199	11	145
Monthly Cost Per Voucher	$717	$571	$562	$805	$599
Monthly Cost	$1,062,990	$13,715	$111,739	$8,857	$86,880

Household Characteristics of Voucher Holders for Wilmington Housing Authority

Waiting List and Tenancy

According to the 2016 Q4 Picture of Subsidized Households database, the housing authority's voucher program has an annual turnover of 14% having issued approximately 126 vouchers in the past year. The average voucher holder has received housing benefits for 9 years0 months. According to the 2016 PSH database, persons who were issued a voucher in the preceding 12 months waited an average of 33 months on the waiting list¹.

Income Characteristics

According to 2016 Q4 Picture of Subsidized Households data, the average voucher household contains 2.5 persons and has a household income of $13,648 per year. 97% of households were very low income (VLI) and 77% were extremely low income (ELI). 35% of households had wages as a major source of income, 5% of households had welfare (TANF, General Assistance or Public Assistance) as their primary source of income, and 51% of households had other income (Social Security, Disability or Pension) as their major source of income.

Heads of Household Characteristics

2% of households were headed by a person 24 years old or less, 56% were headed by a person 25 to 49 years old, 21% were headed by a person 51 to 60 years old, and 21% were headed by a person 62 years old or older. In addition, 1% of households were headed by a person 85 years old or older.

52% of households included children, 2% of which had two adults in the household. 51% of households with children have a female head of household. 87% of all households were headed by a female.

96% of all voucher households were headed by minorities with 92% of all heads of households being Black and 1% being Hispanic.

Of all households participating in the Wilmington Housing Authority Housing Choice Voucher program, 22% include at least one person with a disability. 27% of households with a head of household 61 years or less were headed by a person with a disability. 79% of households headed by someone 62 or older were headed by a person with a disability.

Bedroom Size and Overhousing

24% of voucher holders reside in a home with zero or 1 bedroom, 24% with 2 bedrooms and 52% with 3 or more bedrooms. 25% of voucher recipients are considered overhoused, meaning they occupy a rental unit larger than their family size requires.

Rent, Assistance, and Utility Allowances

The average monthly tenant contribution to rent by Wilmington Housing Authority voucher holders in 2016 was $330 and the average monthly HUD expenditure per voucher holder was $801. The average utility allowance across all voucher recipients is $133.

1. This Picture of Subsidized Households data field is the average wait time of those who received a voucher in the preceding 12 months. Due to special voucher programs like VASH, recent waiting list purges, or waiting list preferences the average wait time can vary significantly from one year to the next and it is entirely possible many current applicants on the waiting list have been waiting for assistance for far longer.