Lake Charles, Louisiana Affordable Housing

Waiting Lists in Lake Charles, Louisiana

There are no open Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher waiting lists in Lake Charles. Go to the Louisiana Section 8 Waiting Lists page for openings near Lake Charles.

Public Housing Agencies Serving Lake Charles, Louisiana

Public Housing Agencies operate federally assisted affordable housing programs at local levels on behalf of HUD. Notably, housing agencies are responsible for managing Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, Public Housing, and Project-Based Voucher waiting lists within their jurisdiction.

Waiting lists for project-based assistance, like the Public Housing program, are open:

• Lake Charles Housing Authority Public Housing is currently open for new applications.

Lake Charles, Louisiana Affordable Housing Data

Income Based Apartments in Lake Charles, Louisiana

Lake Charles features 1,566 income based apartments. Tenants of income based apartments typically pay no more than 30% of their income towards rent and utilities.

Low Rent Apartments in Lake Charles, Louisiana

There are 1,051 rent subsidized apartments that do not provide direct rental assistance but remain affordable to low income households in Lake Charles.

Housing Choice Vouchers in Lake Charles, Louisiana

On average, Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers pay Lake Charles landlords $500 per month towards rent. The average voucher holder contributes $300 towards rent in Lake Charles.

The maximum amount a voucher would pay on behalf of a low-income tenant in Lake Charles, Louisiana for a two-bedroom apartment is between $885 and $1,081.

2023 Lake Charles, Louisiana Fair Market Rents and Housing Choice Voucher Payment Standards

Fair Market Rents can be used to better understand the average housing costs of an area. Fair Market Rents are used by HUD to establish payment and rent standards for federal rental assistance programs like the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program.

Sourced from federal housing data and AffordableHousingOnline.com research.

Lake Charles, LA Affordable Housing Snapshot

Population and Household Demographics

Lake Charles is a city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana with a population of 74,190. There are 30,141 households in the city with an average household size of 2.36 persons. 47.82% of households in Lake Charles are renters.

Income and Rent Overburden in Lake Charles

The median gross income for households in Lake Charles is $36,751 a year, or $3,063 a month. The median rent for the city is $753 a month.

Households who pay more than thirty percent of their gross income are considered to be Rent Overburdened. In Lake Charles, a household making less than $2,510 a month would be considered overburdened when renting an apartment at or above the median rent. 47.1% of households who rent are overburdened in Lake Charles.

Area Median Income In Lake Charles

Affordable housing program eligibility is always determined by one's income. Each household's income is compared to the incomes of all other households in the area. This is accomplished through a statistic established by the government called the Area Median Income, most often referred to as AMI. The AMI is calculated and published each year by HUD.

HUD often uses an area larger than a city to determine the AMI because HUD anticipates those searching for housing will look beyond individual cities during their housing search. For Lake Charles, the AMI is calculated from all households within Calcasieu Parish.

In Lake Charles, HUD calculates the Area Median Income for a family of four as $75,000

Most affordable housing programs determine eligibility based on the percent of AMI a given household's income is. Among the programs that determine eligibility based on the AMI are Section 8, HOME, LIHTC, Section 515, 202 and 811.

Rental Assistance in Lake Charles

Rental assistance is a type of housing subsidy that pays for a portion of a renter’s monthly housing costs, including rent and tenant paid utilities. This housing assistance can come in the form of Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, project-based Section 8 contracts, public housing, USDA Rental Assistance (in Section 515 properties) as well as HUD Section 202 and 811 properties for elderly and disabled households.

Income Qualifications for HUD Rental Assistance in Lake Charles