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Rental assistance vouchers increase affordable housing choices for very low-income families. They allow families to choose and lease safe, decent, and affordable privately owned rental housing. Very low-income families (i.e. families with incomes below 50% of area median income) and a few specific categories of families with incomes up to 80% of the area median income are eligible to apply for rental assistance vouchers. These include families that are already assisted under the 1937 U.S. Housing Act, such as families physically displaced by public housing demolition, and owners opting out of project based section 8 Housing assistance payments (HAP) contracts. (HUD determines median income levels for each area annually.)How does a Housing Agency determine if a family is income eligible?The Housing Agency compares the family`s annual income (gross income) with the HUD-established very low income limit or low-income limit for the area. The family`s gross income cannot exceed this limit. How to obtain tenant-based vouchers Families apply to a local Public Housing Agency (PHA) that administers this program. When an eligible family comes to the top of the PHA`s housing choice voucher waiting list, the PHA issues a housing choice voucher to the family.How much rent do vouchers cover?Rent varies based upon family composition and income. Generally, the PHA pays the owner the difference between 30 percent of adjusted family income and a PHA determined payment standard or the gross rent for the unit, whichever is lower. The family may choose a unit with a higher rent than the rental assistance but will be responsible to pay the owner the difference. For example, if your family income is $17,800 with 1 adult and 2 children, you would qualify for a 2-bedroom unit and have a payment standard of $706. Say you find a unit that meet housing standards and the agreed upon rent is $675. In this scenario, the tenant would pay $390 with the housing voucher paying $285. How to obtain an apartment once they have a voucher It is the responsibility of a family to find a unit that meets their needs. Once the family finds:a unit that meets the housing quality standard where the rent is reasonable, and the unit meets other program requirementsthen the PHA executes a HAP contract with the property owner. This contract authorizes the PHA to make subsidy payments on behalf of the family. If the family moves out of the unit, this contract with the owner ends and the family can move with continued assistance to another unit.
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