Rockford Housing Authority accepting section 8 applications for first time since 2006

Monday, March 23, 2015

Rockford Register Star By Kevin Haas ROCKFORD — The Rockford Housing Authority will open its Section 8 waiting list for the first time since 2006, providing thousands of low-income individuals and families a chance to obtain an affordable home or apartment. Pre-applications for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program will be accepted from 8 a.m. April 6 to 5 p.m. April 10. Applications will be taken only at rockfordha.org, but the link won’t be available until the application period opens. Section 8 is a federally funded voucher program intended to help low-income families, the elderly and the disabled obtain housing in the private market. Participants are not limited to public housing developments; they can choose to live in any housing that meets the requirements. Eligible participants typically pay 30 percent of their monthly income for rent; the housing authority subsidizes the rest of the payment. Housing authorities often have waiting lists because there isn’t enough money to assist all of the families who apply. Rockford has enough to provide 1,805 Section 8 vouchers. The agency has 10 families remaining on its wait list and anticipates that each will be processed within the next few weeks as others transition out of the program. In 2006, the waiting list was closed after accepting 6,000 applicants. “If we follow the national trend, we can expect to take tens of thousands of applications from” April 6 to 10, said Laura Snyder, director of housing operations. Because of the large number of applications expected, a lottery will determine the order of each submitted application, with a maximum of 2,500 added to the wait list. Residents selected in the lottery will be notified via postal mail by May 31. No notification will be given to those not selected or disqualified. Rockford Housing Authority estimates that it will take three years to process and issue vouchers to the 2,500 applicants selected in the lottery. Once the lottery is drawn, preference points are assigned to applicants to determine the order for receiving a voucher. Preference is given to Rockford residents, Snyder said. It’s common for housing authorities to close their Section 8 wait lists because the high number of applications makes it difficult to manage. “It’s such a popular program that you could literally have a staff member doing nothing but operating the wait list,” said Alan Zais, executive director of the Winnebago County Housing Authority. “When it’s open, you can see from news reports that thousands of people apply.” The 383-person waiting list for the Winnebago County Housing Authority, which also issues vouchers in Rockford, is closed. The county provides 347 vouchers. Read the full article here.]]>