Jonah JacobsYou could get it from the government, as long as your patient since a waitlist is probably in your future. Keep reading to see how long you may have to wait to get that housing assistance you desire.
Section 8 is an example of a government housing assistance program that can help low-income families put a roof over their heads. And while getting a Section 8 voucher can certainly make rent more affordable, it comes at a cost: Time. In other words, you’re probably looking at a long wait to get that voucher in your hands since the demand for low-income housing is a lot larger than the supply.
To prepare you for a possible wait, we’ll take a look at how housing waitlists work.
The Purpose of Waitlists
As with most things where the demand exceeds supply, there’s a wait involved with getting housing assistance. If you apply for a Section 8 voucher that pays a large portion of your rent, for example, the housing agency will check to see that you’re eligible for assistance. If you are, you’ll likely be placed on a waitlist, so you can wait until a voucher becomes available.
Waitlists Are Often Long
As you can imagine, the demand for affordable housing is enormous. But on the flip side, the supply is small, which is why some can end up on a housing waitlist for years.
To show you how housing waitlists work, here’s a simple calculation. Let’s say that you live in a highly-populated area with a lot of low-income housing applicants. When you apply, 200 low-income applicants are looking to get assistance. But since there are only 100 available units per year, that means that those applicants could be looking at two years before getting a housing voucher.
Does this mean that you’ll have to wait years to get housing assistance as well? Not necessarily, as that depends on where you want to live, how much housing or vouchers are available, and how quickly your waitlist moves.
What Makes Waitlists Move
If an area gets more funding for housing or units become available all of a sudden, that will make the waitlist move faster so you can get assistance sooner. But other factors come into play as well.
For starters, some people on the list may find other housing since they can’t afford to wait. They may decide to move to other areas where there are more housing opportunities. Those moves can free up spaces in the list and shorten your waiting time.
Many people on the waitlist may also get disqualified over time for various reasons, such as:
- Getting a job where their income becomes too high for housing assistance.
- Receiving benefits (like disability) that disqualifies them due to higher income.
- Committing crimes that are violent, drug-related, or sexual offenses.
- Being abusive or threatening towards housing agency employees.
- Missing housing interviews or paperwork.
- Traffic tickets or other minor violations (according to reports from housing applicants in some extreme cases).
How To Get On A Housing Waitlist
As you can see, getting housing assistance can require a ton of patience, which is why your best bet is to apply for a Section 8 voucher now. You can do so by going here and contacting your local Public Housing Agency.
