Frequently Asked Affordable Housing Questions

Coronavirus FAQs

Can I be evicted if I can't pay rent because of coronavirus?

In many cases, no you cannot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has temporarily halted evictions for most Americans due to the coronavirus pandemic until June 30, 2021.

Called a moratorium on evictions, it means that qualified renters are be protected from getting evicted until the moratorium is lifted.

The CDC moratorium was most recently scheduled to expire on March 31, 2021, but was extended in March.

You can read more information on eviction policies during the coronavirus pandemic here.

Emergency Housing FAQs

Are there HUD emergency housing assistance programs?

Yes, HUD provides funding for cities, counties, states, and Public Housing Agencies for emergency housing programs and resources. Most of these programs only offer temporary housing and assistance, but there are services for permanent housing as well.

It is important to note that HUD's rental assistance subsidy programs are not emergency housing programs. Participants of these programs (such as the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program and Public Housing) usually have to wait on awaiting list for several months or years before receiving assistance. Generally, large metropolitan areas will have longer wait times than lower populated areas.

The specific services provided by every local agency varies. Program providers can explain which services are available.

HUD is currently funding the following programs that provide emergency housing services for homeless families and individuals:

• Continuum of Care (CoC) Program

HUD's explanation of the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program says:

"The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is designed to promote communitywide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and State and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness."

Continuum of Care (CoC) Program providers use funds for multiple purposes, including:

• Permanent Housing
  • "Community-based housing without a designated length of stay in which formerly homeless individuals and families live as independently as possible."* There are two CoC Permanent Housing programs:
    • Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)
      • "Permanent housing with indefinite leasing or rental assistance paired with supportive services to assist homeless persons with a disability or families with an adult or child member with a disability achieve housing stability."*
    • Rapid Re-Housing (RRH)
      • "Housing search and relocation services and short- and medium-term rental assistance to move homeless persons and families (with or without a disability) as rapidly as possible into permanent housing."*
• Transitional Housing
  • "Designed to provide homeless individuals and families with the interim stability and support to successfully move to and maintain permanent housing. Transitional housing may be used to cover the costs of up to 24 months of housing with accompanying supportive services."*
• Supportive Services Only
  • Providers may "outreach to sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons and families, link clients with housing or other necessary services, and provide ongoing support."*
• Homelessness Prevention
  • "The services under this component may include housing relocation and stabilization services as well as short- and medium-term rental assistance to prevent an individual or family from becoming homeless. Through this component, [participating agencies] may help individuals and families at-risk of homelessness to maintain their existing housing or transition to new permanent housing."*
• Safe Havens
  • Provides temporary 24-hour shelter for persons who are homeless and have a serious mental illness. Safe Havens are different than standard shelters by encouraging residents to transition from life on the streets to permanent housing. No new Safe Haven projects are being funded, but existing projects can be renewed.
• Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation SRO
  • Offered by Public Housing Agencies, properties were rehabilitated to offer Section 8 Rental Assistance to individual homeless persons. Tenants usually pay 30% of their adjusted income for rent. No new SRO projects are being funded, but they will continue to be renewed.

Further explanation of each of these components can be found here (*all quotes in the above CoC section are sourced from this page).

Where can I apply for Continuum of Care (CoC) services?

HUD has compiled a list of agencies that are receiving CoC funds. Contact information for Continuum of Care (CoC) agencies can be found here.

• Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program

HUD's explanation of the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program, which was renamed in 2012, says:

"The change in the program’s name, from Emergency Shelter Grants to Emergency Solutions Grants, reflects the change in the program’s focus from addressing the needs of homeless people in emergency or transitional shelters to assisting people to quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness."

Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program providers use funds for multiple purposes, including:

• Rapid Rehousing
• Street Outreach
• Homelessness Prevention
• Emergency Shelter

Where can I apply for Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) services?

HUD has compiled a list of agencies that are receiving ESG funds. Contact information for Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) agencies can be found here.

• Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) Program

The Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) Program provides housing assistance and supportive services to persons living with HIV/AID, and their families.

Where can I apply for Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) services?

HUD has compiled a list of agencies that are receiving HOPWA funds. Contact information for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) agencies can be found here.

• Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP)

"This program supports a wide range of housing programs including rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and other innovative housing models such as host homes," according to HUD. Rather than providing funds to agencies, HUD awards funds to a select number of communities each year.

As said by HUD, "These communities will develop a coordinated community plan to prevent and end youth homelessness and will fund projects that are consistent with this plan. They will also participate in a program evaluation to inform the federal effort to prevent and end youth homelessness going forward and will serve as leaders in the nation on the work to end homelessness among young people." This is a coordination between housing providers, welfare agencies, school districts, workforce organizations, and the juvenile justice system.

Where can I apply for Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) services?

There is no information provided by HUD of the specific services provided in each community. However, HUD has created a map showing all communities that have received funding. This map can be found here, under the "YHDP Funding Awards" section, in the "Map of YHDP-Funded CoCs" link.

• Local Emergency Assistance Programs

Your state may also have its own emergency assistance programs that helps with rent, utilities or other emergencies; and HUD has made that information easy to find. Information on local emergency housing assistance programs can be found here.

Section 8 FAQs

What is Section 8?

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program gives low income rental assistance to individuals and families who need help affording monthly rent. Households with a Section 8 voucher may choose to live in any home that meets the program requirements, including apartments and single-family homes. It is a federal housing program that is run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Renters with a Section 8 voucher usually pay 30% of their income for rent. The rest is paid to the landlord by the managing housing authority.

When looking for housing options, be aware that there are other housing programs that use the name "Section 8," including the Project-Based Voucher (PBV) and Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) programs. However, the name "Section 8" on its own usually refers to the HCV program.

Public Housing FAQs

Can I smoke in my apartment?

Under HUD regulations, smoking cigarettes, cigars or pipes are not allowed in apartments, public areas or within 25 feet of Public Housing buildings. At this time the smoking ban does not apply to e-cigarettes, nor to HUD properties that participate in housing programs other than Public Housing.

You may or may not be able to smoke in your affordable housing unit; depending on the policy of the housing authority, property management company, or landlord that manages your unit.

• Public Housing residents may not smoke on premises as of July 31, 2018. More information about that ruling can be found here.
• If you are a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher tenant, that policy is set by your landlord. The smoking policy should be identified on your lease.
• For other housing programs, some housing agencies let its residents smoke, while others do not. The smoking policy should be identified on your lease for these programs, as well.

If a housing agency does have a no-smoking policy, there may be designated smoking areas outside. Also, it's important to note that no-smoking policies do not mean that residents who smoke will be evicted. But they will be not be allowed to smoke on premise.

Contact the housing authority, property management company, or landlord that manages your unit to confirm the smoking policy. You can use the search bar at the top of this page to search for housing authority and apartment community contact information.

Evictions FAQs

What does eviction mean?

An eviction is when a landlord who owns a property removes a tenant who is occupying that property. A formal eviction requires the tenant and landlord to go through a legal process.

Evictions may occur if the tenant does not follow the rules agreed to in the landlord’s lease, and in some areas, landlords do not need a reason to evict. Tenants may be evicted for a number of reasons, including not paying rent, destruction of property, illegal activity, disrupting other tenants on the property, or violating rules of a lease.

Homeownership FAQs

How can homeownership benefit me?

• Most of the time, a mortgage payment is lower than a rent payment.
• The homeowner does not have to answer to a landlord or apartment manager.
• If the mortgage is a fixed rate mortgage the monthly payments will never go up.
• The homeowner will have more privacy than a renter and the homeowner can decorate their home in anyway they want.
• A homeowner can have pets without paying a pet fee and can decide who lives in the home.
• A homeowner has an investment that can be passed on to their children and if the homeowner buys a house in the right area, the worth of the home can quickly grow.
• The homeowner will have a stable place to live that belongs to them (and the bank until it is paid off).

With these benefits come added responsibilities. Read the Affordable Homeownership Guide

Waiting Lists FAQs

Why is the wait so long? (DEPRICATED)

Because of the high demand of affordable housing, and comparatively low supply, it is not rare to be on a waiting list for several years. For example, in some areas, 20,000+ people may apply through an office that is only placing 1,000 of those applicants on the waiting list. Generally, large metropolitan areas have long waiting lists, while lower populated areas have shorter waiting lists. There are housing authorities and apartment communities with very short waiting lists, or no waiting lists at all, but these opportunities are extremely rare.

Also, the Section 8 and Public Housing programs tend to have the longest waiting lists. Affordable housing properties that offer other programs, such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit programs, likely have shorter waiting lists than Section 8 and Public Housing. You can search our website for your area of interest, and scroll down to the list of affordable housing communities that may have other programs available.

Please contact the housing authority or apartment community for more information.

Housing Policy, Landlords, and Tenants FAQs

Can a landlord raise the rent for a Section 8 voucher tenant? DUPLICATE?

Yes, a landlord can raise the rent for tenants who have a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, but there are guidelines in doing so. The landlord has to give the Public Housing Agency (PHA) a 60 or 90-day notice (depending on the PHA), and get written permission from the PHA before the change in rent goes into effect.

If the PHA receives a request for a raise in rent, the PHA will send a form to the landlord to complete and sign. The landlord submits the completed form requesting a raise in the rent directly to the PHA caseworker.

The PHA caseworker will review the form and check if the requested rent amount is rent reasonable. If everything checks out, the caseworker will grant the raise in rent.

The reason the PHA asks for the request to be at least 60 days before the requested date of the raise is because the PHA must notify the tenant at least thirty days before the requested date. The time frame gives the caseworker time to review and process the raise in rent, and if approved, send the notice of the change to the tenant.

During the span of the Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contract, the PHA will generally not accept any request to raise the rent unless something unusual happens. In any case, the PHA needs to be notified before any changes in the lease occur. Generally, a new lease and HAP contract is needed:

• If there are any changes in who is responsible for the utilities or appliances.

• If there are any changes in the term of the lease.

• If the family moves to a new unit, even if the unit is in the same apartment building. A new inspection will also be needed, in this case.

If approved, the rent increase will go into effect on the first day of the month which falls after 60 (or 90) days from the date of receiving the request from the landlord.

Here’s an example of the timeline of events that would happen:

The landlord calls and leaves a voicemail asking for a raise in the rent, to the PHA caseworker on March 12, 2020.

The PHA caseworker mails or emails him back the request form, on March 14, 2020.

The landlord submits the completed and signed form to the PHA caseworker on March 17, 2020.

The PHA caseworker completes a rent reasonableness review and if the requested rent amount meets rent reasonableness, the PHA caseworker approves the new rent amount and mails a thirty-day notice to the tenant on March 26, 2020.

The new payment would begin on May 1, 2020.

HUD's legal code about changes or raises in rent can be found here.

Housing Authority FAQs

How can I find out the area the housing authority serves (jurisdiction)?

The area the housing authority serves is commonly known as the jurisdiction.

The housing authority's jurisdiction can usually be found on its Annual Plan, on Affordable Housing Online, and sometimes on the housing authority's website. You can also call the housing authority and ask a representative to confirm their jurisdiction.

Each housing authority serves a specific, city (or cities), county (or counties), or the entire state. The area served is its jurisdiction. Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher holders participating in that housing authority's program may only use their voucher within its jurisdiction.

This information can be found on the top of all housing authority pages on Affordable Housing Online. Under the "About Housing Authority" section, you will see the line "The Housing Authority serves..." Those areas are the housing authority's jurisdiction. You can confirm this information with the housing authority.

Many housing authority websites display this information, whether it's on the home page, "About Us" page, or Section 8 program. If the jurisdiction cannot be found, search for the Annual Plan document. This document will state the jurisdiction, and may be found on any of the web pages mentioned above. If this information cannot be found online, contact the housing authority.

Affordable Housing Guide FAQs

Are there any affordable houses available, instead of apartments?

Yes, renters who have a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher can rent a single-family house. Rental assistance for Section 8 vouchers is not restricted to apartments.

Open Apartment Waiting Lists FAQs

What is a low-income apartment?

A low-income apartment has a federal, state, or local government housing program that makes rent affordable for those who are in need of housing assistance.

These apartments may have rental assistance that allows tenants to pay a portion of their income for rent, or pay a fixed rent amount that is affordable to renters.