For the first time in three years Montgomery County housing officials have opened the waiting list for low-income families wanting to qualify for a federal program that supplements a large portion of their rent.
The problem is residents must have applications postmarked by Friday, and even if they do, it’s unclear when and how many will be picked during a lottery-style drawing.
According to Joy Flood, director of rental assistance for the county’s Housing Opportunities Commission, recipients of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program pay 30 percent of the cost of their rental payments while the rest is paid for with monies awarded to the county by the department of Housing and Urban Development. To be eligible, applicants must either live or work in Montgomery County and their total household income must fall below 50 percent of the median income for the area. The HOC also must reserve 75 percent of its funds for families classified as “very low income,” which equates to earning under $24,400 annually for a family of three.
The last time the HOC had a waiting list was in 2003 when 8,000 people signed up to be considered for the program. Because a large number of these applicants have since moved, officials decided to have another sign-up period. Those who previously filed applications were sent reminders, yet anyone can take part.
Since Monday, when applications became available, Flood said the interest has been unbelieveable.
“We’ve had 5,800 online applications since Monday, and 1,600 paper applications received in the mail since yesterday,” she said Wednesday. “So really that’s 7,400 in a day and a half…and we expect a rush at the end of the week.”
Once the deadline closes Friday, Flood’s staff will process the applications, filtering out the late ones. The hope is to have a lottery drawing sometime next month.
A major obstacle, though, is that HUD awards Montgomery County $58 million of funding for about 5,600 vouchers, most of which have been doled out. To grant new vouchers, benefitting residents must leave.
