The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides two primary programs designed to provide affordable rental housing to low-income households. HUD’s public housing and Section 8 programs use federal subsidies to attain this objective. Through Section 8, HUD pays private market landlords that the portion of a low income household’s rent that exceeds 30 percent of its income. Rents in public housing units are set at rates that are affordable to households earning considerably less than their area’s median.
Citizenship/Immigration Status
HUD’s Section 8 and public housing programs require that applicants become U.S. citizens or hold an”eligible immigration status,” in accordance with the program’s websites. Eligible immigration status incorporates resident aliens, who are generally called”green card holders”
Income
Income is the principal eligibility consideration for public housing and Section 8. Public housing residents cannot make over 80 percent of their area’s median income. The cutoff for Section 8 qualification sits at 50 percent of a region’s median income, as of 2010. HUD uses Census and American Community Survey data to calculate income figures annually, which are locally adjusted based on household size. By way of example, a three-person household earning $77,400 is at 80% of San Francisco’s median income. At the less- affluent central California county of Fresno, that 80 percent figure drops to $40,550. Just because a tenant qualifies based on HUD’s general guidelines does not mean he will secure home in his local area. HUD enables local housing authorities to establish their own tastes. Since HUD clarifies, public housing and Section 8 waiting lists are very long, as well as closed in certain places, especially throughout the Bay region. As a result, some housing authorities give preference to the neediest. HUD points out that this sometimes includes the homeless, people living in poor-quality home and households spending more than half of their earnings on housing costs.
Family Attributes
Local housing authorities determine and confirm public housing and Section 8 income qualification by requiring applicants to give a variety of forms of documentation. For both programs, prospective tenants must prove their household composition and income. HUD asks for documents such as birth certificates and tax returns in addition to employer and banking information.