Waitlist for affordable housing opens for first time in 5 years

SEATTLE — The Seattle Housing Authority will be opening a new list for the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program using a lottery system.

Many people in the Rainier Valley still can't find an affordable place to live, and they are hoping to get picked.

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Deborah Horne spoke with a young mother who is eager to move out of her mother’s crowded apartment, but doesn’t have much.

“Like $800 and up for a two bedroom,” said Justin Decker. “Especially when you’re only making about $800 a month, and then rent costs $800. You would have no extra money.”

When Seattle opens its waitlist for subsidized housing Monday morning, Decker will be among the first to sign up.

“Just to see if I can get on the list. I actually applied for the Renton Section 8 and I actually did get on the list, but they said the waitlist is up to like four years,” said Decker.

Michelle Ackermann of the Seattle Housing Authority said the Section 8 waitlist is for the neediest residents.

“We’re looking for folks that are either homeless or are extremely low income,” said Ackermann. “For example, a very low-income family of four would be making about $26,000 a year or less.”

A person will then be placed in a lottery, and Ackermann acknowledged just 2,000 applicants will make it onto the list.

“We’re doing as much as we can with the resources that we have,” said Ackermann.

Even though the waitlist opens Monday, an official at Seattle Housing Authority said a person doesn’t have to apply right away.

A person who wants to apply has three weeks to file an application online, and everyone who applies will be entered in the lottery.

Besides having low-income, applicants must be U.S. citizens or legal immigrants, not convicted of a crime in the last year and be in good standing with the Seattle Housing Authority.

For more information about the waitlist call 206-239-1674 or go to the Seattle Housing Authority website.

KIRO