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The Durham Housing Authority is reopening a waiting list for Housing Choice Vouchers after two years.

Vouchers are used to pay a housing subsidy to private landlords who agree to accept them. Tenants then pay a portion of the rent to make up the difference between the voucher's value and the actual rent, typically about 30 percent of their household income.

DHA will accept pre-applications for vouchers online twenty-four-hours a day August 20 through August 26. According to Denita Johnson, director of DHA's Housing Choice Voucher program, all applications entered during that time will have an equal shot at being randomly selected through a lottery system that will narrow the pool of applicants down to fifteen hundred individuals. Applicants who make that list will be notified within forty-five days.

The last time the voucher waiting list was open — in September 2016 — sixty-five hundred people applied and just fifteen hundred were selected for the waiting list. DHA's CEO, Anthony Scott, says he wouldn't be surprised if more people applied this time, given how prices have risen since the last time the waiting list was open.

About eighty people are currently on the waiting list to receive a voucher, meaning it took almost two years to for most people on the list to get one. As vouchers become available (about twenty-five to fifty do each month), applications are pulled from the waiting list and processed for eligibility. Applicants who aren't among the fifteen hundred placed on the waiting list can apply for public housing units or so-called Project-Based Vouchers, which are tied to particular sites like the Whitted School. Those waiting lists are also open.

Scott says generally about one in three people on the waiting list end up being housed with a voucher. Others are disqualified by not passing background checks, earning more than income limits set by the federal government, or — more commonly — being unable to find a place to use their voucher before it expires. Johnson added that a person's background isn't checked until he or she reaches the top of the wait list, so a criminal record shouldn't discourage someone from applying for the waiting list.

“We have an urgent and pressing need for affordable housing in the Durham community,” Scott says. “Our Housing Choice Voucher Program provides a much needed resource to give families meaningful alternatives to meet their needs.”

According to Scott, it's a challenge to get landlords to take vouchers because they can get higher rent on the free market, without having to comply with the voucher process and inspections. So, the housing authority and city officials to have appealed to landlords to accept Housing Choice Vouchers.

As of July 31st, one hundred and fifty voucher holders were looking for housing.

"We're still having a struggle with landlords being interested, Scott said. "Of course the rents haven't gone down over the last two years — they've continued to go up. ... In our public meetings, you've heard people express their frustration around not having the ability to find housing in the community they are interested in, or just peroid."

The biggest need, and demand, is for one-bedroom units because single people, seniors and families with one small child all qualify for them. Landlords interested in accepting Housing Choice Vouchers should post their properties at GoSection8.com.

DHA has an allotment if 2,801 vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, after receiving an additional ten specifically for homeless veterans. Addutinally, DHA sets aside 225 vouchers for referrals from homeless services organizations.

The application will be available in English and Spanish beginning at nine a.m. on August 20 at DHAVouchers.org. The application period closes at 11:59 p.m. on August 26. Applicants without access to a computer can apply at the Durham Housing Authority office, at 330 East Main Street, from ten a.m. to seven p.m. August 20 through August 22 and from ten a.m. to four p.m. on August 23 and 24. Computers are also available at Durham's public libraries. (More on qualifications for receiving a voucher and the lottery process.)

Applicant's chances at being selected for the wait list are the same whether they apply at the DHA office or elsewhere, Johnson said. She added that applicants should hold onto the confirmation number they receive when they apply — it will be used to list who gets selected — and should provide DHA with an up-to-date mailing address, or else they may be disqualified from the program if DHA can't contact them by mail.