SECTION 8 HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER PROGRAM WHAT IS SECTION 8? The Section 8 program provides assistance for low income families in the private rental market through the Sect ion 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. Rental Voucher holders select a unit from the private rental market. Rental assistance makes market rate housing affordable for low-income families. Program participants pay approximately 30% of monthly adjusted income towards rent and utilities. The Housing Assistance Payment subsidizes the balance of the rent to the property owner. HOW CAN I BECOME A PART OF THIS RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM? Eligibility for a rental voucher is determined by the Appleton Housing Authority based on the total annual gross income and family size and is limited to U.S. citizens and specified categories of non-citizens who have eligible immigration status. In general, the family’s income may not exceed 50% of the median income for the county or metropolitan area in which the family chooses to live. Median income levels are published by HUD and vary by location. The Appleton Housing Authority can provide you with the income limits for our area and your family size. You would first need to complete an application to be applied to our waiting list. The waiting list can range from 2-4 years. Once your name is reached on the waiting list, the Housing Authority will contact you by letter, collect information on family income, assets and family composition. The Housing Authority will verify this information with other local agencies, you employer and bank, and will use the information to determine program eligibility and the amount of the rental assistance payment. WHERE CAN I LIVE? Once your family has been issued a Housing Choice Voucher by the Appleton Housing Authority, you can search the private rental market in Outagamie County and the city of Appleton for a housing unit that is decent, safe and sanitary according the Housing Quality Standards (HQS) established by HUD and the Appleton Housing Authority. (Request a copy of the HUD booklet “A Good Place to Live!,” available from the Housing Authority or HUD to guide you in finding a unit that meets these Standards.) When you have found a suitable unit and the owner agrees to lease the unit to your family under the housing choice voucher program, the Housing Authority will inspect the unit to assure that it is suitable. After the unit passes HQS inspection and the rent has been approved, the landlord and tenant enter a lease for an initial term of one year. The Housing Authority and the landlord sign a Housing Assistance Payments Contract through which the rent is assisted on you behalf. You will be responsible for the monthly payment of the difference between the total rent and the Housing Assistance Payment. CAN I MOVE AND CONTINUE TO RECEIVE THIS ASSISTANCE? A family’s housing needs change over time with changes in family size, job locations, and for other reasons. The Housing Choice Voucher Program is designed to allow families to move without the loss of rental assistance. Moves are permissible as long as the family notifies the HA ahead of time, terminates its existing lease within the appropriate provisions, and finds acceptable alternate housing. If you would choose to leave the Appleton Housing Authority jurisdiction, you would need to contact your case worker on the procedure for portability. New voucher holders not living within the jurisdiction of the HA at the time the family applies for rental assistance must initially lease a unit within that jurisdiction for the first twelve months of assistance. WHAT IS THE TERM OF THE LEASE AND CONTRACT? After one year, the lease is renewed for a specified time period (ex., month-to-month, six months, etc.). You may vacate with a notice after the term of the lease expires. If you remain in the unit, you are re-certified for eligibility and the unit is inspected for Housing Quality Standards annually, at which time the landlord may request an annual adjustment rent increase which must be approved by the Housing Authority. This request must be submitted in writing to the Housing Authority and to you sixty days prior to renewal. Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Plan HOW DO I APPLY? If you are interested in applying for a voucher please visit our Applictions/Forms Tab. 920.739.6811 925 W Northland Ave. Appleton, WI 54914 Selecteer een taal▼ ©2021 Appleton Housing Authority. All Rights Reserved. Website Design and Development by Stellar Blue Technologies. Professional Photographs by Jeffrey Lendrum / Lendrum Photography llc