Need an affordable Boise apartment? The next 4 weeks may be your chance — if you qualify

Need an apartment in Ada County but can’t afford one?

If your income qualifies, you can now apply for a federal housing voucher that pays for all or part of your rent.

The Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority opened applications for its Section 8 Voucher waiting list on Tuesday for the first time in two years. Section 8 vouchers are officially called housing-choice vouchers. Congress in 1974 authorized them to help low-income people find housing in the private marketplace as an alternative to public housing.

But don’t get your hopes up. The competition is fierce. There are never enough vouchers to serve more than a fraction of the people who may qualify for them. And the head of the local housing authorities says rising private-market rents mean the federal government must pay landlords more, so fewer vouchers are likely to be available, since the limited subsidy money available will be spread among fewer landlords.

What’s more, your application will merely put you on a waiting list. It could be years before you actually get a voucher, if at all. Anyone who qualifies for the vouchers and applies from now until June 27 will be entered into a drawing which will decide random placement on the waiting list.

The waiting list will hold the first 2,500 people who apply for two years. In 2019, the housing authority received over 2,000 applications, according to previous reporting by the Idaho Statesman. The waiting list now has fewer than 200 applicants, said Deanna Watson, executive director of the housing authorities. Those 200 do not need to reapply and will remain first on the list.

To apply, an individual or household must meet the following criteria:

• Be low-income, which means making 50% or below the area median income. (See chart below.)

• Live, work, or been hired to work within the state of Idaho

• Be one of these three things: (1) head of household, co-head or spouse is 62 or older; (2) head of household, co-head or spouse is disabled, or (3) a family with children under the age of 18.

Source: Boise City/Ada County Housing Authorities

Congress appropriates money each year for low income housing vouchers based on housing conditions in each city. The vouchers are distributed through local housing authorities across the country.

In an email, Watson said she can only guess at how long someone could be on the waiting list before they get a voucher — and it could be even longer before they find a home.

“With the rise in asking rents, we are ending up paying much higher rents on behalf of our assisted families,” she said. “Paying more per family reduces the number of families we can assist because the rents and associated fees are so high.”

Watson said the time people need to search for an apartment has also increased because of a lack of affordable rentals.

A new law, which was passed by the Idaho Legislature and signed by Gov. Brad Little this year, will also make it challenging for people on the Section 8 list, Watson said.

The law prevents any Idaho city from passing ordinances to require landlords to participate in federal housing assistance programs. The state law effectively ends a Boise’s ordinance that says landlords cannot discriminate against applicants based on their source of income, whether that is a voucher or money in their bank accounts. The law takes effect July 1.

Watson said this law will make it harder for applicants to find landlords to take vouchers.

“The loss of the ordinance puts our families back in a more challenging situation with fewer housing opportunities, and puts people who are already made vulnerable by their need into an even more stressful and vulnerable situation,” she said. “By far the biggest reason families are not able to use their vouchers is due to the lack of housing made available to them.”

Stigma hurts tenants, housing official says

It is getting harder for people to find landlords that accept Section 8 vouchers, Watson said, because of the stigma attached to someone who needs rental assistance. The housing authorities used to give a family 60 days after receiving a voucher to find housing, but now people need 120 days, and some are still not able to find a home in that time, she said.

A voucher holders must pay at least 30% of their incomes but no more than 40% of their incomes toward rent and utilities, according to the housing authorities. For a single person with a $34,000-per-year income, 40% is $1,333 per month. For a family of three with a $49,000 income, it’s $1,633 per month.

People can retain their vouchers for as long as they need them, as long as they are in housing. But they can retain a voucher while looking for housing for just 120 days before they must go back on the waiting list, and the voucher goes to the next person in line.

Most Section 8 voucher holders who are not elderly or disabled work, but their incomes are not keeping pace with increasing rents in Ada County, Watson said.

“The cost of living is so much higher than many families make,” she said.

According to ApartmentList, the median rent for a one bedroom apartment in Boise is $1,093 and a two bedroom is $1,259.

How to apply

Visit bcacha.org/news/the-section-8-waiting-list-is-now-open-apply-here. The application can be completed with any device with internet access. If you don’t have internet access, you can use computers at the Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority at 1001 S. Orchard Street or a public library.

The housing authorities are two authorities, one for Boise and one for Ada County, operating with a single staff under a longstanding agreement between the city and county.

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