May 20, 2024 NYC Office of the Mayor
Section 8 Vouchers Will Help Eligible New Yorkers
Access Rental Subsidies for Private Market
First Announced in Mayor Adams’ State of the City,
Applications Will Open From June 3 Through June 9
NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) will begin accepting applications for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, reopening a waitlist that has been closed to general applications for nearly 15 years. Section 8 HCV is a federally funded program administrated by NYCHA that provides rental subsidies for eligible low-income families to rent housing in the private market. Interested households may apply to the Section 8 HCV waitlist — which has been closed since December 10, 2009 — between midnight on Monday, June 3 and 11:59 PM on Sunday, June 9, 2024. Today’s announcement delivers on another key commitment made by Mayor Adams in his 2024 State of the City Address to reopen Section 8 HCV applications this year, and helps the city take another step closer to reaching the moonshot goal of creating 500,000 new homes by 2032. New Yorkers can learn more about Section 8 eligibility at NYCHA’s website and can apply to join the waitlist online on June 3rd at on.nyc.gov/section8-application.
“After 15 years, we are reopening NYCHA's doors to hundreds of thousands of new Section 8 applicants and helping more New Yorkers find the housing they need,” said Mayor Adams. “Addressing our city's housing crisis means using every tool our city has, and that's exactly what we are doing. From advancing 24 housing projects on public land this year through our '24 in 24' plan, to fighting for our ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ proposal to build a little more housing in every neighborhood, we are committed to helping every New Yorker find and stay in their home.”
“Reopening the Section 8 waitlist is a milestone in our ongoing efforts to address our housing crisis,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. “Making this critical subsidy available to more New Yorkers for the first time in 15 years exemplifies NYCHA’s commitment to improving the lives of tenants, fulfills one of the Mayor Adams’ 2024 State of the City priorities, and advances our administration’s larger efforts to empower working-class New Yorkers.”
“Having a place to call home is foundational to New Yorkers’ daily lives, and we know housing cost can be a major barrier to accessing quality housing,” said New York City Executive Director for Housing Leila Bozorg. “I look forward to the reopening of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, which will ultimately offer the opportunity for thousands more families to access stable, affordable homes.”
“As the largest landlord in New York City, NYCHA understands firsthand the importance of affordable housing for New Yorkers and the need to use every available tool to connect more families with a safe place to call home,” said NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt. “We are proud to administer the most expansive Section 8 program in the nation and look forward to reopening the waitlist for this critical rental subsidy.”
NYCHA administers the largest Section 8 HCV program in the country, currently providing rental subsidies to 214,117 residents to rent apartments in the private market, while facilitating access to social services through a variety of programs with OpportunityNYCHA. Since the waitlist last closed 15 years ago, NYCHA has worked tirelessly to serve those on the waitlist. Last year, NYCHA issued 7,538 vouchers and worked to reduce the eligible pool over time.
Households that receive a voucher will be able to search for housing within a neighborhood of their choice. As part of the program, qualifying households must have a gross income of 50 percent or below the area median income and generally pay 30 percent of their adjusted monthly income toward rent, with the subsidy in most cases covering the remaining portion. Following the upcoming application period, a new waitlist is expected to be established by August 1, 2024. Once the application period has closed, a total of 200,000 applications will be randomly selected by lottery to join the waitlist, ensuring that all households have equal opportunity to be chosen regardless of when their applications were received. Once the waitlist is established, applicants will be notified and will have the ability to check the status of their application by logging into NYCHA’s Self Service Portal.
Over the last two years, Mayor Adams has made historic investments towards public housing. Last year, the Adams administration set several records and milestones, including, a new record by converting more than 5,200 units to Section 8 through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, for a total of more than 20,000 converted units; closed on financing for $1.8 billion for capital repairs at PACT developments — the largest capital financing in the program’s history; continued to utilize a record $1 billion in funding for capital projects in 2023; set a new Public Housing Community Fund record with an historic $8 million haul; and made historic progress to bolster sustainability through clean energy initiatives and flood resiliency infrastructure improvements; among other efforts.
Under Mayor Adams' leadership, the city financed a record number of affordable homes in 2023 and is ahead of schedule on a 2024 State of the City commitment to advance two dozen 100-percent affordable housing projects on city-owned land this year through the 24 in '24 initiative. Mayor Adams has also taken steps to cut red tape and speed up the delivery of much-needed housing, including through the Green Fast Track for Housing, a streamlined environmental review process for qualifying small- and medium-sized housing projects; the Office Conversion Accelerator, an interagency effort to guide buildings that wish to convert through city bureaucracy; and other initiatives of the Building and Land Use Approval Streamlining Taskforce. Finally, last month, the Adams administration kicked off the start of public review on “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” the most pro-housing proposal in New York City's history. The proposal would enable the creation of “a little more housing in every neighborhood” through a set of carefully crafted zoning changes — which has not been done in more than half a century — to increase overall housing supply.
I applaud Mayor Adams for opening up access to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, a cornerstone of affordable housing, and I am proud to have led the charge to protect the program so that more New Yorkers have access to safe and affordable housing opportunities, said U.S Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.” “I worked to protect the program and successfully increase funding so that NYCHA can continue to provide safe and affordable housing to more New Yorkers. I look forward to seeing the Section 8 waitlist reopen and remain committed to fighting to protect the program at the federal level going forward.”
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