Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8)
ATTENTION:
The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) wait list CLOSED as of December 31, 2021 at 3:00 p.m.
Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP)
The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCVP) assistance program is funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) of the federal government and administered by the Kelso Housing Authority in Kelso.
The purpose of the HCVP is to provide housing opportunities to extremely low income citizens. The program offers mobility to eligible families because they may search for suitable housing anywhere in the Kelso Housing Authority’s jurisdiction and may also be eligible to move under portability to other Housing Authority’s jurisdictions.
For the HCVP to work and be successful, all parties involved – HUD, the Housing Authority, the owner, and the family – have important roles to play.
When a family is determined to be eligible for the program and funding is available, the Housing Authority issues the family a housing voucher. When the family finds a suitable housing unit and funding is available, the Housing Authority will enter into a contract with the owner and the family will enter into a lease with the owner. Each party makes their respective payment to the owner so that the owner receives full rent.
Even though the family is determined to be eligible for the program, the owner has the responsibility of approving the family as a suitable renter. The Housing Authority continues to make payments to the owner as long as the family is eligible and the housing unit continues to qualify under the program.
As a public service agency, the Kelso Housing Authority is committed to providing excellent service to HCV program participants – families and owners – in the community.
To be eligible for the HCV program the applicant family must:
- Qualify as a family as defined by HUD and the Kelso Housing Authority.
- Have income at or below HUD-specified income limits. (At least 75 percent of the families admitted to the KHA’s program during a fiscal year must be extremely low-income families.[24 CFR 982.201])
- Qualify on the basis of citizenship or the eligible immigrant status of family members.
- Provide social security number information for family members as required.
- Consent to the Housing Authority’s collection and use of family information as provided for in Housing Authority-provided consent forms.
- The Housing Authority must determine that the current or past behavior of household members does not include activities that are prohibited by HUD or the Housing Authority.
