RRHA says 15,000 signed up for chance at federal housing voucher

RRHA began accepting applications Oct. 12 for one of 5,000 slots on its Housing Choice Voucher Program waitlist for the first time in 5½ years.

On that first day, tenants seeking help swamped RRHA’s call center and 7,800 people applied. The total rose to about 15,000 by Friday evening, when the waitlist was closed.

“The great demand comes from a situation we are all familiar with,” said Angela Fountain, an RRHA spokesperson. “Affordable housing is at a premium.”

In Richmond, rents have risen faster than income over the past decade. At the same time, construction of affordable homes has not kept pace with a growing need for them, according to a Partnership for Housing Affordability report released earlier this year.

With one of the vouchers, a family’s share of its monthly rent and utilities costs 30% of its monthly income, a fraction of what they would have to pay for the same housing without the subsidy.

Thousands of people applying for the chance at a voucher came as little surprise to officials working closely on issues of housing affordability. In fact, the tally struck some as an understatement of the demand for deeply affordable homes for the working poor.

“The need for housing subsidies is much greater than that number, and even that number will take us years to work through,” said Heather Crislip, president and CEO of Housing Opportunities Made Equal, a local nonprofit that helps families with vouchers secure housing.

Earlier this month, RRHA officials said there were about 150 people remaining on the list of roughly 10,000 households who signed up the last time the waitlist was open, in 2015.

Fountain, the RRHA spokesperson, could not immediately provide the number of applicants from that waiting list who ultimately received a voucher.

Those who signed up last week are not guaranteed a voucher, or even a slot on the waiting list. A computerized lottery will select 5,000 people from the pool for a spot. RRHA will contact each person who applied to notify them of their acceptance or denial by the end of the first week of November. Then, for those on the list, it’s another round of waiting.

To qualify, a family must make less than 50% of the metropolitan region’s area median income. For a household of two living in Richmond, that means $35,800 or less. For a household of four, that limit is $44,700.

Unlike a project-based subsidy tied to a development or a public housing unit in one of RRHA’s properties, a household that holds a voucher does not forfeit its assistance by moving.

Historically, tenants with vouchers have faced discrimination in the private rental market. Some landlords or property management companies have openly refused to lease to them. That has limited their housing options to neighborhoods with higher crime rates, lower-performing schools and fewer opportunities.

A new state law adopted this year forbids landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income. The protection ensures that tenants with a voucher are not denied the fresh start they seek, HOME’s Crislip said. It also has implications for the makeup of the state and region, she added.

“With any luck, it will open up places where voucher holders have not been able to use a voucher and help us both economically and racially integrate communities,” she said.

Marthelia Houchens was one of the 15,000 people who applied last week in hope of eventually receiving one of the sought-after subsidies.

Houchens, 52, is the vice president of the Hillside Court Tenant Council. The isolated South Richmond public housing community where she lives is in a food desert.

A voucher would allow her to seek out newer housing in a neighborhood with ready access to a grocery store and more job opportunities close by.

The possibility is on hold for now, while she awaits word from RRHA on her application.

Said Houchens, “I’m just hoping it works out.”