Housing choice voucher wait list opens Dec. 27

The Nevada Rural Housing Authority announced that its housing choice voucher wait list will open Dec. 27 at 9 a.m. and will remain open until further notice. The housing choice voucher program is the federal government’s major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled to afford decent, safe and sanitary housing in the private market. Housing choice vouchers are administered locally by public housing agencies, such as the Nevada Rural Housing Authority.

NRHA’s voucher program covers all Nevada counties except for Washoe and Clark Counties. Those who want information about assistance in Washoe County can contact the Reno Housing Authority; in Clark County, individuals can contact the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority. Applications for NRHA’s list will be accepted online at nvrural.org. To qualify, all households must meet income requirements. Income limits are available for review at huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il.html. NRHA uses a random lottery selection to distribute vouchers. There are no numbers or positions “in line,” ensuring anyone who qualifies to join the wait list will have adequate time to do so.

“Our mission is to provide affordable housing opportunities to as many rural Nevadans as humanly possible,” said Bill Brewer, NRHA executive director. “The HCV program provides the hand up that many of our clients need to get on the path to a better future. In fact, many of those on our program are working families, and approximately half of our clients are elderly and/or disabled. Our team diligently works to maintain an up-to-date wait list, which provides us a queue of qualifying individuals to randomly select from as vouchers become available.”

There are 1,393 vouchers allocated to all rural Nevada, which are distributed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD prescribes requirements about how the vouchers are distributed to the various qualifying income levels.

“While we’re able to help nearly 1,400 families,” Brewer said, “we still see many families who fall into the ‘gap’— they are those who are not receiving assistance due to limitations in the number of vouchers available in combination with rules around how they’re distributed. Rural Nevada hasn’t received additional voucher allocations in many years.”

Nevada Rural Housing Authority’s mission is to promote, provide and finance affordable housing opportunities for all rural Nevadans. NRHA does this through homeownership programs, rental services, community development initiatives and an exclusive Weatherization program. The Authority serves Nevada’s 15 rural counties and the rural portions of Clark and Washoe Counties — a coverage area of 110,000 square miles and home to more than 1.3 million Nevadans. For more information, visit www.nvrural.org.