Lottery Planned for Housing Subsidy Program

For the first time, the Los Angeles Housing Authority will accept applications for a lottery to decide who gets 2,000 slots for federally supported low-income housing.

The last time the housing agency sought applications for rent-subsidized housing was in 1990, when 81,859 people applied during a three-month period.

A lottery system was not used then and it took eight years for the waiting list to be whittled down. On Monday, housing authority officials said a new list will be compiled from the nearly 200,000 low-income families or individuals expected to register by Oct. 1.

The lottery will also decide who gets the 2,000 slots immediately available for high-demand housing under the so-called Section 8 Rental Assistance program.

The program provides rent subsidies to private landlords on behalf of eligible tenants.

Applications are available at public libraries, welfare and family service agencies, nonprofit organizations, newspapers and the Internet or by phone, said Steve Renahan, Section 8 director for the housing authority.

Eligibility for the program is based on income and determined by a sliding scale. For example, income for a family of four cannot be more than $25,650 and a single person cannot earn more than $17,950.

Although some landlords have arrangements in which a whole complex is rented to Section 8 tenants, many tenants live in buildings where they may be the only family with such a housing status.

The government subsidizes most of the rent, but the tenants usually have to pay the rest, about 30% of their adjusted income, said Renahan.

Unfortunately for most families on the waiting list, the wait could be up to a decade, he said, as demand for public housing--whether Section 8 or conventional--continues to exceed supply. Section 8 vouchers become available as about 2,000 recipients leave the program each year.

The director of a trade group for affordable housing development said the housing authority’s announcement will cause a small ripple of hope in the life of Los Angeles’ urban poor, but would make a world of difference for the 2,000 lucky recipients of the first vouchers.

“It’s huge for those people--it means a roof over their head,” said Jan Breidenbach of the Southern California Assn. of Nonprofit Housing. Nevertheless, she said, the federal government needs to expand the Section 8 program and bolster public housing in general.

Breidenbach said the affordable housing crunch reflects a “weak political will” at the local, state and federal government levels.

“The housing authority is grossly underfunded, as you can tell by the prospect of 200,000 people clamoring for 2,000 slots,” said Breidenbach.

An increasing number of private landlords are letting their contracts with the government run out--in part because they can collect higher rents from other tenants, officials said. Funding to expand the availability of Section 8 housing has been frozen for almost five years, said Renahan.

The first people to get vouchers after the lottery have 60 to 120 days to approach a landlord to accept their vouchers.

The hotline number to apply for Section 8 housing is (800) 555-4501. The Web address is: https://www.hacla.org.