FILE - A 'Now Leasing' sign hangs off an apartment building staircase in southeast Portland, Ore., Dec. 9, 2021. Local housing authority Home Forward is opening the waitlist for rental assistance, which helps cover market rate rentals.
Sara Cline / AP
After two years of being closed, the waitlist to apply for Multnomah County’s low-income rental assistance program has reopened for a single week.
The federally-funded Housing Choice Voucher program, formerly known as Section 8, helps qualified low-income tenants pay rent in market-rate apartments.
Local public housing authority Home Forward manages a waitlist for these vouchers and applications for the 13 low-income apartment complexes overseen by Home Forward. These lists are rarely added to, due to the immense local demand for affordable housing and limited federal dollars. The last time Home Forward allowed new renters to apply was in 2023. Before that, it had been closed for seven years.
The demand is high. In the five hours since opening the waitlist on Tuesday, Home Forward has received nearly 7,000 applications. During 2023’s waitlist opening, Home Forward had received at least 1,000 fewer applications in the initial hours of opening the waitlist.
“We’re already seeing an uptick,” said Ian Davie, Home Forward’s Chief Operating Officer.
Home Forward will continue to accept applications until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 21. According to Davie, applicants will be added to the waitlist through a random lottery. The agency has space to add 3,000 new people before closing again.
Households that make less than 50% of the area median income are eligible to apply for these vouchers. For a family of four living in Multnomah County, that means earning around $5,170 per month.
Under the program, voucher recipients can choose to live in any kind of apartment complex – private or public – and are only expected to pay under 29% of their income toward total monthly rent. (For a family of four, that means not paying more than $1,499 per month). Home Forward covers the rest of the bill.
“These programs really provide peace of mind for families so they can stay housed while paying for other necessities, including food, medicine, childcare, and maintaining access to employment,” Davie said in a Tuesday news briefing.
Yet not everyone who gets onto the waitlist is guaranteed housing. Along with income verification, applicants will need to pass a criminal background and credit check. And there’s not always housing available. Many market-rate apartments in Portland remain out of reach to low-income tenants, even with a voucher. Average rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Portland is currently around $2,600, according to rental market website Zumper.com
“We know that once someone has a voucher, they still experience a lot of barriers,” said Jimmy Rattanasouk, interim director of the federal Housing Choice voucher program for Home Forward.
While voucher recipients are urged to use their voucher within 120 days, that’s not always realistic. Rattanasouk said people can request extensions and assistance from Home Forward to help address issues keeping them from finding a home.
“We’re going to work with them to be able to continue to utilize the vouchers, as long as it takes,” he said.
It can take up to three years for some applicants to get housing after getting on the waitlist. According to Rattanasouk, about 500 of the original 3,000 people who got on the waitlist in 2023 still haven’t used their voucher.
Home Forward receives federal funds through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – one of many federal departments threatened with layoffs and budget cuts under the Trump administration.
Yet, Davie said he’s not yet worried about these reductions impacting the voucher program. The latest congressional budget package included a rare funding increase for the program, and Davie said he’s received a letter from HUD Secretary Scott Turner explaining that the voucher program will remain a priority under this administration.
“These things tell us that there continues to be bipartisan support for these programs,” Davie said. “We still feel that we are on the right track.”
Renters can apply for a voucher or low-income apartment complex online, over the phone, or in person at events hosted by different libraries over the course of the week.
Applicants will learn whether or not they’ve been added to the waitlist by the fall.
