New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday, May 20, that after being closed for nearly 15 years, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) will begin accepting applications for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, reopening a wait list that has been closed to general applications for nearly 15 years.

 

“After 15 years, we are reopening NYCHA’s doors to hundreds of thousands of new Section 8 applicants and helping more New Yorkers find the housing they need,” said Adams. “Addressing our city’s housing crisis means using every tool our city has, and that’s exactly what we are doing. From advancing 24 housing projects on public land this year through our ’24 in 24′ plan, to fighting for our ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ proposal to build a little more housing in every neighborhood, we are committed to helping every New Yorker find and stay in their home.”

 

Section 8 HCV is a federally funded program administrated by NYCHA that provides rental subsidies for eligible low-income families to rent housing in the private market. Interested households may apply to the Section 8 HCV waitlist, which has been closed since Dec. 10, 2009, between midnight on Monday, June 3, and 11.59 p.m. on Sunday, June 9.

 

“Reopening the Section 8 wait list is a milestone in our ongoing efforts to address our housing crisis,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. “Making this critical subsidy available to more New Yorkers for the first time in 15 years exemplifies NYCHA’s commitment to improving the lives of tenants, fulfills one of the Mayor Adams’ 2024 State of the City priorities, and advances our administration’s larger efforts to empower working-class New Yorkers.”

 

The Adams administration said the announcement delivers on another key commitment made by the mayor during his 2024 State of the City address to reopen Section 8 HCV applications this year. They said it helps the City take another step closer to reaching the moonshot goal of creating 500,000 new homes by 2032.

 

New Yorkers can learn more about Section 8 eligibility on NYCHA’s website and can apply to join the waitlist online on June 3 at on.nyc.gov/section8-application.

 

“As the largest landlord in New York City, NYCHA understands firsthand the importance of affordable housing for New Yorkers and the need to use every available tool to connect more families with a safe place to call home,” said NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt. “We are proud to administer the most expansive Section 8 program in the nation and look forward to reopening the waitlist for this critical rental subsidy.”

 

According to NYCHA officials, the agency administers the largest Section 8 HCV program in the country, currently providing rental subsidies to 241,117 residents to rent apartments in the private market, while facilitating access to social services through a variety of programs through the Opportunity NYCHA program. Since the wait list last closed 15 years ago, NYCHA officials said they have worked tirelessly to serve those on the list. Last year, NYCHA issued 7,538 vouchers and worked to reduce the eligible pool over time, they said.

 

NYCHA officials went on to say that households that receive a voucher will be able to search for housing within a neighborhood of their choice. As part of the program, qualifying households must have a gross income of 50 percent or below the area median income and generally pay 30 percent of their adjusted monthly income toward rent, with the subsidy, in most cases, covering the remaining portion.

 

Following the upcoming application period, a new wait list is expected to be established by Aug. 1, NYCHA officials said, adding that once the application period has closed, a total of 200,000 applications will be randomly selected by lottery to join the list, ensuring that all households have equal opportunity to be chosen regardless of when their applications were received. They said that once the wait list is established, applicants will be notified and will have the ability to check the status of their application by logging into NYCHA’s Self Service Portal.

 

As reported, last February, in the largest number of federal bribery charges brought on a single day in the U.S. Department of Justice history, 70 current and former employees of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), including eight from The Bronx, were charged with allegedly accepting cash payments from contractors in exchange for awarding NYCHA contracts at various NYCHA locations across the City.