Voucher Payment Standards
Seattle Housing Authority's voucher payment standards set the maximum amount the agency will pay for tenants' rent and utilities. Voucher payment standards are not the maximum rent you can charge or the subsidy that tenants receive. Listed below are the agency's voucher payment standards as of July 1, 2011:
| Number of bedrooms | Voucher payment standard |
|---|---|
| Studio | $771 |
| 1 | $879 |
| 2 | $1,068 |
| 3 | $1,496 |
| 4 | $1,827 |
| 5 | $2,102 |
| 6 | $2,375 |
Starting July 1, 2011, these voucher payment standards were made effective for all new families receiving vouchers and all families that move with a voucher from one unit to another. Annual reviews effective September 1, 2011 and later, will include the new voucher payment standards.
In general, the amount of subsidy a household receives is equal to the payment standard, minus 30 percent of the tenant’s adjusted gross income. If the tenant’s rent and utilities exceed the voucher payment standards, they may pay the difference, as long as the total amount paid for rent and utilities does not exceed 40 percent of their monthly adjusted income during the first year.
Voucher payment standards are based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Fair Market Rent for the Seattle/Bellevue area, adjusted for the local Seattle market. Seattle Housing may set its payment standards between 90 percent and 120 percent of the Fair Market Rent.
Exceptions to voucher payment standards or program procedures may be made in some cases to accommodate a disability.
Voucher payment standards include an amount for utilities. The more utilities that are paid by the tenant, the less subsidy is available for rent.
Seattle Housing Authority establishes utility estimates for the cost of utilities not included in the rent. They are based on the typical cost of utilities and services paid by energy-conservative households that occupy housing of the same size and utility responsibility in the same locality. Estimates are not based on an individual family's actual energy consumption and do not include non-essential utility costs, such as telephone or cable. Other housing authorities may call this a utility allowance.
Additional utility estimate information is available in PDF format (download Adobe Reader):
- Utility Estimate Schedule (PDF, 151 KB)
