Response to lottery for
waitlist overwhelming
More than 12,000 seek
a spot on the Section 8 waiting list
SEATTLE—May 1, 2008—Seattle
Housing Authority has created a new waiting list of 4,000 households
for its Housing Choice Voucher program (Section 8). Those 4,000 were
selected at random from nearly 12,400 households that entered a
lottery for waiting list positions conducted in March and April.
“We expect those 4,000 households to meet our
needs for at least two years,” said Barbara Strayer, manager of the
Section 8 program. “We received just shy of 12,400 correctly
postmarked sign-up forms – well over twice the number we received
when we opened the waiting list two years ago.” That list, which was
also of 4,000 households, lasted nearly two years.
To get out the word, SHA advertised the lottery
in newspapers all across the city and on Craigslist, the online
classified ad service, and sent public service announcements to
radio and television stations. Thanks to the participation of the
Seattle Public Library, City of Seattle Parks & Recreation, Seattle
Neighborhood Centers, the Department of Social and Health Services
and many nonprofit agencies, sign-up forms were made available all
across the city. The form was also made available on the Seattle
Housing Authority website,
www.seattlehousing.org. Forms were available in large type
format and, thanks to the Lighthouse for the Blind, in Braille.
People had until midnight Tuesday, April 8, to
mail in the sign-up forms. Forms postmarked after April 8 were not
entered into the lottery.
SHA mailed acknowledgments to everybody who sent
in a sign-up form on time. People who were selected for a place on
the new waiting list were told their position on the list.
Separately, the 600 households that drew the lowest numbers –
households holding positions from 1 to 600 – were invited to apply
for vouchers immediately.
Up-to-date
information about the progress of the waiting list is available
on the agency’s website, www.seattlehousing.org, and by calling the
Section 8 waiting list telephone hotline, 206-239-1674.
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