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Housing Choice Vouchers

Housing Choice Vouchers

The Housing Choice Voucher program (formerly Section 8), helps low-income families, individuals, seniors and people with disabilities pay their monthly rent in privately owned apartments or houses.

 

SHA provides assistance to rent with any eligible landlord in Seattle through its Housing Choice Voucher program.

Registration for the Housing Choice Voucher waitlist is currently closed.

Participants in the program receive a housing subsidy in the form of a voucher that they can use to rent a unit from any landlord in Seattle who meets the requirements.

Households in this program typically earn 50 percent or less of area median income (AMI) to qualify, and pay the portion of rent and utilities not covered by the voucher— typically 30 to 40 percent of monthly income.

Eligibility

Applicants need to meet several criteria to be eligible for assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program. Landlords and their rental units must also meet eligibility standards.

Waitlist

Registration to be placed on the Housing Choice Voucher waitlist is by a lottery process, which is only opened periodically. The last lottery was held February 6-24, 2017 and another one is not scheduled. It is anticipated to take several years before Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) issues vouchers to those on the 2017 lottery waitlist and opens another lottery. 

Book an appointment

Landlords who wish to meet with Housing Choice Voucher staff in person are strongly encouraged to book an appointment. SHA Housing Service Center hours are Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.  Services are also available by phone, email or online. If you have questions, please contact SHA's Owner Liaison at 206 239-1672 or landlordsupport@seattlehousing.org.

Renting with a voucher

See information about orientation, finding a rental, leasing, voucher payment standards, utility estimates, inspections and more.

Emergency Housing Voucher Information

The federal government under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 authorized special Emergency Housing Vouchers. The vouchers work mostly in the same way as regular housing vouchers except for some limitations.

Landlords

Over 1500 landlords partner with the Seattle Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program to provide homes to members of our community with low incomes.

Administrative plan and policies

Seattle Housing Authority currently has an Administrative Plan for its Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8). It explains the policies through which the agency administers the program. The plan has been approved by the Board of Commissioners.

Forms

Housing Choice Voucher forms that can be completed online or downloaded, printed, and returned.

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Voucher programs include Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) which provides a subsidy and supportive services to U.S. veterans and the Family Unification Program which assists families facing separation or youth aging out of foster care. 

If you are Porting in from a Housing Authority that is part of the Declared Major Disaster areas please contact the Portgroup@seattlehousing.org with your information and questions. HUD encourages you to register for FEMA assistance if you have not done so already, for more information go to disasterassistance.gov.

Seattle Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher program will, upon request, provide reasonable accommodation to help ensure that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability is excluded from participating in, or denied the benefit of, any agency program.