SEATTLE—June 12, 2006—After a brief open period of just under two weeks, Seattle Housing Authority's waiting list for the Housing Choice Voucher Program closed again on May 26. During that short period, 5,949 households turned in forms to request one of the 4,000 available spots.
Lisa Cipollone, SHA's director of housing advocacy and rental assistance, noted that the fact that sign-up forms exceeded available waiting list spaces by fifty percent is a testament to the need for affordable housing in the city.
"We are glad that we are able to extend vouchers to a new group of Seattle residents, but it is still unfortunate that we are unable to serve all who need this assistance," she said.
The program, one of the agency’s most popular, provides vouchers that allow low-income people to rent private housing anywhere in Seattle; SHA makes up the difference between the rent a landlord charges and what a household can reasonably pay. More than 7,000 households in Seattle are currently using such vouchers.
In July 2003, SHA closed an existing Section 8 waiting list because the wait-times were so long. (This was the first time in the history of the agency that the list was closed.) With only 500 or so families remaining on that 2003 waiting list, the opportunity can now be extended to new households.
In order to be fair to all applicants, SHA decided to create the new waiting list by lottery. Lottery sign-up forms were made available on the Seattle Housing Authority Web site, at public libraries and neighborhood and community centers, and in SHA offices and buildings across the city. SHA advertised the lottery in newspapers that reached the widest possible audience.
The next step, once data from all the forms has been entered into the computer, is to select, in random order, the 4,000 households that will comprise the new waiting list. Letters will be sent by July 1 to everybody who entered the lottery; those who are on the new waiting list will be told their position number (1 of 4,000; 2 of 4,000; etc.).
SHA will begin offering vouchers to those on the new waiting list as soon as all households on the old list have been served. For those fortunate few who drew low numbers, the wait will be measured in months, not years. For people who made the list but drew high numbers, the wait could be as long as three years, by which time SHA expects to start the process all over again with another lottery and another wait list.