Mayor Adams Announces First Section 8 Housing Applications in 15 Years

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday that the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) will begin accepting applications for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, reopening a waitlist that has been closed to general applications for nearly 15 years. 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 December 10, 2009 — between midnight on Monday, June 3 and 11:59 PM on Sunday, June 9, 2024.

“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,”  Adams said in a statement. “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.”

NYCHA 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 with OpportunityNYCHA. Since the waitlist last closed 15 years ago, NYCHA has worked tirelessly to serve those on the waitlist. Last year, NYCHA issued 7,538 vouchers and worked to reduce the eligible pool over time.

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 waitlist is expected to be established by August 1, 2024. Once the application period has closed, a total of 200,000 applications will be randomly selected by lottery to join the waitlist, ensuring that all households have equal opportunity to be chosen regardless of when their applications were received. Once the waitlist is established, applicants will be notified and will have the ability to check the status of their application by logging into NYCHA’s website.