The Syracuse Housing Authority is re-opening its Section 8 wait list starting next week for the first time in 10 years. Thousands of low-income residents who need help paying rent are expected to apply for the Housing Choice program in hopes of getting one of the vouchers.
SHA Section 8 supervisor La’Shonda Hamilton says recipients will be chosen by lottery, but some will be given preference.
"Families with children; families with disabilities; families that are experiencing domestic violence; or lead referral families. Those are families that are placed on our waiting list first."
Hamilton encourages families to look outside of high-crime and high-poverty areas when choosing their unit. SHA will conduct an inspection, and if it passes, residents will start receiving assistance. In the past, some landlords have denied Section 8 recipients, which Hamilton says is now prohibited by state law. She finds most landlords just aren’t familiar with the program
"They're skeptical about the program, not so much that they don't want to rent to the tenant. If they [tenants] pass their background checks, they're [landlords] are willing. What we're trying to do is do outreach to the landlords outside of the city so they understand the benefits of being a landlord with the Section 8 program."
Hamilton says they’re accepting 3,500 applications, which will then be placed on a waiting list.
"We can possiblly, hopefully get through the 3,500 within this list 3 to 4 years, possibly 5 years, based on the funding and also turnover rate. And then we'll do the same thing all over again."
This time around, the application for the wait list will be available online only from March 9th through the 15 at syracusehousing.org. Hamilton says that should reduce human error with paper applications and avoid long lines.
