CRESTVIEW — Suspension of the Section 8 waiting list has removed one of the few means for affordable housing in the Crestview area.
Section 8 is a federally funded program that grants qualifying applicants a voucher to apply toward housing costs. A Crestview Housing Authority representative told the News Bulletin last week a March waiting list opening was canceled amid uncertainty of federal funding changes.
Without Section 8, qualifiers have few housing alternatives.
‘HABITAT’ OR PUBLIC HOUSING
Michelle Cook was faced with choosing an alternative several years ago after spending many years on the Section 8 waitlist. She said she received little help from the housing authority during that process.
“I started researching low-income housing online,” Cook said, adding she learned about a homebuyer’s program through Habitat for Humanity.
“Being on Section 8 or a public housing program is one way to show need for qualification,” Melissa Forte, Habitat for Humanity of Okaloosa County’s community outreach director, said.
Habitat’s homeownership program allows families or individuals to purchase a house after meeting several criteria.
One such requirement is a “need for housing.” Receiving assistance from public housing or Section 8 is one way to satisfy that need.
For those affected by the Section 8 reduction, other parameters still qualify an applicant for a Habitat home.
Habitat applicants must prove a stable income of at least one year, pay a $500 application fee, owe less than half their income to bills, be bankruptcy-free for the past three years and have an “acceptable” credit payment history.
Applicants must also complete 300 “sweat hours” with the organization. These community service-based hours can be completed through financial management classes or service in building homes.
A second option is public housing. This refers to a neighborhood or complex that is income-controlled and subsidized to an affordable rate for all of its residents.
Renters must live within one of the offering communities, contrasted with Section 8, which allows people to rent at any location that accepts the voucher.
Such limited options weren’t enough for Cook, who expressed concerns about the local housing system.
“Okaloosa [County] doesn’t care,” Cook said. “You have to fight for everything and beg for everything and that’s sad.”
‘NO SOUND ALTERNATIVE’
David Layfield, who has decades of public-housing experience, is the founder and CEO of Affordable Housing Online, a website that serves as a national database and support tool for public housing and Section 8 information.
Layfield believes the suspension of funds is not as common as CHA suggests.
“We’ve tracked about 1,300 waitlist openings the last two years and I’ve never seen one close like this,” Layfield said.
Occasionally, housing authorities will close waitlists if they exceed more than two years’ worth of applicants, but this is the first case he’s seen in recent memory that a publically announced opening was canceled before it began.
Budgets for the March period, when the CHA waitlist was intended to open, have already been dictated at the federal level, according to Layfield.
Additionally, Ben Carson — President Donald Trump’s nominee for the head of the Housing and Urban Development Department — hasn’t been sworn into office yet.
Layfield said there has been some concern among experts that funding for HUD initiatives will decrease, but as of now, no such decisions have been made.
The CHA didn’t respond for comment after multiple phone calls and emails about the matter.
“There is no sound alternative,” Layfield said, regarding what people denied Section 8 could do. “Unless they want to move from the area.”
The public housing option is a weak substitute for Section 8, according to Layfield. Escaping public housing complexes can be difficult since those individuals are limited to only a handful of living options, he added.
What does Cook think?
“It’s only going to get worse before it gets better,” she said. “People should write their congressmen and tell them we need more low-income housing.”
THE ISSUE: The Crestview Housing Authority's Section 8 waitlist, scheduled to open in March, has been canceled
LOCAL IMPACT: Residents with lower income have scarce options for housing, with rare Habitat for Humanity selection as the only possibility for some residents.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: WHEN SECTION 8 CLOSES