Thousands ask for housing assistance

The Metropolitan Housing and Redevelopment Authority (Metro HRA) fielded thousands of phone calls in May, having opened its Section 8 and public housing waiting lists for the first time in 5 years.

Metro HRA administers about 6,000 rent subsidy vouchers, totaling $43 million a year in federal funds, to very-low-income households in 100 metro-area communities. Metro HRA also owns and manages 150 public housing units in 13 communities.

The HRA took a total of 15,000 requests through telephone calls, emails and faxes on the first four Tuesdays in May. Because requests were often made on behalf of multiple households, for both the Section 8 and Family Affordable Housing Programs, the HRA subsequently sent out 25,000 applications.

The HRA maintains a waiting list to speed up the process as vouchers become available at a turnover rate of about 75 a month, and to refill the public housing units when a family leaves. When the waiting list dropped below 1,000, Metro HRA opened it up on May 1 and closed it again on May 22. HRA will add 5,000 names, drawn randomly, to the Section 8 wait list, and 1,000 names to the public housing list.

Metro HRA employees answered thousands of phone calls on four Tuesdays in May.

Getting on the waiting list is a step forward for very-low-income households. But according to HRA Manager Beth Reetz, applicants could wait several years before actually receiving a voucher.

Metro HRA — a division of the Metropolitan Council — administers the federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in metro-area communities that don’t have their own public housing agency. Its jurisdiction includes all of Ramsey County, except St. Paul, all of Anoka and Carver Counties, and all of Hennepin County except Minneapolis, Bloomington, Richfield, St. Louis Park and Plymouth.

Housing is considered affordable when a family pays no more than 30 percent of its monthly income for housing.