Section 8 Housing Eligibility Guidelines in Illinois

Throughout most of the United States, a gap exists between a city's fair market rent and what low-income families can afford to pay for housing. In Illinois, for example, a household needs to earn $36,273 a year to afford the $907 rent on a typical two-bedroom apartment, according to 2010 data analyzed by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). Public housing agencies across Illinois use income as the main qualifier for HUD's Section 8 program.

Function

The Section 8, or Housing Choice Voucher, program directly addresses the discrepancy between low income and market rate housing costs. Local public housing agencies use HUD-supplied rent subsidies to cover the portion of a low-income family's private market rent that exceeds, in most cases, 30 percent of their income. As NLIHC notes, housing experts deem housing unaffordable if the cost of rent and utilities is greater than 30 percent of a household's income.

Eligibility

HUD uses the same general eligibility guidelines for the Section 8 program in all 50 states. As HUD's Housing Choice Voucher fact sheet details, applicants must be U.S. Citizens or hold an "eligible immigration status," such as resident alien. HUD limits applications to families whose earnings are at or below 50 percent of their area's median income. Federal law requires local housing authorities to supply 75 percent of their Section 8 subsidies to renter households at or below 30 percent of their area's median.

Geography

HUD publishes annual location-specific income figures that local housing authorities use to determine Section 8 eligibility. A three-person household in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Illinois, and metropolitan area must make $33,800 or less to qualify for a Section 8 voucher, as of 2010. In the Champaign-Urbana metro area, that number drops to $29,250 for a family of three, while it raises to $39,500 in Kendall County, Illinois, an affluent suburb west of Chicago.

Process

When a household applies for the Section 8 program, its local housing authority generally pre-screens the family for eligibility. If they meet program requirements, they usually end up on a waiting list due to the high demand for Section 8 housing across the country. When a family's name comes up on the waiting list, the housing authority confirms eligibility. The family then seeks housing with landlords who accept Section 8 tenants. When they agree to rent a unit, the housing authority inspects the dwelling to ensure it meets HUD's Housing Quality Standards. If the unit passes the inspection, the landlord and tenant enter a one-year lease agreement, governed by the same terms as a lease signed with a market rate renter. The only difference is HUD pays the share of the tenant's monthly rent that exceeds 30 to 40 percent of the family income directly to the landlord.

Considerations

In some cities, families have to wait for an opportunity to get on their housing authority's Section 8 waiting list. As of October 2010, housing authorities in Springfield, Peoria and Chicago, Illinois, had closed Section 8 wait lists. At that time in Springfield, the Housing Authority was processing applications of families who applied between August 2008 and March 2009. The Chicago Housing Authority uses a random lottery system to select Section 8 tenants. As of October 2010, the authority advised that if a household did not gain a spot in the lottery the last time it opened in early 2008, it is ineligible for Section 8 housing in the city.

References

• HUD: Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet
• HUD: 2010 Income Limits, Illinois
• Springfield Housing Authority: Section 8 Waiting List Information
• The Chicago Housing Authority: About the Housing Choice Voucher Program
• Peoria Housing Authority: Section 8 Program
• National Low Income Housing Coalition: Out of Reach, 2010, Illinois

Resources

• HUD: PHA Contact Information, Illinois
• Go Section 8: Find Listings