How to Apply for Utah Section 8

Utah Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program helps low-income families in Utah find affordable housing in public housing market. The program provides rental assistance to the eligible families. This assistance is paid directly to the landlord after the program participant has signed a contract with the landlord.

Utah Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is funded by U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The program is administered throughout the state by different local Public Housing Agencies (PHAs). These PHAs maintain a waiting list where they add eligible applicants after determining their eligibility. Due to many individuals and families requiring rental assistance in Utah, each PHA has a long waiting list. Applicants are encouraged to apply with as many PHAs as many they can to receive the assistance at the earliest.

When an applicant is approved for Utah Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, he/she will receive a voucher that can be used for a housing anywhere in the state. The participant will be free to choose a residence that meets family requirements. After a participant has chosen a housing, a PHA representative will visit and inspect to ensure that it meets HUD’s quality and safety standards. To make things easy, you can simply visit the property listing (http://www.hacsl.org/rental-assistance/section-8/go-section-8) for Section 8 in Utah and find a housing that has been pre-approved for housing choice vouchers.

Utah Section 8 participants will sign a contract of lease with the landlord to become a tenant for the property. The PHA will also sign a contract with the landlord so that it can send rental subsidy directly to the landlord. Program participants will usually pay up to 30% of the total rent while rest of it will be paid by the PHA.

When a Section 8 participant enters into contract on tenancy with a landlord using housing choice voucher, it creates certain rights and duties for both the parties. Being a Section 8 tenant doesn’t mean that participants have any additional rights. They can be ejected from the house for any reason that would amount to such ejection for regular tenants.

Utah Section 8 voucher program offers two different types of rental subsidy, tenant-based and project based. Project-based tenants have to live in Section 8 subsidized building whereas tenant-based voucher holders are free to find a housing in the public housing market. Moreover, tenant-based participants can move from one house to another without losing their voucher whereas the project-based tenants will lose their voucher if they move from subsidized housing.

Who can Qualify for Section 8?

To receive rental assistance through Utah Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, you’ll need to meet the following eligibility criteria.

Income requirements

Applicants will need to meet income requirements set for the program in order to receive housing choice voucher. These vouchers are only available to households with annual gross income below 50% of the median income level. However, 75% of the vouchers are provided only to households with income below 30% of the median income level.

Citizenship

The program is available only for U.S citizens and legal aliens who have the required documents. The vouchers will also be given to families where one person is a U.S citizen or a qualified alien.

Family

Utah Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program is available only to those who fall within the definition of family as defined by the PHA. You can find the definition here (http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=DOC_11749.pdf).

Background check

Your local PHA will run a background check before adding you to the waiting list for Utah Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. If you’ve been evicted from a public housing on a previous occasion due to drug-related criminal activity, you won’t quality for the Section 8 assistance. To put simply, PHA will make sure that you can turn out to be a responsible tenant before putting you on the waiting list.

How to Apply

Follow these simple steps to apply for Utah Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.

Step 1: Locate PHA office in your area. Use this link (http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/pha/contacts/states/ut.cfm) to find out phone number and address of PHA offices in Utah.

Step 2: Call or visit PHA office and fill out the preliminary application. You can also fill this application online (http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/pha/contacts/states/ut.cfm).

Step 3: Once you submit the preliminary application, a PHA representative will determine your eligibility for the program. If you meet all the eligibility requirements, you’ll be put on the waiting list for Section 8 rental assistance.