Waiting List
Registration for the waiting list is closed at this time. The Housing and Neighborhood Services waiting list public notice (PDF) has the details.
HCV Rent Calculator
Use the preliminary rent calculator to see whether a unit you are considering is likely to be affordable for your household, based on your income and family makeup. If rent plus utilities for that unit would take more than 40% of your adjusted monthly income, the unit would not qualify.
The calculator gives an estimate only; your actual rent is set when your file is approved.
About Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)
In Fredville, the Housing Choice Voucher Program is run by the Housing Services Division of the City of Fredville's Housing and Neighborhood Services department, which also serves as the Fredville Housing Authority. The division operates the program with funding from HUD, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A family that receives a voucher chooses its own rental home and is responsible for finding a suitable unit. That can even be the home the family already lives in.
Every unit has to satisfy the basic health and safety standards set by Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services.
The department sends a rental subsidy straight to the landlord for the participating family, and the family covers the gap between the landlord's rent and the subsidy amount.
Am I Eligible?
Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services decides eligibility using the household's size and its total gross income for the year.
Vouchers are available only to U.S. citizens and to non-citizens in certain categories with eligible immigration status.
As a rule, household income can be no higher than 50% of the median income in the county where the family plans to live. HUD publishes those median income figures, and they differ from place to place. To learn which areas the Housing Services Division covers, see Housing List and Boundaries.
When you apply, the department gathers details about your household's income, assets and members. Staff confirm that information with outside sources, such as employers and banks, and use it to decide whether you qualify and how much rental assistance you would receive.
How Do I Apply?
Applications were accepted online only, beginning in May 2023.
Note: the list has reached capacity, and registration is now closed.
Contact Housing and Neighborhood Services if you have questions.
How Do Federal Preferences and the Waiting List Affect Me?
More families need housing help than HUD and local housing agencies can serve, so long waits are normal. A housing authority may even close its list when it already holds more families than it expects to assist anytime soon.
Under its Housing Choice Voucher administrative plan, the Fredville Housing Services office does not use federal preferences. Applicants are not moved ahead on the list because they fall into a preference group, such as people who are homeless, elderly or living with a disability.
How Do Rental Vouchers Work?
The voucher program lets each family decide where it wants to live. A very low-income family chosen by Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services should look at several options to find the rental home that best fits its needs.
Before the department can approve any payment to a landlord, the unit must meet acceptable health and safety standards. Once a voucher holder picks a unit and agrees on lease terms with the landlord, the department inspects the home and reviews the lease for approval. Each voucher holder is also told which unit size the household qualifies for, based on how many people live in it and who they are, along with the rent levels that apply.
The department sets a payment standard, which is used to figure how much rental assistance a family gets. The payment standard does not limit what a landlord can charge or what a family can pay. A voucher family may pick a unit that rents for more or less than the payment standard. If the rent is above the standard, the family will spend more than 30% of its adjusted gross monthly income on rent and utilities; if the rent is below it, the family will spend less than 30%.
How Do Rent Subsidies Work?
A voucher family is free to choose a unit priced above the payment standard, so its share of rent may end up higher or lower than 30% of its adjusted gross monthly income.
Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services pays rental assistance up to a maximum, which equals the payment standard minus 30% of the family's adjusted gross monthly income. The assistance the department pays moves with the payment standard, while the tenant's share moves with the actual rent.
So a family that rents below the payment standard pays under 30% of its adjusted gross monthly income toward rent, and a family that rents above it pays over 30%. A family's share also shifts when its income or household situation changes. A new voucher holder cannot pay more than 40% of income toward rent.
Can I Move and Keep My Voucher?
Families' needs change as households grow or shrink, jobs relocate and life happens. The voucher program is built so a family can move without losing its rental assistance.
A family may move if it:
- tells Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services in advance,
- ends its current lease according to the lease terms, and
- locates another acceptable home.
A new voucher holder can rent anywhere in the country if the family was living within the issuing housing authority's jurisdiction at the time it applied. The jurisdictional boundaries page shows Fredville's service area.
A new voucher holder who lived outside that jurisdiction when applying must first rent a unit inside it for the first 12 months of assistance. To move into a different housing authority's area, check with the housing authority now handling your assistance about its moving procedures.
Who Does What: Tenant, Housing Agency and HUD
After Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services approves a qualified family's unit and lease, the family and landlord sign the lease. The landlord and the department also sign a housing assistance contract that lasts as long as the lease. From then on, the tenant, the landlord and the department each have duties under the program.
The Tenant
Once the department signs off on the home the family picked and on the lease terms, the household enters into a lease of at least one year with the landlord and may need to pay a security deposit. When the first year ends, the landlord can offer a new lease or let the family stay month to month. After moving in, the family must follow the lease and program rules, including:
- paying its portion of the rent on time,
- keeping the home in good shape, and
- reporting any change in income or household members to Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services.
The Landlord
Landlords in the program provide housing that is decent, safe and sanitary at a reasonable rent. The unit must pass program housing standards and stay up to those standards for as long as the owner receives assistance payments. Landlords also must deliver the services promised in the tenant's lease and in their contract with Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services.
Housing Authority Duties
Fredville Housing and Neighborhood Services serves as the local housing authority and runs the voucher program. It gives families the rental assistance that lets them look for suitable housing, and it contracts with landlords to make assistance payments for those families.
The department may stop assistance payments to a landlord who does not meet the obligations in the lease.
HUD
HUD funds the program so housing authorities can make assistance payments for families, and it pays housing authorities an administrative fee for running the program. When more money becomes available to serve additional families, HUD asks housing authorities to apply for new vouchers, reviews the applications and awards the funds competitively.
Fredville is a demonstration city built by Talk to Fred. Names, numbers and details on this page are sample content.