El Paso Opens Two-Year Waiting List for Rent Subsidies Through Federal Housing Choice Voucher Program; Internet Access Required to Apply
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Daniel Borunda
Source: “Housing Voucher List Starts Monday Online,” El Paso Times (TX)
Date: February 19, 2010
The El Paso Times reports: “A housing-voucher waiting list for thousands of low-income families will be opened Monday [Feb. 22nd] for the first time in almost three years. The list by the Housing Authority of El Paso is for the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly ‘Section 8.’ The program subsidizes rents for qualifying families in private rental homes and apartments. . . . This time . . . applications will be accepted only online at the Housing Authority's Web site, www.hacep.org, from next Monday [Feb. 22nd] through March 7. ‘We recognize there will be some who will not have immediate access to a computer,’ Griffith said. He said the agency has teamed with several organizations to help provide Internet access, including the El Paso Public Library, Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, the VOLAR Center for Independent Living, Advocacy Inc., and [LSC-funded] Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. The list is compiled on a first-come, first-served basis and has a wait of about two years. To qualify for vouchers, a family must earn less than 80 percent of the median income in El Paso, or less than $36,500 for a family of four.”