CHA hopes funding follows new vouchers

Carolyn Fifer has had enough of public housing.

"I'm ready to get out of the projects," the 33-year-old single mother said. "There's so much drama. Fussing, fighting shooting. There's a lot going on in College Hill Courts."

Fifer is getting her chance as one of 200 winners in Chattanooga Housing Authority's lottery drawing for housing vouchers, formerly known as Section 8. Recipients of the voucher get government assistance to pay for a market-rate single-family home or apartment.

All 200 winners -- pulled from 5,300 applications -- showed up at the housing agency Tuesday to verify their applications. Once they pass background and income verification checks, CHA officials said, the recipients likely will get their vouchers within the next two months and help the housing authority reach its goal of issuing 3,140 vouchers.

It will be the first time in a decade that CHA issued all of its housing vouchers.

The ac-complishment means the housing agency increases the number of people receiving affordable housing and positions itself to receive maximum funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"It means we will be able to get the maximum administrative dollars to run the program, so it could mean more staff, which would be wonderful," said Tammie Reeves, CHA's Housing Choice Voucher Program director.

She said HUD gives CHA about $55 per voucher to pay for staffing needs and administrative cost. For at least the past two years, CHA only had funds to pay rent on 2,600 vouchers, Reeves said.

The Housing Choice Voucher Program has 13 full-time workers and uses part-time and temporary workers and a couple of grant-funded positions to compensate for the additional employees it needs, she said. The problem is that part-time temporary staff may not be as familiar with the program and may need more training, she said.

The lack of funding also affected CHA residents.

The waiting list for the Housing Choice Voucher program -- a list with more than 4,000 names -- has been closed for two years.

In January, however, HUD started giving the housing authority $200,000 more per month for its voucher program, enabling CHA to increase the vouchers issued from 2,600 to 3,140.

Over the past few months, CHA processed all the people on the waiting list who responded to an information request.

In a lottery drawing on Oct. 29, the agency randomly selected 200 people to receive the vouchers.

Fifer said her goal is to get a house near Ohls Avenue where she grew up. Although she must pass the background and income checks and bring in more paperwork before she can receive her voucher, she is confident she will get it.

"I have no record. I've never been locked up and I get [Supplemental Security Income], so I've got to be within income."