BY THE NUMBERS* 4,200 — People on the waiting list in January for Housing Choice Voucher program* 2,700 — People eliminated from the list because they failed the background check or didn’t respond to information request* 600 — Vouchers issued to residents within the past six months* 600 — Vouchers expected to be issued by this fallWHAT’S NEXTThe Chattanooga Housing Authority will host its next board meeting at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at 801 N. Holtzclaw Ave.
The Chattanooga Housing Authority expects to open its Housing Choice Voucher waiting list in November.
“If I could go down and apply today I would,” said 26-year-old Monique Houston, a Walgreens cashier who is eight months’ pregnant with twins.
Ms. Houston is one of hundreds of low- to moderate-income residents who want to be in the Housing Choice Voucher program. Residents who would qualify haven’t been able to apply because housing officials closed the waiting list in 2008, saying there were too many people already on it.
With all but about 200 of those people either off the list or expected to fall off, the housing authority will allow new applicants to the voucher program formerly known as Section 8.
“I’m happy to be at this point,” said CHA board chairman Eddie Holmes. “Considering the position that the housing authority has been in, to get back in the position to provide housing is a great plus.”
It was just two years ago when the Chattanooga Housing Authority announced a $4.5 million budget shortfall. It was also in 2008 when the housing authority laid off about one-third of its staff and closed its Housing Choice waiting list with more than 4,200 people needing housing.
After failing background checks and by not responding to housing authority requests for information, about 2,700 people fell off the list in the past few months. Of the 1,500 remaining, about 600 received housing vouchers in May and June and the housing authority expects to issue another 600 vouchers this fall.
That leaves about 300 people on the waiting list, and CHA officials anticipate about 100 of those will be knocked off for not responding to requests or failing background checks.
CHA Executive Director Betsy McCright said she met people this month who had been waiting five years for housing. She met them during a housing blitz in which the authority gave vouchers to nearly 400 people.
“It was great to be able to work with them and touch them and know that we’re finally getting to them after this long wait,” she said.
Some who came in were so physically disabled they couldn’t fill out the applications, Ms. McCright said. Some applicants couldn’t see, she said, while others couldn’t write. CHA staff members gathered their information and filled in applications for them, she said.
“Every moment of every day for that week I worked with those folks and was so moved by how desperately they needed it,” she said.
CHA started moving people off its waiting list earlier this year after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development increased its funding through its Housing Choice Voucher program. HUD has been giving CHA an additional $200,000 a month for the past six months.