If you go
What: Landlord Tenant FairWhen: 6-8 p.m. todayWhere: 811 N. Holtzclaw Ave.Why: The Chattanooga Housing Authority wants to connect landlords with Housing Choice Voucher Program participantsFor information: A listing of available rentals for Housing Choice Voucher participants is available at chahousing.org. Go to “Programs” at the top of the page. Then select “Housing Choice Voucher Program.” Scroll to “Click HERE for the currently available HCVP/Section 8 Property Listings.”
Thousands of people in Chattanooga desperately need housing. The Chattanooga Housing Authority and the Maclellan Foundation want to help them get it.
Just giving people Housing Choice vouchers doesn’t get the job done, officials said. Having the voucher means the federal government will pay a portion of the tenant’s rent. But more than half the people with vouchers in 2014 found no landlord willing to sign a lease agreement. And housing authority officials said they didn’t have staff to do more than they were doing to assist clients.
Then came the Maclellan Foundation with a $60,000 grant toward funding the position of housing navigator, a person who connects people in the Housing Choice Voucher Program with landlords willing to accept vouchers.
The housing authority named Theresa Biggs to the housing navigator position in September.