Housing Choice Voucher
The Housing Choice Voucher lottery is now Closed.
Selected and approved families will need to meet the following basic program requirement to include but is not limited to:
- Meet HUD basic eligibility requirements: not a registered sex offender and/or not convicted of methamphetamine manufacture or production on public housing premises.
- Have not been evicted from federally assisted housing for drug-related criminal activity in the past 3 years.
- Have not been evicted from federally assisted housing within the past 5 years.
- Does not owe monies to any subsidized housing programs.
- Cannot exceed income guidelines.
ATTENTION PLEASE! NEVER pay money to apply for housing!
If anyone asks you for money to put in an application for a Denver Housing Authority/HUD housing voucher, they are attempting to commit fraud. DO NOT give them money to receive an application.
If your lottery number is selected, the Denver Housing Authority will send you an application.
Income Limits for 50% AMI as of 5/15/2023
| 1 Person | 2 Person | 3 Person | 4 Person | 5 Person | 6 Person | 7 Person | 8 Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
$43,450 |
$49,650 |
$55,850 |
$62,050 |
$67,050 |
$72,000 |
$76,950 |
$81,950 |
FAQs
“Housing Choice Voucher” formerly known as Section 8, is a housing subsidy program that is funded by the federal government to assist very low to low-income families live within the community. The subsidy pays a portion of the owners rent to make housing affordable.
a) Those 18 years of age or older.
b) U.S. citizens or eligible.
c) See income limits.
The DHA HCV program doesn’t have a traditional waiting list. DHA holds an online interest lottery registration once a year. (Entries do not carry over from year to year; persons must re-register each year.) Once selected from the interest lottery persons are mailed an HCV housing application to complete and return with verification documents. This begins the application process.
You will need general information regarding the person who is registering: Name, social security number, date of birth, family size, income range and mailing address and a few other general questions.
The process takes less than 10 minutes.
Be sure to enter your Social Security number correctly, you will need your Social Security to check your lottery status later. Also print your confirmation page or make note of your lottery number.
NO – submitting more than one entry per household will disqualify all entries.
After the registration period ends, the entries are reviewed for duplicates and errors. Throughout the following year, as funds are available, DHA will randomly select lottery numbers via a computerized random selection process. Selected households will be mailed a full application to complete and submit with requested documentation (income, identity and citizenship status etc.).
Lottery registration does not guarantee that your number will be drawn. The amount of lottery numbers drawn depends on available funding.
You can use the address of a friend, relative, case worker, or even a shelter – the registration form has a place for you to check off whether the address belongs to you or to someone else. However, if you are using the address of a person who is currently receiving housing subsidy, please obtain the necessary permission before using that address.
If your contact information changes after registration, you will need to inform DHA.
Send a letter to “Denver Housing Authority, Attn: Housing Choice Voucher Lottery, 1401 Mariposa St., Denver, CO 80204” – letter should include new contact information, lottery number (if known), and last 4 digits of SSN.
Lottery numbers are drawn as funds are available, so, there are no specific dates.
Our Voucher Payment Standards (VPS) and Utility Allowances (UA) are listed here. The VPS and UA are only part of the formula used to determine if a unit is affordable for your household – it also depends on the gross monthly income of your household. If you receive a voucher, you will also receive a paper that shows your Estimated Contract Rent. That is an estimate of the highest rent DHA can approve if you rent a unit with the number of bedrooms you qualify for. You will get more information about this at your orientation.
It’s important to keep your mailing address updated with DHA. If an application is mailed to you, you have a limited time to respond.
Send a letter to “Denver Housing Authority, Attn: Housing Choice Voucher Lottery, 1401 Mariposa St., Denver, CO 80204” – letter should include new contact information, lottery number (if known), and last 4 digits of SSN.
How to Apply?
The Housing Choice Voucher program at the Denver Housing Authority is a lottery-based application process. The dates of the lottery change yearly; however, these dates are announced in all local papers under the public notice section, the DHA phone system as well as our website. Once annually the Denver Housing Authority holds an online lottery process on our website for interested applicants, 18 years of age and older.
Entries are submitted within the time frame allotted through the online process and transferred to DHA’s computer system. Throughout the year, random drawings are held. If an applicant’s number is selected, he/she will be notified through the mail within 120 days after the date of the drawing. Lottery ticket numbers are valid for the entire year and expire on December 31 of each year. Interested parties are encouraged to re-apply every year since numbers from the previous year are null and void as of December 31 of that same year.
Check your Lottery Status
Please note that information for the lottery held in September 2023 is expected to be available in December 2023.
I was selected, now what?
When an applicant’s lottery number is selected through a random drawing, they are contacted within 120 days of the date of the drawing by mail. The letter mailed out by the Occupancy Department informs the applicant of the next several steps to the Housing Choice Voucher application.
This includes:
- Picking up an application.
- Turning in the completed application with all required documentation at a specified time during normal working hours.
- The application and documents will be reviewed by Occupancy staff and if all requested information is complete and has been provided, a final application interview will be scheduled which will determine eligibility.
At the interview, applicants will sign a computer-generated application and paperwork required to process their HCV application. Once all information is verified, the applicant will be notified through the mail of the status of their application. If the applicant is approved, it is anticipated they will wait 30-60 days to be contacted by the Housing Choice Voucher Department to receive a housing voucher and go through an orientation to show the applicant how to rent a unit under the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
Available Units
Locating a Rental Unit & Listing a Property is Easy
The Denver Housing Authority Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) department has partnered with affordable Housing an online rental search service.
https://www.affordablehousing.com
This will be a valuable tool for HCV participants that are seeking to lease a unit in the private market!
For questions regarding registering or viewing property listings, please contact Affordable Housing tool free help line at 1-866-466-7328.
Landlords: The new link for adding properties is below:
https://www.affordablehousing.com/list-your-property/
Landlords don’t forget to add photos! It is recommended that photos are added to listings for better advertising and faster leasing.
Tenants/Participants the new link to view rental listings is:
https://www.affordablehousing.com
For more information about the HCV program, contact us at 720-932-3023. Landlord sessions are available based on interest.
Learn more about HCV Voucher programs available
Lease Process General Information
The family will contact the prospective landlord. The landlord screens the family, conducts reference and background checks, and determines whether the family is suitable to rent their unit.
When the landlord agrees to rent the unit to the family and the family accepts, the landlord and the family need to fully complete and submit the Request for Tenancy Approval and other pertinent documents to DHA to start the leasing process. DHA determines if the family is income-eligible for the unit; the payment standard and utilities are taken into consideration in determining the family’s rental portion and gross rent. If the family is income-eligible for the unit, the leasing documents are prepared and forwarded to the Inspections Department. If not, the landlord and family are notified, and the family will need to find another unit.
The Inspections Department will contact the landlord to set-up the initial inspection. It is the landlord’s responsibility to contact the family and inform them of the initial inspection date and time. HUD requires that the unit meet certain Housing Quality Standards (“HQS”) and it also must pass rent reasonableness. If both of these criteria are met, then DHA obtains signatures from the landlord and the family. The leases and contracts will be executed and the Housing Assistance Payments (“HAP”) will begin providing:
- The unit passes HQS Inspection
- The unit meets rent reasonableness
- The landlord and family must both sign leases and the landlord signs the HAP Contract
- The first HAP check is normally issued in 30 to 60 days after the effective date of the HAP Contract
- After the first HAP check is cut, payments will be mailed on or before the 1st of each month
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