Brief Window Opens for Section 8 Vouchers in SF

The wait list for federal rental assistance in San Francisco has opened up for the first time in a decade and 60,000 would-be renters are expected to line up for 6,500 spots.

More than 40,000 people have already applied for the Section 8 vouchers, with tens of thousands more expected to add their names to the list before the window closes on Nov. 6, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing the San Francisco Housing Authority.

Of the 11 percent of applicants expected to make the wait list, it could take years to land an affordable home.

A thousand units are now available, and it’ll likely be two more years until all 6,500 wait-listed applicants get their turn, a Housing Authority spokesperson said.

The Section 8 vouchers allow low-income residents to rent an apartment from participating landlords and get their rents partially paid for by Uncle Sam. The amount of Section 8 money pouring into San Francisco was not disclosed.

The wait list opened Oct. 23 and closes at 5 p.m. on Nov. 6. To qualify for a voucher, a family’s earnings may not exceed 50 percent of the area median income.

It was 10 years ago that San Francisco’s wait list opened, because “we get so many applicants,” the spokesperson said. “We don’t want to keep opening a wait list and then just adding to it. You have to be able to issue the vouchers.”

Apartment construction in San Francisco and the Bay Area has constricted because of higher interest rates, construction costs and red tape, with developers saying it may take years before a market recovery.

— Dana Bartholomew