Washington Housing Authority seeks landlords

Washington Housing Authority provides assistance for all of Beaufort County through the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. Housing Choice Vouchers are administered locally by your Public Housing Authority. The PHA's receive federal funds from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer the voucher program.

To give you a little background, The HCV Section 8 program is the Federal Government's major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, the disabled and the handicapped to afford decent, safe and sanitary housing in the private market.

Before an applicant can receive a voucher, the PHA has a rigorous prescreening process. You, as a landlord, are more than welcome to also screen any potential HCV tenants that may show interest in your unit. You can do a credit check, criminal check, landlord references, and you can contact WHA to verify their eligibility for the program. We fully encourage this prescreening method as long as you do not discriminate. It is policy to serve our applicants and tenants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, sexual orientation, physical handicap or disability.

The most important component to the Section 8 HCV program is the landlords. WHA is currently providing housing to approximately 225 families. We currently have more than 800 applicants on our wait list. Our Section 8 HCV program will fund 370 families. The Section 8 HCV program has approximately 145 open vouchers. We are currently in the need for new rental properties and new landlords to house the 145 available vouchers. Becoming a Section 8 HCV landlord is much easier than most would think. If you are a landlord and you have properties you would like to list with us, please contact Jessica Carlyle at 252-946-0061 ext. 302 or stop by the Section 8 HCV office at 809 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington. She will be more than happy to go over the program with you in more detail.

This article originally published by The Washington Daily News on March 1, 2019.