Need help paying rent? Contra Costa’s housing voucher waitlist deadline is Thursday

If you’re over age 62 or part of a family that needs help paying for housing, you have until 4 p.m. Thursday to apply to get on a waitlist for one of Contra Costa County’s 11 public housing communities, six of which are in Richmond.

The Contra Costa housing authority’s Project Based Vouchers can only be used at specific properties. Recipients can use the vouchers to help pay their rent at their choice of whichever property accepts their application.

To qualify, applicants must make no more than 50% of the median household income in Contra Costa — or no more than $51,800 for single-person homes and $73,950 for four-person households — according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 

The vouchers won’t cover the entire cost of housing — recipients must contribute 30% of their monthly income toward their rent, according to Tony Ucciferri, deputy director of the county housing authority. The county then covers the difference, up to 110% of an amount considered “fair market rent” by HUD. For example, if a family of four is making $90,000 per year, it would be expected to contribute $2,250 each month toward their rent for a three-bedroom unit that’s listed for up to $3,342. The county voucher would cover the difference — about $1,100.

But there’s no guarantee that you’ll get into one of these units. Ucciferri estimates there are currently 50 vacancies among 786 units at the 11 county properties opening their waitlists for Project Based Vouchers. 

Ucciferri said waitlists only open when enough space becomes available; the application periods are not pre-determined for a specific time of year.

“It is usually when we notice that either the waitlist has been depleted or is getting depleted or we are bringing on a new project that requires us to establish a waitlist,” he said.

Once a vacancy opens up, the HACC refers the top five candidates on the waitlist to the property owner who sends a letter to all five to see who is interested.  

Whomever is ready to move in first generally gets the unit, Ucciferri said. Those who don’t reply  or are rejected by the owner’s suitability criteria are removed from the waitlist. If more than one applicant is ready simultaneously, the one who has been waiting the longest gets the unit.

Ucciferri explained that their waitlist system uses a point-based preference system with several qualifying categories, including local residency or employment status, veteran status, recent displacement, and participation in other housing programs. He noted that applicants self-declare their preferences when applying but must later verify them.

The final ranking is determined by preference points and the application’s timestamp, Ucciferri added. If applicants can’t verify their qualifications when called, their list ranking may change.

The property owner will check an applicant’s rental history, credit, and income to decide if they’d be a good tenant. If the owner approves, the Housing Authority then steps in and will check if the applicant is eligible based on their immigration status, household income, criminal background check, and whether they owe money to any other Housing Authority. Only if an applicant passes both the owner’s approval and the Housing Authority’s eligibility check can they then be offered housing.

It is difficult to predict how long a potential tenant will be on a waitlist, said Ucciferri, since it’s dependent on the turnover rate at each housing location. If no one moves, the waitlist doesn’t move either. 

“The availability of units is always a moving target based on tenant movement,” he said.