Housing Choice Voucher Program
Formerly known as Section 8
HCP Overview
The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) is designed to assist eligible low-income families and individuals pay rent in the private market and move towards economic self-sufficiency.
Click here for general information about the Housing Choice Voucher Program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Jersey City Housing Authority's HCVP Program Application List is currently closed.
Program Overview
The JCHA currently assists over 5,000 families, senior citizens and persons with disabilities under the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 Rental Assistance Program (Housing Choice Vouchers). This Program provides financial assistance to eligible households who rent apartments in the private rental housing market (i.e. the subsidy is tenant-based and moves with the family). The rent subsidy amount (provided directly to the property owner) in Housing Choice Voucher Programs is based on the difference between the tenant rent portion calculated at 30% of their monthly adjusted income and the actual reasonable rent in the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
Effective January 1, 2025, the JCHA will begin applying Small Area FMR’s.
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html
The JCHA currently has an allocation of over 5,000 Housing Choice Vouchers which includes the following special purpose programs:
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Family Unification Program (FUP)
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Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities Program (NEDP)
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Veteran's Affair Supported Housing (VASH)
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Enhanced Vouchers
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Project Based Vouchers
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Mainstream Housing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities Program
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Continuum of Care Program
Project Based Assistance
The JCHA currently administers Project-Based Assistance (i.e. rental assistance is tied to the unit) to expand affordable housing.
Portability Option
The portability option allows Section 8 applicants and participants to use their Section 8 Vouchers outside of Jersey City (i.e. anywhere in the United States, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands where there is a PHA that can administer the Voucher).
For more information or if interested please contact Section 8 Office via Email: ports@jcha.us
via Phone: (201)706-4677/4678
You can also find more information at: HUD: Office of Housing Choice Vouchers
Program Eligibility and Applicant Selection Policy
The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act (QHWRA) permanently repealed federal preferences and allows PHAs to implement local preferences. The JCHA's Strategic Goal 2000, specifically for the Rental Assistance Program and Good Neighbor Policy, is to ensure that housing assistance preferences and related support is given to senior citizens and families who are working toward self-sufficiency through employment, training, and/or education initiatives and to maximize serving the greatest number of eligible and responsible families and senior citizens with available housing assistance.
To forward this objective, the JCHA has designed a system of Local Preferences that provide priority to eligible senior citizens and families who are engaged in self-sufficiency training, or who have achieved actual employment, or have been displaced by HOPE VI related activities, and which ensures that the rental assistance provided promotes broader economic diversity and is consistent with the local housing needs as identified in the City's Consolidated Plan as follows:
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JCHA Families displaced as a result of Modernization / Revitalization by JCHA or City Redevelopment activities.
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JCHA Resident / Witness Victims of criminal and drug related activity and domestic violence residing in JCHA public or affordable housing programs and graduates from HUD approved Transitional Housing Programs.
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Jersey City Residents who are Veterans and whose income is within the Income Target Mix
After selecting applicants for these highest three local preferences, the remaining Vouchers are issued as follows:
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Working Family Preference (75%)
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Working families who have a housing need
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Other working families
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Family Preference (25%)
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Families who have a housing need
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Other families
Within these Local Preferences, applicants will be selected as follows:
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Jersey City Residents
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Veterans
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Single elderly and/or persons with disabilities
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il.html
The JCHA waiting list exceeds 8,000 applicants. The annual turnover rate is approximately 200 Vouchers (due in large part to the deaths of elderly participants, terminations of assistance because of lease violations and participants being absorbed by other Housing Authorities); the approximately waiting time to receive a Voucher (without one of the highest local preference) is 5-10 years. Because of this lengthy wait time, the JCHA closed its Section 8 Program waiting list in 2017 and no new applications are being accepted (an exception is made for applicants who are displaced by JCHA and City Redevelopment activities and graduates of Transitional Housing Programs and for set-aside Programs, i.e. Mainstream, Family Unification Program.
The JCHA has reduced the waiting list from over 15,000 applicants to the current 8,000 due to aggressive lease-up efforts. In order to achieve maximum lease-up, the JCHA must perform numerous hours of administrative work per applicant. The HCVP staff completes a thorough case management process with each applicant that includes written correspondence, telephone conversations and face-to-face interviews. All applicants are screened and subject to background checks. In order to accommodate the schedules of working families, the Leasing Specialists have also offered applicants the opportunity to attend briefings and obtain their vouchers on Saturdays. Each case requires administrative and staff expenses, however, the HCVP Program only receives funding from HUD for the applicants that are successful in their lease-up.
Due to the number of applicants needed to fill the remaining vouchers according to the local preferences, the JCHA estimates re-opening the waiting list during 2025. Details are being discussed to evaluate the proper procedures to be taken to ensure compliance with the Administrative Plan and the Local Preferences, the procedures to be implemented to make the applications available and the possibility of a third party (online software) to collect the applications for initial placement on the waiting list.
Income Targeting Requirement
The Applicant Selection Policy, adopted in the Administrative Plan approved in January 2000 and revised in January 2001 as part of the Annual Plan, implemented income targeting requirements and local preferences options as set forth in the 1998 Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act. Specifically, 75% of the Housing Choice Vouchers which become available in any given year must be reserved for applicants whose incomes do not exceed 30% of the area median income; the balance of Vouchers which become available may be granted to applicants whose incomes may be up to 50% of the area median income.
Applicant Selection
The primary objective of the Jersey City Housing Authority is to offer and provide qualified lower income families and senior citizens with the best opportunities for gaining affordable housing within reasonably safe, working neighborhoods and simultaneously promoting economic self-sufficiency for families, continued independent living for senior citizens and maximum accommodation for persons with disabilities.
The JCHA accomplishes those objectives by providing affordable housing through the following programs:
Currently JCHA Waiting Lists are closed.
Housing Choice Voucher / Section 8 Project-Based
We are not currently accepting applications for the Housing Choice Voucher program or any Section 8 Project-Based sites.
Sección 8 Basado en proyectos y convencional
Actualmente, no estamos aceptando solicitudes para el programa de Vales de Elección de Vivienda ni para ningún Sección 8 basado en proyectos.
Applicant Forms
