Homeless in Arizona

I suspect politicians LOVE to give people these dirt cheep government homes because it get them re-elected

Phoenix gives a total of about 5,800 of these dirt cheep homes rentals to people. That might not sounds like a lot, when when you have a city election where only 5% of the registered voters show up and vote, while everybody that is on government welfare shows up and votes it can easily swing an election.

Those 5,800 votes the members of the Phoenix city council purchase with our tax dollars for themselves cost the tax payers $50 million.

Mesa gives 1,715 people dirt cheep housing.

Glendale gives 1,054 people dirt cheep housing.

Scottsdale gives 735 people dirt cheep housing.

Tempe gives 1,052 people dirt cheep housing.

Chandler gives 486 people dirt cheep housing.

Phoenix gives 5,100 people dirt cheep Section 8 housing and has another 700 people on other dirt cheep housing programs.

Source

Big demand as Chandler opens Section 8 housing voucher wait list

Chris Coppola, The Republic | azcentral.com 1:33 p.m. MST January 19, 2016

Cities open wait list for short periods every few years

Brianna Martinez shed the two blankets she had wrapped herself in while spending the night on the frigid floor of a downtown Chandler parking garage and began writing.

It was about 7 a.m. on a Monday. Martinez had been camping out in the garage with her mother since 7 p.m. the night before to make sure she would earn earn a spot on the city's wait list for Section 8 housing assistance. Her effort was paying off — she was first in line as applications were handed out, the first time in five years the city has opened the waiting list.

Martinez knew getting a spot on the list wouldn't mean assistance anytime soon — waits can range from months to several years — but she pressed on with her application.

"I have three children and our space is too small," Martinez said of her current two-bedroom apartment in Mesa. For more than a year, she also has been on a waiting list at Mesa-based Save the Family, which assists low-income individuals and families with affordable housing. But with demand perpetually high and available help limited, opportunities such as the one in Chandler don't come along often.

The story is the same in other cities across the Valley, which receive money each year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund their Section 8 housing assistance programs. Qualified applicants are provided subsidies that can pay up to two-thirds of their monthly rent in participating apartments or rental houses.

It's not unusual for cities to keep waiting lists closed for several years. Chandler accepted applicants after processing the last people on the previous list.

In Phoenix, the Section 8 wait list has been closed since 2005, said Nichole Ayoola, the city's Section 8 housing manager. But that may change soon.

Phoenix expects to open the list to new applicants within the next six months, as the number currently waiting has declined to the point where more can be added, she said.

Here's a look at wait list situations around the Valley:

Mesa's Section 8 list has been closed since May 2013, said Liz Morales, the city's housing and community development director. About 250 applicants remain. The city allocates 1,715 vouchers annually.

Glendale's wait list is closed. It last opened last year in February. The city allocates 1,054 vouchers through the program, said city spokeswoman Kim Larson.

Scottsdale's list is closed. The city last opened it last August to add 500 applicants. That number was reached in 55 minutes, said Michelle Albanese, the city's Community Assistance and Paiute Center manager. Scottsdale has 735 Section 8 vouchers to allocate.

Tempe's wait list opened last April and is now closed. The city has about 7,000 applicants on the list and 1,052 Section 8 vouchers, said city spokeswoman Marie Chapple Camacho.

It now has been whittled down to more than 2,000, and the city expects the same response as 2005 when the list opens later this year. Officials will notify people who have inquired about the program.In 2005, thousands of people swarmed the city for assistance, and the wait list ballooned to about 30,000 applicants, she said.

"We'll send letters out to individuals to let them know that vouchers are available, and we let them know the qualification process,'' she said.

Phoenix has about 5,100 standard Section 8 vouchers it can provide, and another 700 for specialty programs, such as veterans housing assistance. The city receives about $50 million a year from HUD for the programs.

Although HUD allocates funding to cities for the Section 8 program, the federal agency does not track demand trends in a given area, said Stephanie Smelnick, director for HUD's Phoenix field office. Cities are left to administer the program.

And the number of voucher doesn't change, regardless of demand. However, once an applicant is in the program, they are only required once a year to show they meet the income requirements for continued assistance.

"As far as just general additional vouchers, we never get any,'' she said, citing congressional funding that has remained largely unchanged for years. "It's really an attrition kind of situation.''

In Chandler, city officials processed the last 100 applicants on the 2011 wait list just prior to opening the list again on Jan. 11, said Kurt Knutson, housing and redevelopment manager.

Chandler kept the window for new applicants open through Friday. There was no cap to the number of new additions. By late Friday afternoon, the city had signed up 1,608 new applicants and still was accepting mail-in requests postmarked by the end of the day.

Chandler has 486 Section 8 vouchers to allocate, funded with an annual HUD appropriation of $4.9 million.

And on that chilly Jan. 11 morning, hundreds were lined up in the parking garage before 7 a.m. for a chance to receive one of those vouchers when the wait list officially opened at 8 a.m..

"At the end of the week, I'm going to be out of a home,'' said Desmond Barry, 68, of Chandler, who said he is retired and living on "a very small Social Security.''

"I can't afford to do anything, and it's hard to work, too,'' he said. "There's a lot of ageism that goes on. It's unspoken, but it's there.''

Homer Moore drove more than 30 miles to downtown Chandler from west Phoenix to get in line by 4:30 a.m.

"I got here early to assure I could get a home for me and my kids,'' he said. "Phoenix and these other cities, it's been a huge delay to get on the list.''

HUD rules require an applicant is required to live in a HUD-approved housing unit within the city where the application is submitted for the first 12 months, after that a chance in residency can be allowed.

In general, the family's income may not exceed 50 percent of the median income for the county or metropolitan area in which the family chooses to live.

How wait lists shrink

In Arizona, 24 local housing authorities manage Section 8 programs.

Several Valley cities operate separate, local public housing assistance programs in addition to the Section 8 program. Glendale, for example, owns and serves as landlord for 155 apartments. In some cases, cities partner with local social-service agencies that provide housing assistance, but waits also can be long.

Phoenix's HUD voucher allocation is by far the largest. Chandler, Glendale, Mesa, Scottsdale and Tempe all receive between $4 million and $6 million each for their programs annually. Mesa's annual figure was not available.

There is no limit for how long a person can receive HUD assistance under the Section 8 program, as long as they continue to fit the requirements, HUD's Smelnick said.

Spaces can open as cities go through lists and people don't respond when contacted. Housing usually becomes available based on someone's change in income eligibility, or a change in qualification for a member of the household, such as when a child turns 18. Death also adds to the attrition.

"We normally see that when the economy is good, the demand is less, but there's never enough affordable housing,'' Smelnick said.