By Maritza Dominguez | AZ Central
Out of 20,000 applicants, 4,000 will have the chance to receive one of Mesa’s housing choice vouchers to help pay rent, but first they will need to find a place that accepts them.
The entire process for a renter to apply and be granted a voucher can take years. After that, applicants have up to 120 days to search for a housing unit that qualifies and for a landlord who will sign off before it expires.
A housing choice voucher, previously called a Section 8 voucher, is a form of federal aid given to low-income families to afford rent. To qualify, a family must earn 50% or less of median area income for metro Phoenix, which last year was $79,000, and meet the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “very limited income” benchmark. A Mesa family of four would need to earn no more than $44,150 to quality.
