Announced by the Seattle Housing Authority:

On Monday, February 6, 2017, Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) will open a lottery for places on a new waitlist for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, formerly known as Section 8. These vouchers provide rental assistance for people with low incomes to rent homes owned by landlords in the private market.

Registration for the lottery will be available online only, and will be open from 8 a.m. on February 6, 2017 until 5 p.m. on February 24, 2017, Pacific Time. Registration is only available at seattlehousing.org/waitlist, not at any other website. Registration is free; if any website asks for money to complete registration it is not the correct site. The only way to safely register and avoid misleading websites is to type seattlehousing.org/waitlist into an internet browser.

The chances of being selected for the waitlist are the same no matter when households register during the open period. Once registration closes, 3,500 applicants will be chosen at random by computer to be placed on the new waitlist. Letters will be mailed by March 31, 2017 notifying all registered households whether or not they received a place on the new waitlist.

SHA will begin issuing vouchers in May 2017 to those selected. It will take two to three years to issue all 3,500 vouchers. People with low randomly assigned numbers will receive their vouchers sooner than people with higher numbers.

Registration is open to adults 18 years old or older or emancipated minors, no matter where they currently live, however successful voucher applicants will initially be required to use the voucher within the city of Seattle for a minimum of one year.

At the time an applicant is called off the waitlist, the total household income must be 50 percent or less of area median income (AMI). Preference will be given to households that are at 30 percent or less of AMI.

An AMI chart can be found at www.seattlehousing.org/housing/vouchers/eligibility

It is important to have the following information ready before starting the registration process:

The date of birth and social security number for each member of the household;
Total annual income of the household;
An email address for confirmation of registration; and
A mailing address where the household can receive U.S. mail from SHA about the HCV lottery.

Registrants who are missing this information or are unclear, should call the HCV waitlist hotline at 206-239-1674, after it is activated on February 6.

More information on eligibility and registering is currently available at seattlehousing.org/waitlist. Registration will be available on that page beginning at 8 a.m. on February 6. Those who do not have access to a computer can use public computers at some branches of The Seattle Public Library and King County Library System, and other neighborhood sites. Find information at seattlehousing.org/waitlist or by calling SHA’s waitlist hotline at 206-239-1674, after it is activated on February 6.

SHA currently handles about 10,000 vouchers. If you are in immediate need of housing, the agency offers this information sheet that might help.