Orange County NC Website
®range County Section Eight Housing Voucher Choice Program <br />Status Deport <br />Background <br />The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program is a federally funded rental assistance <br />program administered by public housing authorities (PHAs) or other government agencies. The <br />programs' primary purpose is "to provide rental assistance to low-income families with affordable <br />decent, safe, and sanitaryhousing. Tenants take the voucher and use it to rent homes in the <br />private market. Families interested in the program apply to a local housing authority or other <br />government agency for a Section 8 tenant-based voucher- a voucher that "stays" with the <br />tenant. <br />Currently, Section 8 helps more than 1.4 million households in the United States by paying <br />private landlords the difference between what the household can afford and the rent for the unit. <br />In Orange County, the program is administered by the Orange County Housing and Community <br />Development Department and serves approximately 623 families countywide. ~ . <br />The administering housing authority or government agency is also responsible for inspecting the <br />selected housing unit to make sure it complies with the Housing and Urban Development's <br />(HUD) Housing Quality Standards and ensuring that the rent'ch'arged is reasonable for the local <br />housing market. <br />The following information provides summary information regarding the current status of_ the <br />Section 8 Program in Orange County. <br />Funding Capacity <br />The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides funding for the Section 8 <br />Program. The approved Section 8 budget for Fiscal Year 2006-2007 is $4,164,334.. Given <br />HUD's funding scheme, this amount allows us to fund approximately 612 vouchers annually. <br />Increasing rental rates and the bedroom composition of our participants our actual costs are <br />being monitored closely to ensure that ~ actual program expenses do not exceed budget <br />authority. Thus, the total number of units financed by the program may be reduced in the <br />coming months. <br />Current Program Characteristics . <br />~ Approximately 245 property owners lease property to 612 on average. <br />~ Of the 623 units, 599 are designated as tenant based vouchers and 24 vouchers <br />are designated as project based vouchers for the Club Nova Apartments only. <br />~ The majority of the rental units are in the Garrboro/Chapel Hill area (Southern <br />Orange County). <br />~ Racial family composition: approx. 63% African-American; 36% Caucasian; 1 <br />Other. <br />~ Most non-elderly heads of households are working families. <br />~ Most families lease two-bedroom units. <br />~ Current waiting list totals 1,678 families and applications are presently be <br />accepted iri the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. (Current plans are to <br />