New Hope Housing, Inc.’s Harrisburg apartments is a complex of 175 affordable housing units in Houston’s East End.
Following a gap of nearly three years, Houstonians will have the opportunity to apply for the Housing Alliance HTX public housing waitlist, formerly known as the Houston Housing Authority.
The agency will allow eligible residents to apply for eight public housing properties from June 22 to July 6. Applicants may select up to three locations when submitting their application.
When the application period closes on July 6, Housing Alliance HTX will select applicants through a randomized lottery system. Applicants can expect to be notified of their lottery status in late July.
“That [the lottery] will allow everyone that applied, no matter if it was June 22 or July 6, to have an equal opportunity to be selected for the waiting list compared to doing it in date-and-time order,” said Daveta Thomas, a pre-admission manager at Housing Alliance HTX.
Applicants already on the waitlist will remain in their current place in line.
The eight properties included in the waitlist are: Kelly Village, Lincoln Park, Long Drive, Oxford Place, Bellerive, Lyerly, Independence Heights and Irvinton Village — with Bellerive and Lyerly communities being exclusively for seniors aged 62 and older.
Housing Alliance HTX said unit availability varies by property, meaning not every property will have the same number of bedroom units available.
Currently, Thomas said the agency has about 8,000 families on the waitlist with about 8,000 to 9,000 spots available to be filled, so the waitlist will be closed for some time.
The lottery only applies to the eight public housing waitlists. The Housing Choice Voucher program, or Section 8, has not reopened and is not accepting applicants at this time.
However, the 2,500 applicants on the choice voucher waitlist can choose to also be on the public housing waitlist through a consent form sent to the Housing Alliance HTX.
Unlike new applicants, current choice voucher waitlist participants will not be entered into the lottery system. Rather, they will be placed on the waitlist based on the date and time their consent forms are received.
“We really are trying to get the information out to the public right now so that people have a chance to go ahead and register,” Thomas said. “That way, if there’s any technical issues, they can get those resolved before the waitlist opens.”
Applications will be managed through Housing Alliance HTX’s RentCafe portal. Creating an account, however, is not an application for the lottery. Applicants must first create an account before they can submit an application.
Housing Alliance HTX said assistance is available during the application period by either calling 713-260-0500 for assistance or visiting the agency’s office at 2640 Fountain View.