For the first time in eight years, thousands of poor families across the Twin Cities will have a rare opportunity to benefit from federally subsidized rental assistance.
In late February, the Metropolitan Council will temporarily open its waiting list for the federal government's rental-assistance program, known as Section 8, for the first time since 2007. The move will enable about 2,000 low-income families to rent private apartments in the seven-county metro area.
The regional housing authority is taking this extraordinary step as much of the state and metro area struggle with an extreme shortage of affordable housing, and as the percentage of Twin Cities households paying unaffordable rents has reached historic highs. Nearly half of all renter households in the Twin Cities spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, a level commonly viewed as a limit of affordability.
Demand is so great for the federal vouchers, which pay an average of $670 a month per household, that officials expect 60,000 to 70,000 households to apply when the waiting list is opened briefly between Feb. 24 and Feb. 27.
That is more than three times the number of people who applied for the vouchers when the waiting list was last opened in 2007. From this huge pool, the housing authority will randomly select 2,000 people for spots on the metro-area Section 8 waiting list.
Marilyn Upchurch hopes to be among the fortunate 2,000 to win a spot on the cherished waiting list. The 45-year-old from north Minneapolis has spent the past 20 years struggling to find affordable rental housing while working in low-wage jobs.
Upchurch figures that a monthly voucher would have helped her avoid catastrophe three years ago, when she was forced into homelessness after being diagnosed with cancer and was unable to work or afford rent for months.
Upchurch's cancer is now in remission, but she still struggles to make ends meet. The rent on her one-bedroom apartment consumes about 30 percent of her $11,000 annual income from Social Security disability benefits. She has applied for a Section 8 voucher three times, but has not made the waiting list.