Can you get a housing voucher with a criminal record, and do they offer emergency rent assistance so you can get an apartment quickly? Keep reading to find out.
If you’re putting your life back together after a felony conviction, you’re probably wondering about your housing options. After all, everyone needs a place to sleep, and you’ll need it for stability so you can work, start saving, etc.
One housing option that’s quite popular is Section 8, which is widely known for its vouchers. Should you qualify for a Housing Choice Voucher, you would only have to allocate a small portion of your income towards rent (usually 30 percent). The rest of your income could be used to build up savings, buy reliable transportation, and more.
Now that you know the main benefit of Section 8, let’s dive deeper into how you can qualify for it with a felony. More importantly, we’ll also look at cases where you can get your voucher quickly to get that much-desired stability soon.
Does Section 8 Accept Felons?
You can qualify for Section 8 if you have a felony conviction. Certain felonies are more damaging than others, such as sexual offenses, violence, drug trafficking, etc. You may also have a hard time getting a housing voucher if your felony is recent and occurred within the last five years.
What’s Needed to Get Section 8?
Even if you didn’t have a felony, you would still have to meet specific requirements to qualify for a Housing Choice Voucher. These requirements may differ according to your Public Housing Agency (PHA), but they tend to call for citizenship, earning less than half of the median income for an area, and not having a history of issues with drugs or alcohol. Evictions can also negatively impact your application.
How Can You Get a Housing Voucher Quickly?
It’s not surprising that so many people apply for Section 8 benefits. Since it can pay for most of your monthly rent expenses, applications far exceed vouchers. With so much demand, the typical processing time can be as long as two years. There are ways to speed this up, though.
It may not fit the mold of “emergency rent assistance,” but you can get Section 8 benefits within months or even weeks instead of years.
To do so, you will have to make the priority waiting list, which is reserved for applicants that are veterans, disabled, seniors, displaced due to disaster, homeless, facing eviction, victims of abuse, and so on.
Any of those circumstances (the more, the better) can speed up your voucher application. You can also get Section 8 benefits quicker than usual by getting a caseworker, applying to several PHAs simultaneously, or keeping in contact with your PHA every week.
Section 8 is extremely helpful for those lucky enough to receive it. Don’t let your felony make you think it’s impossible to receive these benefits. Instead, contact your PHA now to get the ball rolling. If you have any exceptional circumstances, you could receive that voucher and move into your new apartment before you know it.
Section 8 Assist
