The City of Tucson announced that as of Jan. 1, they will close the waitlists for public housing to maintain the existing applicant pool.
The list includes the City of Tucson and Pima County Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Programs and City of Tucson Public Housing waitlists, including MLK Apartments, Silverbell Homes, Southpark, Posadas Sentinel, Lander Gardens, Amp 3, Amp 4, Amp 5 and Amp 6.
Jason Thorpe, Deputy Director of Housing and Community Development Department at the City of Tucson said there are about 40,000 households on the public housing and housing choice voucher waitlist, and only about 600 of them can be admitted every year.
“It really creates a false hope for applicants to continue to apply,” Thorpe said. “With such a long waitlist, it would take us decades to get through.”
He said the waitlists will reopen “when there's actually capacity to begin to serve more people.”
While public housing waitlists are closing, Thorpe said admissions to the Housing Choice specialty programs, such as VASH for veterans and the Family Unification Program will still be possible if there is capacity. These programs provide assistance to people and families that have low or very low income, are homeless, disabled, veterans, have AIDS related illnesses, or in the foster care system.
He emphasized that people are still eligible to apply to the housing waitlists until Dec. 31.
"What's important to know is that when we close the waitlist, that doesn't mean that the people who are currently on the wait list aren't still going to be eligible for assistance,” he said. “Anyone who's already applied, their application is still active.”
