Fort Worth Housing Solutions’ Project-Based Voucher waiting list is now open and residents looking for affordable housing are invited to apply to the lottery process.
The waiting list opened on June 5. A closing date has yet to be announced. There are currently 11 apartment complexes on the list.
Project-Based Vouchers apply to specific apartments that set aside a certain number of units for those who qualify. This is different from the Housing Choice Voucher program where applicants can take a voucher to any apartment in the city and potentially use it there if the property accepts them.
“These are just for the specific locations,” said Mary-Margaret Lemons, president of Fort Worth Housing Solutions. “But because the vouchers are tied to the property, there’s not any chance of income discrimination.”
The current properties accepting the Project-Based Vouchers include Alton Park, Avondale, Campus Villas, Columbia Renaissance, Hunter Plaza, Pavilion at Samuels, Sedona Village Senior Living, Stallion Pointe, Stallion Ridge, and Villas on the Hill.
Project-Based Vouchers are part of the larger Housing Choice Voucher program, and housing agencies like Fort Worth Housing Solutions are not allocated additional money to fund these vouchers. For Fort Worth Housing Solutions, project-based vouchers make up about 20% of the agency’s total voucher allocation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
One of the benefits of Project-Based Vouchers is that tenants are less likely to be turned away by a landlord in the private market when competing with market-rate renters, which can put their voucher at risk if it’s not used within 60 days.
“The 60 days that typically you have to look get eaten up, and then you either have to get an extension, or if we can’t extend it, then you lose that voucher and you have to turn it back in,” Lemons said. “That’s really unfortunate when someone’s been waiting years on a waitlist.”
And the number of applications for Project-Based Vouchers is less than applicants for regular Housing Choice Vouchers because of the location limitations.
Fort Worth Housing Solutions opened its Housing Choice Voucher waitlist in 2021 for the first time since 2017 and received over 20,000 applicants in just a week. The housing agency can only allocate 5,000 vouchers for that program, and it takes several years to work that list once it closes, Lemons said.
“Anytime we have the ability to get more people on a program, we want to take advantage and use every penny that HUD gives us,” Lemons said.
Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org or on Twitter at @ssadek19.
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