KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Wichita Section 8 Waiting List Opens

Wichita Section 8 Waiting List Opens

(WICHITA, Kan.)

Wichita opens up its housing assistance waiting list for the first time in more than year.

By the time the Metroplex opened it's doors at nine o'clock Friday morning, hundreds of people were already waiting in line.

Laseka Hervey explains, "For a house of six, with five chidren, I'm looking at paying about $850 a months and so to get any kind of help, I mean it's really important financially."

It was the first step towards getting Section 8 housing. People signing up will be put on a waiting list and it could be up to two years before they are placed.

The Section 8 Rental Assistance Program is set up to help low-income families pay their rent.  Under the program, eligible participants pay about 30% of their adjusted gross income directly to their landlord, then the Wichita Housing Authority subsidizes the balance of the rent.

Gail Lotson, Section 8 Housing Manager, tells Eyewitness News, "I really thought the most we would have would have, actually physically come here today, would be in the neighborhood of 300. But we've already, and it's only been a couple of hours, gone through about 500 people who have shown up here."

In all, about 800 people applied at the Metroplex on Friday and more than 1,600 applied online. In one day, that nearly equals the amount of people who signed up over a nine month period that last time the waiting list was opened.

You can still apply online. Click here for a link to the application.

More on Section 8 in Wichita