Public Housing: A Plain-English Guide
Public Housing is the oldest federal rental-assistance program in the United States, launched in 1937. About 970,000 households currently live in public housing units owned and managed by their local Public Housing Authority. Here’s what it is, who qualifies, and how to apply.
How Public Housing Differs from Section 8
The two largest HUD rental assistance programs are sometimes confused, but they work very differently. Public Housing units are owned by your local Public Housing Authority. You apply directly to the PHA, and if you’re accepted, you move into a building the PHA owns and manages. Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, by contrast, let you rent any privately-owned unit whose landlord agrees to accept the voucher. Public Housing is a place; Section 8 is a subsidy you take with you.
Most PHAs administer both programs and maintain separate waiting lists for each. You can apply to both at the same time, and many applicants do. If you’re offered public housing first but really wanted a voucher (or vice versa), you generally have to accept what’s available or wait for what you wanted — which could be years.
What Public Housing Looks Like
Public housing comes in every shape and size. The popular image — high-rise towers in dense urban neighborhoods — describes only a slice of the program. The majority of public housing today is mid-rise apartment buildings, two- and three-story garden-style developments, and scattered-site single-family homes acquired or built by the PHA. Some authorities own only a few hundred units; the New York City Housing Authority owns over 175,000.
Newer public housing developments often look indistinguishable from market-rate apartment buildings. Many of the most distressed mid-century projects have been demolished and replaced through the federal HOPE VI and Choice Neighborhoods programs with mixed-income developments where public housing residents live alongside market-rate and tax-credit tenants.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility is income-based, with the same general thresholds as Section 8: your household generally must earn less than 80% of the area median income to qualify, and at least 40% of new admissions each year must come from households earning under 30% of AMI. You must also pass background checks and show you have no outstanding debt to a current or former PHA.
Local preferences play a much larger role in public housing than they do in Section 8. Many authorities give priority to current residents of their city or county, working families, veterans, the elderly, applicants displaced by domestic violence or natural disaster, and applicants who are currently homeless. The exact mix of preferences is set in each PHA’s HUD-approved Annual Plan and varies a great deal from city to city.
How to Apply
Find your local Public Housing Authority through our state directory and check whether their public housing waiting list is currently open. Most authorities accept pre-applications online; some still require in-person visits or mailed paper applications. The pre-application asks for basic information about your household composition, income, and any preferences you may qualify for.
Once accepted onto the waiting list, you wait. When your name reaches the top, the PHA will schedule an eligibility appointment, verify your income and household composition, and offer you a unit. You’ll typically get to choose between two or three available apartments; declining all of them may send you back to the bottom of the list, depending on the PHA’s policy.
What You’ll Pay
Public housing rent is set at 30% of your household’s adjusted gross monthly income, with HUD’s operating subsidy covering the gap between what residents pay and what the PHA needs to operate the property. There’s a $50 minimum rent at most authorities, and some PHAs offer alternative flat-rent options that may be lower than the 30% formula for higher-earning households.
If your income changes, your rent changes. Report any change in household income or composition to the PHA promptly — failing to do so is one of the most common reasons families lose their housing assistance.
Tenant Rights
Public housing residents have substantial federal protections. You can’t be evicted without cause, you have the right to a grievance hearing before the PHA takes action against you, and your unit must be maintained in compliance with HUD’s Housing Quality Standards. The Violence Against Women Act provides specific protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including the right to an emergency transfer.
If you believe your rights have been violated — whether by your housing authority, a property manager, or another resident — the National Housing Law Project and your local Legal Services Corporation office are the best places to start. See our resources page for contact information.