Opportunity Home to Accept Applications for Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) Beginning Sept. 1
August 18, 2021
—
For the first time since 2017, the Opportunity Home San Antonio (Opportunity Home) will accept preliminary applications for the Housing Choice Program, formerly named Section 8, from Sept. 1–17.
Approximately 5,000 applicants will be selected during this new open enrollment period which will open for 17 days.
Applications will be processed through a lottery system to provide equity in the selection process. This will also give applicants an opportunity to apply at their convenience and prevent them from rushing to complete the application under a first-come, first-serve process.
When Opportunity Home closed the Housing Choice Voucher Program waitlist in 2017 for maintenance, approximately 31,000 applicants were on the waitlist. Today, approximately 4,500 applicants remain on the waitlist. The applicants currently on the waitlist do not need to reapply. Opportunity Home will exhaust the current waitlist before pulling applicants from the new open enrollment period.
Like many U.S. cities, San Antonio is facing an affordable housing crisis. The historic pandemic in the last year has exacerbated the housing crisis in the city. Opportunity Home expects a large response to the Housing Choice Voucher program open enrollment.