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The Luzerne County Housing Authority received 945 applications for Section 8 rental assistance during its one-day acceptance window Thursday, an official said.
“This is a bigger number than we had before,” said authority Section 8 Supervisor Jim Meyer.
During the last one-day opening in April 2018, 650 applied. The previous two-day opening in 2016 yielded more than 700 applications.
Applications were accepted at the authority’s Kingston office from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, and Meyer said applicants were already lined up when he arrived for work at 7 a.m.
Some stood in the rain because no more could fit inside the building, and he said the application acceptance process was “like a manufacturing line” due to the high turnout.
Opportunities to apply are scarce because the demand for assistance far exceeds available slots funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, leading to backlogs, authority officials have said.
The 945 new applicants will be added to 120 already on a waiting list, with the oldest addressed first, he said.
“We will get through them as quickly as we can,” Meyer said, predicting that applications won’t be accepted again for more than a year.
In general, program participants receive vouchers for their landlords covering 70% of rent and utilities, while tenants pay the remaining 30%, authority representatives have said. The federal government sets limits on acceptable fair market rent ranges.
The county authority serves all municipalities except for the four cities — Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton and Nanticoke — which operate their own housing authorities and Section 8 programs.
To be eligible Thursday, applicants had to meet income eligibility limits ranging from $23,450 for one person to $44,250 for a family of eight.