Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
requirements, through housing vouchers in an area of their choice. Massachusetts has
three different types of housing vouchers: Federal Section 8 Housing Choice Vouch-
er Program, Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), and Alternative Housing
VoucherProgram(AHVP).EligiblecandidatesforSection8,MRVP,andAHVPvouch-
ers must meet the following requirements: (1) the candidate's household must have lim-
ited income (i.e., a household's net income [after deductions] no greater than 200% of
the federal poverty guidelines); and (2) at least one member of the household must be a
U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen. For the state-funded MRVP and AHVP programs, all
citizens are eligible. In general, you must be in one of these categories to be eligible:
U.S. citizen, permanent resident, refugee or asylum seeker, withholding grantee, condi-
tional,entrant,orparolee,registeredalienor1986amnestystatus,andvictimoftraffick-
ing. Undocumented noncitizens are allowed to live with an eligible family member who
has a voucher. Individuals are ineligible for housing vouchers if: (1) they have a recent
history of illegal drug use, alcohol abuse, or violent criminal behavior; (2) have com-
mitted fraud in connection with a housing assistance program in the past (for example,
lying on an application); or (3) the apartment an individual plans to rent is owned by a
family member or other close relative.
The waiting lists for rent vouchers in Massachusetts are very long. The majority of
housing voucher candidates, who meet the eligibility requirements, may wait several
yearsbeforereceivingavoucher.One'splaceonawaitinglistdependsonthepreference
category he or she is in, and when the individual applied. Individuals who are listed in
one of the high preference categories move ahead of nonpreference category individu-
als on the waiting list. For MRVP and AHVP vouchers, preference is given to people
in these categories, in this order: (1) people who are homeless due to fire, earthquake,
flood, or other disaster; (2) people who are homeless or will be made homeless due to
public action such as urban renewal or other public improvement; (3) people who are
homeless or will be made homeless due to public action related to sanitary code viola-
tions; (4) people in emergency situations, whose life or safety is threatened by a lack of
suitable housing, such as victims of domestic abuse or those with medical emergencies;
(5) people with disabilities who are living in nonpermanent transitional AHVP housing;
(6) people who are already in public housing who must move; (7) standard applicants
not in any of the above categories. For MRVP and AHVP vouchers, within each pref-
erence category, veterans or families of deceased veterans whose death was service-re-
lated, get priority. Local residents who live and work in the community receive housing
vouchers next.
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