Access to affordable housing is a big issue in the D.C. region. To combat the problem, Arlington County, Virginia, says it will soon open up a waitlist for a federally funded rental subsidy program.
The program is called the Housing Choice Voucher Program and the county will select 5,000 applicants through a lottery program. Preference will be given to people who live and work in the county, are homeless, disabled or are victims of domestic abuse.
The application period to get on the Housing Choice Voucher Program lottery begins September 13.
The HCV program, which used to be known as Section 8, assists low and moderate income families by paying a portion of their rent to their landlords.
There were 213 homeless people in the county at the start of the year, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. That’s up from 182 in 2022.
The annual count, conducted in January of 2023, found an 18% percent rise in homelessness overall in the region up from a record low in 2022. Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, in Maryland, and Loudon County saw some of the biggest increases.
However, in the past five years, regional homelessness overall has gone down around 4%.