OVERVIEW - Housing Choice Voucher (HCV)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides federal funding for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program for Coastal Community Action, Inc. The HCV Program assists extremely low-income to very low-income families, including elderly and disabled families, in Carteret County to afford decent, safe and sanitary housing within the private rental market. The family is issued a voucher and is responsible for locating suitable housing. HCV staff conduct an inspection to ensure the rental unit meets minimum housing quality standards specifically for health and safety. The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) component subsidizes the balance of the rent to the owner or property management company.

PREFERENCES FOR HCV APPLICANTS

CCA awards points for the following preferences for Housing Choice Voucher Program applicants who meet the following criteria. CCA must be able to verify that the applicant household meets the criteria. The HCV program does not provide emergency housing assistance. Applicants with preferences may still wait approximately one year before reaching the top of the Waiting List.

Eligible applicants will meet the HUD definitions for the following preferences to apply and are awarded 20 points:

Homelessness: CCA adopts the CoC program definition of homeless at 24 CFR 578.3 includes the following four “homeless” categories.

Category 1: Households (individuals or families) who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including having a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodation such as a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or camping ground or is living in a publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary/short-term accommodation.

Category 2: Households in imminent risk (within 14 days of the date of application) of lose their primary nighttime residence, no other residence has been identified, and the household lacks the resources needed to obtain other permanent housing.

Category 3: Unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age, or families with children and youth, who do not otherwise qualify as homeless under this definition, but who are defined as homeless under the other federal statutes.

Category 4: Any individual or family who is fleeing, or is attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other dangerous or life-threatening conditions that relate to violence against the individual or a family member, including a child, that has either taken place within the individual's or family's primary nighttime residence or has made the individual or family afraid to return to their primary nighttime residence, has no other residence, and lacks the resources to obtain other permanent housing.

Domestic Violence: VAWA 2022 revises the definition of “domestic violence” and adds the definitions of “economic abuse” and “technological abuse.” HUD interprets its current regulatory definitions of “domestic violence” and “stalking” to include what is covered in these revised and new statutory definitions.

Eligible applicants who meet the following preference criteria receive 10 points:

• Working (at least 20 hours per week)
• Elderly (62 or older)
• Disabled households, including those with an adult or child with a verified disability

Applicants who are not eligible for a preference will be placed on the wait list with no added points and will be ranked by the date and time the application is received.