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 preference points for the following preferences for eligible Housing Choice Voucher Program applicants who meet the criteria below. Preferences must be verified.

•  Homelessness & Fleeing Domestic Violence – 25 Points

CCA adopts the CoC program definition of homelessness at 24 CFR 578.3 including the following:

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 station, airport, or camping ground or is living in a publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary/shortterm accommodation.

Category 2: Households at immediate risk (within 14 days of the date of application) of losing 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: Domestic Violence: Any individual or family fleeing, or 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. VAWA 2022 revised 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.

Applicants who are not eligible for or do not claim a preference, but appear to be eligible for assistance, will be placed on the wait list by the date and time the application is received