Columbia Housing Authority to accept applications for public housing assistance, vouchers

The Columbia Housing Authority next month is partially opening applications for highly sought public housing assistance and Section 8 vouchers.

For the first time in more than a year, elderly and low-income Columbia residents can apply for the first-come, first-served help starting May 17 at 9 a.m.

The nonprofit organization wants applications to move elderly, low-income residents into high-rise apartments at 1930 Marion St. and 2211 Read St. It also is offering Section 8 vouchers to subsidize rent payments at three specific private apartment complexes, according to Housing Authority planning director Nancy Stoudenmire.

Waiting lists for public housing and vouchers have been frozen since open application periods left Housing Authority staff inundated with requests.

More than 31,200 people applied for Section 8 vouchers during a five-day span in September 2014, though just 2,000 of those applications were accepted after a lottery. Housing Authority staff have whittled that waiting list to 880, Stoudenmire said.

The nonprofit also will accept public housing applications – though narrow in scope – for the first time since it closed the process in December 2013, when it had 9,000 requests. That waiting list is down to 4,000, Stoudenmire said.

“I can tell you that May 17 is going to be a wild day for the Columbia Housing Authority,” she said.

Residents also can apply online at www.chasc.org before the 5 p.m. May 31 deadline. Libraries throughout Richland County will have staff trained to help with applications made using those computers, Stoudenmire said.

Applicants for the public high-rises must be at least 62 years old and make less than $35,950 a year.

Vouchers offered in this application period apply only to three north Columbia apartment complexes: Village at River’s Edge off River Drive, Gable Oaks at 901 Colleton St. and Lorick Place on West Avenue.

Stoudenmire said the Housing Authority has secured 370 apartments between the three complexes for low-income families.

“This is huge, especially since we’re going to be tearing down Gonzales Gardens,” she said. “We’re going to be making affordable housing available for a long time to come.”

The Housing Authority received the OK from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in December to demolish the 75-year-old Gonzales Gardens complex, located off Forest Drive across from Providence Hospital, and relocate its 616 residents.

The Housing Authority is on track to fully open up applications for Section 8 vouchers in 2017 but likely won’t accept public housing applications again until at least 2019, Stoudenmire said.

“We’ve just got lots of two- and three-bedroom families that need housing,” she said. “We’ll see a lot of applications for that.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 1:27 PM with the headline "Columbia Housing Authority to accept applications for public housing assistance, vouchers."