Roanoke, Virginia Section 8 Voucher Waiting List

The Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher waiting list is closed.

The RRHA last accepted applications for this waiting list from August 15, 2022, until August 19, 2022.

There is no notice of when this waiting list will reopen however, a news report in October 2024 said the housing authority had stopped issuing new vouchers altogether until further notice. The reason new vouchers aren't being issued is two fold: 1) voucher holders were having a hard time finding rentals and 2) rents have skyrocketed increasing the cost of the program and leaving less resources and helping fewer people. With this, it is likely the waiting list will remain closed for years.

To apply during the opening period, applicants were required to complete the online application. Applications were submitted online; paper applications were not accepted. 

This waiting list had the following preferences: 

• Elderly/ Disabled Family.
• Families who pay 40% of their income towards rent.
• Mainstream non-elderly persons with disabilities who are transitioning out of institutional or other segregated settings, at serious risk of institutionalization, homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless.
• Family Unification Program Families for whom the lack of adequate housing is a primary factor in the imminent placement of the family’s child, or children, in out of home care; or the delay in the discharge of the child, or children, to the family from out-of-home care; and youth at least 18 years and not more than 24 years of age (have not reached their 25th birthday), who left foster care, or will leave foster care within 90 days, in accordance with a transition plan described in Section 475(5)(H) of the Social Security Act and are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless at age 16 or older.
• Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH).
• Persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities who are in the target population of Virginia’s Olmstead Settlement Agreement with DOJ; 10 HCV Vouchers are set-aside to serve individuals meeting this preference.
• RRHA will offer a preference to families that include victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking who have either been referred by a partnering service agency or consortia or is seeking an emergency transfer under VAWA from RRHA’s public housing program or other covered housing program operated by RRHA.

Selected applicants were placed on the waiting list by random lottery, by order of preferences.

For more information, visit the RRHA website.

Sources: This information was verified by the RRHA public notice on August 8, 2022.