Rental Assistance
Created by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1978, the Housing Choice Voucher program, formerly known as Section 8, provides assistance to eligible low- and moderate-income families to rent housing in the private market.
On-Duty Housing Specialists
Contact the Rental Assistance department via phone or email and a housing specialist will be in touch with you within one business day.
Looking to get Rental Assistance?
Need a particular form?
Housing Choice Voucher Program
The HCV program works as a rental subsidy that allows households to pay a reasonable portion of their income, no more than 40%, toward their rent. A voucher pays the rest. Eligibility for the HCV program is based on a household’s adjusted annual income and family size. Clients can rent a unit in any home/complex in Washoe County as long as it meets RHA’s Housing Quality Standards, as outlined by HUD.”
Housing Choice Voucher participants must comply with all program requirements, including completing their regular re-certification, accommodating Housing Quality Standards inspections, allowing property owners to make any needed repairs, and adhering to the terms of their lease.
Project-Based Voucher Program
With a PBV, the voucher is tied to the individual unit and the client’s portion of rent and utilities is generally 30% of their household’s adjusted monthly income. If a client moves out of a PBV unit, they cannot take the voucher to another property.
However, once a PBV client has completed his/her PBV lease, they may apply for a traditional Housing Choice Voucher and use that voucher in another rental unit.
Special Purpose Vouchers
In addition to the roughly 2,400 Housing Choice Vouchers issued by RHA each year, HUD also provides us about 550 special purpose vouchers. These are vouchers earmarked for specific populations including victims of domestic violence, former foster youth and military veterans, and are issued to households that require case management and other wraparound services. Applicants for these vouchers must be referred to RHA by our community partners.
Supporting Veterans
Through the HUD Veterans Administration Supportive Housing (VASH) initiative, RHA provides more than 400 housing subsidies specifically for veterans who have experienced homelessness. A condition of eligibility for a VASH voucher is mandatory participation in case management services, provided locally by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Supporting the Youth
RHA provides housing subsidies for 15 former foster youth, each of whom are also provided supportive case management services through Eddy House and Washoe County Human Services department.
Emergency Housing
More than 130 Emergency Housing Vouchers are also distributed to Washoe County households for those who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking. They’re also for households for whom providing rental assistance will prevent the family’s homelessness or having high risk of housing instability.
Like the other special purpose vouchers, households must be referred to RHA through one of four community partners including Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada, Health Plan of Nevada, Washoe County Housing and Homeless Services, and Washoe County Human Services: Our Place. Emergency Housing Voucher holders must also continue to receive ongoing case management through these community partners.
Portability
Portability is the process of transferring, or porting, a family’s rental subsidy to another Housing Authority’s jurisdiction. Portability is only available through the Housing Choice Voucher and Emergency Housing Voucher programs and only under certain circumstances.
Porting In to RHA
RHA is currently absorbing all incoming ports. Please direct all questions and portability paperwork to portability@renoha.org. Once your completed file has been received, the RHA will contact you to conduct a recertification of your file. After your file has been updated, you will be scheduled for a briefing where you will be issued the RFTA paperwork required to receive housing assistance in Washoe County.
Please note that in accordance with HUD guidelines, the RHA re-screens incoming portable clients for eligibility according to the policies in our Administrative Plan by conducting fingerprinting on all adult household members during the briefing. The RHA will not delay issuing a voucher in order to conduct this screening; however, should you be found ineligible in our jurisdiction, we may refuse to assist you (by either referring you back to your original Housing Authority or terminating your assistance per 24 CFR 982.552 and 24 CFR 982.553).
Porting Out of RHA
If you are a Housing Choice Voucher or Emergency Housing Voucher holder wishing to “port out” of RHA, please submit the Portability Request Form to leasing@renoha.org.
Rent Café
RHA has launched Rent Café, an online client portal, which will allow registered users to complete annual recertifications, submit changes in income and personal information, view HAP payment history, unit inspection history, and more. (Please note that an email address is required to access the portal.)
If you already created a login as part of the Admissions process, you’re all set! Use either the Applicant Login or Public Housing/HCV Login options and enter your email and password to login.
To register, click on the Rent Café menu above and select Public Housing/HCV Login. Then click “Register Here” and follow the prompts. You will need a registration code, which is provided by RHA. If you do not have yours, please contact our office and we will gladly provide it to you.
FAQ
That depends on a lot! How quickly you find a unit & turn in the paperwork, how quickly it passes inspection, and how quickly the landlord gets us the lease.
IN GENERAL, once you find a unit and have the landlord fill out the Request For Tenancy Approval (RFTA), it will be processed by our office within 2 business days. That “processing” involves checking that the rent is affordable for you (based on your budget) and is reasonable based on similar units in the same area. If it meets both criteria, we’ll request an inspection. Inspections are scheduled directly with the landlord (unless you already live there) and can take up to 2 weeks. If the unit doesn’t pass, additional time will be needed for repairs and re-inspection (the landlord must contact RHA when the repairs have been made). Once the unit passes inspection, it can take another few days to ensure the items seen during inspection match what was submitted on the RFTA and analyzed for reasonableness, but then our office will give you and the landlord the “ok” to sign a lease. Once your lease is signed, you’re free to move in and begin paying your portion of the rent. It may take up to 60 days for RHA to start paying due to required paperwork steps, but we will pay back to the approved lease start date. You will still need to pay your required portion of the rent even if RHA has not started our payments.
No! If you move-in before the unit passes inspection AND you/your landlord have received confirmation the unit is approved, you will be responsible for the full rent. Also, if you sign a lease and the unit doesn’t pass the inspection (or if the RHA discovers incorrect information from the RFTA or rent reasonable test and the landlord isn’t willing to change it), you may be stuck in a legally-binding agreement for an unapproved unit and would lose your assistance.
- When your voucher was issued you should have been given a page of budgets for each zip code. As long as the base rent for the unit PLUS the utility allowance is at or below your budget, the unit is affordable!
- Determining your Utility Allowance:
- If all utilities are included in the rent, you’re done! Use $0 for your utility allowance.
- If you’re responsible for paying at least two of the water, sewer, and trash, you’ll need to use the 2nd Otherwise, use the 1sttable.
- Using the sheet you were provided (linked here) and the 1stor 2nd table (based on your answer above), look for the column of the bedroom size of the unit or the size of your voucher (whichever is smaller). Then look at the row for the structure type of the unit (house, apartment, mobile home, duplex/townhouse, or EES – which are energy efficient units designated by RHA). That’s your Utility Allowance!
- A payment standard is the maximum amount of assistance that RHA could pay for a unit (before deducting the total tenant payment by the family).
- Renting a unit where the gross rent (rent + utility allowance) is at or below the payment standard will ensure the family pays 30% of their adjusted monthly income toward rent and utilities.
- Renting a unit where the gross rent (rent + utility allowance) is above the payment standard (up to the maximum budget you are provided) will cause the family to pay between 30-40% of their adjusted monthly income toward rent and utilities.
There are many different payment standards depending on what zip code you are looking at and what size voucher you are issued.
- A calculated amount that is subtracted from a tenant’s rent to account for their out-of-pocket utility expenses, with the intent of ensuring housing costs (including utilities) remain affordable for residents.
- Your utility allowance DOES NOT represent the actual amount of your utility bills. Instead, it’s designed to represent the average utility costs for energy-conscious households.
- RHA’s subsidy standards determine the voucher size to issue, and state that there will be 2 people per bedroom (issued on the voucher), with a minor child not having to share with an adult.
- RHA does not make distinctions for the gender or generation of the people assigned to a bedroom on the voucher (so you may be asked to share a bedroom with an adult child, and minor children of different genders would be assigned a single room).
- PLEASE NOTE that RHA does not require you to maintain these sleeping arrangements in the actual unit. They are just for determining the size of voucher to issue. Your household is solely responsible for determining who sleeps where in the unit.
Granting extra bedrooms means that you get more rental assistance that could otherwise help another family. Extra bedrooms are approved as Reasonable Accommodations in limited situations for:
- Live-In Aides
- Large medical equipment
- Certain conditions that make it impossible for two people to share a room (ex: extreme emotional or medical issue which a doctor certifies).
- A live-in aide (LIA) cannot be someone who would normally live with you as part of your family or support you financially. A LIA is an employee who you hire to provide care.
- Your healthcare provider or other knowledgeable professional may need to verify that you need a LIA to perform essential tasks related to your disability during nighttime hours.
- You may not charge rent to a LIA and they may not contribute financially to the household.
- A LIA does not have any rights to the voucher and is not considered part of the assisted household.
- You do not need our approval for daytime help, only for a LIA to live with you.
- Extensions must be requested in writing BEFORE your voucher expires, and are never guaranteed.
- Your portion of the rent is based on your household’s income and the voucher size you qualify for. If there was a change in who lives with you, this may have changed your voucher size and the amount RHA can pay. Also, if there was a change in any household member’s income, this may have increased or decreased your portion of the rent.
- Households need to report changes in household income, assets, and allowable expenses (such as medical and childcare), as well as changes to the people living in the unit. These changes must be reported within 30 days.
- Submit an Update Information form (link to forms page), making sure to fill out all information as it stands today (not just the change you want to report). RHA will compare this information to your file and update as appropriate.
- You can also complete the Report a Change section in your Client Portal.
- Please submit an Add-a-Member form (link to forms section) with all of the listed information. You will need to get written approval from your landlord stating that the person may be added to your lease. For adults, they will also need to pass a background check with RHA. DO NOT allow anyone other than a newborn to move into your unit without prior written approval from the RHA (and approval must be requested for newborns within 30 days).
- Most households have to recertify with RHA once a year; however, households with only fixed/stable income only recertify once every 3 years. RHA will send you the necessary paperwork approximately 3 months before your recertification takes effect, giving us time to verify and process all of the information. Please note that if you live in a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC, or Tax Credit) property, you will also have to recertify with them each year.
- You may also complete your RHA recertification online using your Client Portal.
- RHA will inspect your unit before you are approved to move-in (or before your assistance starts if you are leasing in place), and then every two years after that. Because we MUST inspect the unit before the end of the 2 years, RHA will schedule your biennial inspection approximately 2 months before the official date. This gives us time to reschedule, if needed.
- If the failed items were marked tenant-responsible, you will need to work with your landlord to repair the items. Make sure you check with them before making any repairs yourself. Some leases do not allow for the tenant to repair the unit.
- If the failed items were marked landlord-responsible, you will need to allow the landlord and/or their maintenance to enter your unit (after reasonable notice) to make the repairs.
- Most items allow 30 days for repairs to be made. If any items were considered Life Threatening, those have to be repaired within 24 hours.
- If you or the landlord need more time to make repairs, either of you may submit an Inspection Request form (link to forms page).
- We want you to live in a safe unit. If the repairs are not made, RHA will begin withholding our assistance payments (landlord-responsible items) or issue a notice of termination (tenant-responsible items).
- Your landlord may request an increase to the contract rent once a year, and it cannot be changed during the term of a lease. Your landlord is required to make this request to RHA in writing at least 60 days before it would be effective to allow time for us to check that the requested rent is reasonable. They must also give you proper notice of the increase, which is currently a minimum of 45 days per NRS. Until RHA has approved the new rent, the landlord cannot charge you anything additional. You will receive a letter from us letting you know if your rent has increased and for how much.
- Your landlord should never ask you to pay more than what RHA has said; however, if your lease includes additional fees beyond the base rent (such as pet fees, community fees, etc.) these are NOT included in RHA’s rent calculation and are your responsibility.
- If the eviction is for non-payment of rent, make sure to talk to RHA immediately, providing a copy of your ledger if you can. As long as you’ve been paying your portion of the rent and any additional fees (like pet fees) you agreed to in the lease, your landlord shouldn’t be able to evict you. You’ll also want to reach out to legal services to make sure you are filing the correct motions to contest the eviction.
- If the eviction is for a breach of your lease, you still need to notify RHA; however, since we are not a party to the lease we cannot force them to stop the eviction. You should reach out to legal services right away.
- Once you are receiving voucher assistance, there is no set amount that will disqualify you. When your income increases to the point where you can pay the full rent for the unit with 30-40% of your income, you will be sent a notice stating your assistance will end in 1 year. That way, if your household has a change in the following 12 months that makes it so you can no longer pay the full rent, your assistance will pick right back up.
- Once you begin paying the full rent for your unit, you remain on the voucher program for 12 months. If you are able to pay your full rent for 12 months, you are removed from the voucher program and would have to reapply in the future if you need assistance again.
- During this time, if your household experiences a change that makes it so you’re no longer paying the full rent, your assistance continues. Please fill out an Update Information form with any changes so we can re-evaluate your portion of the rent.
- Check your lease to see if you need to give any more than 30-day notice.
- If you are in a current lease and you want to move before the lease is up, you will need to get written permission from the landlord stating they’re letting you out of your lease.
- Have your landlord sign off on the notice and provide a copy to RHA.
- Our Leasing Agent will contact you to verify the information we have on file and issue your voucher.
- We have an On Duty Housing Specialist available to answer questions via email (section8@renoha.org) or phone (775-329-3630 ext. 5) every business day, with walk-ins accepted on Thursdays from 9a-12p and 1p-4p.
- Due to the high volume of calls and emails received, we are unable to answer calls live but return them in the order received, within 48 business hours.
- If you already had an account during the application process (a.k.a. an Applicant Portal), you’re done! It automatically converted to a Client Portal when you started using your voucher.
- To create an account, you will need the following information:
- Your Registration Code (which you can get off the registration letter you were sent, or call/email our office).
- Valid e-mail address
- Click on the Rent Café drop-down at the top of our website, and select Public Housing/HCV Login.
- Select Click Here to Register & provide the above information.
- CRI – Contract Rent Increase: an increase to the contract rent for the assisted unit, requested by the landlord.
- HAP – Housing Assistance Payment: the portion of the rent RHA is responsible for paying to the landlord.
- HCV – Housing Choice Voucher: the most common of the many voucher programs that are offered. Used to be known as Section 8.
- HQS – Housing Quality Standards: HUD standards for assisted housing.
- HUD – US Department of Housing and Urban Development: the federal department that governs housing authorities.
- LIA – Live-In Aide: a person you hire to provide care and live with you full-time, who would not otherwise be a part of your household.
- LIHTC – Low Income Housing Tax Credit: a type of property that has income limits and requires tenants to recertify annually (separate from the PHA recertification).
- NSPIRE – National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate: the new inspection protocol used by HUD.
- PHA – Public Housing Authority
- RFTA – Request for Tenancy Approval: the form used by the landlord and tenant to tell RHA about the unit to be rented.
- RHA – Reno Housing Authority
- UA – Utility Allowance: Average cost of utilities for the size and type of unit. Used in the calculation of your portion of the rent to ensure rent and utilities paid by the tenant are reasonable.
Have a question about Rental Assistance Vouchers or need a particular form?
For any questions you might have contact us through the form and a person from the Reno Housing Authority will contact you as soon as possible.
You can find all of the Rental Assistance Forms here:
Have a general question? Contact us here: generalRA@renoha.org
