Eligibility and how to apply

Subsidized housing eligibility

You must have an annual household income at or below 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). You receive waiting list preference with income at or below 30 percent of AMI.

Our housing search tool can give you an estimate of your eligibility for all of KCHA’s programs — including subsidized housing — based on your family size, income, and housing preferences.

Income limits

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Waiting list preferences

KCHA will give you waiting list preference if you are:

• Homeless, or at risk of losing your housing. You are considered homeless if you are:
  • Living outside (for example, no fixed roof, in a park, or in a tent) or in a car or recreational vehicle
  • Living in a temporary shelter
  • Living in other unstable temporary housing (for example, couch surfing, doubled up)
• Living in substandard-condition housing. Housing is substandard if it:
  • Is dangerous to your health, safety, and wellbeing
  • Doesn’t have working plumbing, toilet, or tub/shower
  • Doesn’t have a kitchen, when it should have one
  • Doesn’t have heat
  • Doesn’t have electricity
• Displaced because of natural disaster, government action, or domestic violence; or a forced move due to hate crimes, owner actions, or unit inaccessibility.
• At or below 30 percent of Area Median Income (see table above).
• Paying more than 50 percent of your household pre-tax income on rent and utilities, not counting phone, internet or cable.

General requirements

To qualify for subsidized housing, you must be one of the following:

• A family with children under age 18.
• Age 55 or older.
• Disabled.

In addition, your household must:

• Have a head of household age 18 or older.
• Have no more than 10 people.
• Submit all required consent forms.
• Have U.S. citizenship, or documents that show eligible non-citizen status.
• Provide a documented social security number (SSN) for each person. Otherwise, you must provide a signed certificate showing that no SSN has been assigned.

Suitability requirements

You must also show that your household can follow all lease requirements. KCHA may require the following from all people age 18 and older:

• Criminal background checks. (This includes live-in aides.) We will not accept comprehensive reusable tenant screening reports.
• Credit checks.
• Rental history checks.
• Lifetime sex offender registration checks. (This includes live-in aides.) Anyone registered as a sex offender cannot live in subsidized housing.

KCHA rejects applications when it believes a household member will have a negative effect on others. We may also reject applicants that have not shown they can manage their household or follow lease terms.

Pet and smoking policies

The following policies are available in PDF format:

• Pet Policy – Family Communities
• Pet Policy – Senior Communities
• Non-Smoking Policy

Where else can I apply to get help?

For emergency resources, start by calling 211. You can apply for public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs with other housing authorities. For tenant and landlord resources, the Tenants Union and Housing Justice Project are among many other agencies that may be able to assist. This page has a more complete list of resources. KCHA’s other rental housing and its moderate-income housing may provide alternatives for some applicants.

Previously submitted applications

If any of the information you listed on your application changes, you must report the changes to KCHA as soon as possible. You can report application changes online.

We will contact people already on the waiting list by mail when your name nears the top of a waiting list. You will have to provide updated household information (such as income, family composition) at that time. You will also have to submit information for background and credit history checks. If you pass the screening process, KCHA will contact you when a home with the number of bedrooms you need opens up.