Low-income apartments in Cleveland: how to find and apply

To find low-income apartments in Cleveland, start with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), the housing authority (the local housing office) for Cuyahoga County. You can apply for a Section 8 voucher, which pays part of your rent to a private landlord, on any day of the year. CMHA's own apartments take applications building by building.

How does CMHA's Section 8 voucher lottery work?

CMHA takes voucher pre-applications all year. These are short first forms you fill in on its online portal. Its waitlist, the line of people waiting for a voucher, has no closing date. When it has money for more vouchers, it picks names from everyone who has applied in small, random drawings. This is a lottery: applying early gives you no better chance than applying late. CMHA says your name may come up within a few days or may take months.

Your pre-application stays in the draw for 18 months. If it runs out before you are picked, send a new one right away to stay in. If you are picked, CMHA emails you to fill in the full application, so keep your email, phone number, address, income and household up to date in the portal.

For the pre-application, CMHA asks for:

• a private email account;
• your Social Security number;
• the names and birth dates of everyone who will live with you;
• the income of each person in your household.

If you have no computer, use the kiosks and computers at CMHA's main campus. The Cleveland Public Library and the Cuyahoga County Public Library also lend internet hotspots. For help, call CMHA's applications team at 216-431-1471 and choose option 6.

How does the voucher work once you have one?

You find an apartment whose landlord accepts vouchers, and CMHA inspects it before you move in. You usually pay about 30% of your monthly income toward rent and utilities, counted after deductions set by HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. CMHA pays the rest of the rent straight to the landlord.

That works as long as the rent plus utilities is at or under CMHA's voucher limit for your size of home, officially the payment standard. The voucher limit is the highest rent plus utilities a home can have while you pay only about 30% of your income. If the home costs more, you pay your 30% plus everything above the voucher limit. When you first rent a home with the voucher, your part can't be more than 40% of your monthly income after deductions.

How do you apply for CMHA public housing?

You apply for CMHA public housing, the apartments CMHA owns and rents out, one building at a time. CMHA's property list has an Apply link, the bedroom sizes and the office phone number for each one. CMHA runs more than 60 of these properties across Cuyahoga County, from single-family houses to apartment buildings for older adults and for families. Apply to every building that fits your household.

When your name reaches the top of a building's list for your bedroom size, an intake specialist contacts you. The wait depends on the bedroom size, the kind of building and CMHA's preferences, the groups it moves up the list. A preference moves you up, but you still have to pass CMHA's screening. Tell CMHA every time your address or household changes.

Your rent in public housing is usually 30% of your monthly income after deductions, so it goes up when you earn more and down when you earn less. The least you pay is $25 a month, even with no income. You can also choose a flat rent, a fixed amount CMHA sets, instead of paying 30% of your income. If you move out, you give up the apartment and its lower rent.

What are project-based vouchers in Cleveland?

A project-based voucher lowers the rent on one apartment in a privately owned building while you live there. You pay 30% of your income for rent and utilities, and CMHA pays the owner the rest. Some of these lists put certain groups first, such as people who are chronically homeless. That means people with a disability who have been homeless for a year or more, or four times in three years.

If you move out during your first year, you lose the lower rent and get nothing to take with you. After a year, you can ask CMHA for a regular voucher to use at an apartment you choose. Ask before you give your landlord notice, because if no voucher is free yet, you get the next one that comes free.

What are the 2026 income limits in Cleveland?

For four people in the Cleveland area, the 2026 very low limit is $52,500 a year. An income limit is the most your household can earn in a year, before taxes, and still qualify. HUD sets three limits for the area, which covers Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties. They took effect May 1, 2026:

To get a voucher, most households must earn at or under the very low limit. Federal rules let a housing office admit some families up to the low limit under its own rules, so ask CMHA if your income falls in between. CMHA's voucher page lists lower limits, effective April 3, 2025: $34,800 for one person, $39,800 for two and $49,700 for four. Call 216-431-1471, choose option 6, and ask which limits it uses for your household.

The extremely low limit is 60% of the very low limit, or the federal poverty guideline if that is higher. For four people, the poverty guideline of $33,000 is the higher one. Each year, at least 75% of the families CMHA newly gives vouchers to must be at or under the extremely low limit.

Example. A household of two earning $38,000 a year is under both HUD's 2026 very low limit of $42,000 and CMHA's posted $39,800, so it can apply for a voucher. It is above the extremely low limit of $25,200. At least 75% of new vouchers go to households at or under that limit, so a household like this is passed over more often.

Where else can you look in Cleveland?

• Income-restricted buildings. These privately run buildings charge a lower, set rent to households under an income limit. Each takes applications at its own office, so call each one and ask whether its waitlist is open.
• Ohio's rental search. The state's free rental search site lists rentals across Ohio, including lower-rent and accessible ones. For help searching, call 1-877-428-8844.
• Help today. Call 2-1-1, a free helpline that connects you with local housing and human services, or text 898211.

How do you avoid housing scams in Cleveland?

A housing office can't charge you to apply for a Section 8 voucher, public housing or a project-based voucher. HUD's inspector general warns about social media posts that falsely announce a list and then ask for money or personal details. Apply only through CMHA's own website, and never pay anyone to put you on a list or move you up.

What should you do next?

1. Send CMHA a voucher pre-application, and put a reminder in your calendar for 18 months from now to send a new one.
2. Apply to every CMHA building that fits your household on its property list.
3. Find income-restricted buildings near you on the state's free rental search site, then call them and ask to join their waitlists.
4. Gather your documents now, so you can answer fast when your name comes up.

Check the Ohio lists taking names today and the Ohio listings you can apply for now. Use our qualify check to see which listings fit your household's size and income. You can be on more than one list, so join open Section 8 waitlists in other places too.