Low-income apartments in Las Vegas: how to find and apply

To find low-income apartments in Las Vegas, apply to the waitlists of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, the local housing office, whenever they open. A waitlist is a line you join now and wait in until your turn comes. Meanwhile, ask each nonprofit building you like to add you to its interest list, the people it calls when an apartment is free.

What does the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority offer?

The Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority (SNRHA), the housing authority (the local housing office) for the Las Vegas area, offers four kinds of lower-rent housing. You apply for each one online, through its applicant portal, called RentCafe, only while that list is open:

A project-based voucher lowers the rent only while you live in that apartment. If you move out in your first year, you lose the lower rent and get nothing to take with you. After a year, federal rules let you ask for a voucher you can take to a home you choose, so ask SNRHA before you give your landlord notice.

How do SNRHA's waitlists open?

SNRHA opens each waitlist for a short, set window and takes applications online. To see whether a list is taking names today, look at the top of SNRHA's applicant portal or our Nevada waitlists page, or call SNRHA at (702) 477-3100.

To apply, you need a working email address and the names and ages of everyone in your household. SNRHA says the first form, the preliminary application, takes about 15 minutes. After that, keep your contact details up to date in RentCafe. SNRHA asks you to report a change within 10 days, and it can take you off the list if it can't reach you.

Veterans don't have to wait for an opening to apply for SNRHA's public housing, its Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) buildings, former public housing that now gets project-based rent help, and its lower-rent communities. SNRHA says veterans can apply to them at any time: online when the list is open, and in person at 340 N. 11th Street, Las Vegas, when it is closed. This doesn't cover Section 8 vouchers; veterans who are homeless can be referred for a veterans' voucher (below).

How does the Las Vegas Section 8 lottery work?

SNRHA picks voucher applicants by lottery, so the day you apply in the window doesn't change your chance. SNRHA's steps are:

1. Send the preliminary application in RentCafe while the voucher list is open.
2. Wait for the draw. After the list closes, SNRHA picks applicants at random and tells them by email or mail.
3. Send the full application if you are picked. SNRHA checks that you qualify, including a criminal background check.
4. Take the online orientation in RentCafe and get your voucher.
5. Find a home within 90 days, or 120 days if you are elderly or have a disability. You can ask for one 30-day extension before the voucher runs out. If you don't find a home in time, you have to send a new preliminary application.
6. Fill in the request for tenancy approval with your landlord in RentCafe. This form asks SNRHA to approve the home and the rent. SNRHA inspects the home, and then you sign the lease.

SNRHA sets a voucher limit, officially the payment standard, for each home size. It is the highest rent plus utilities a home can have while you pay only about 30% of your income. If a home costs more, you pay the extra too. When you first rent a home with the voucher, what you pay can't be more than 40% of your monthly income after set deductions. Ask SNRHA for the voucher limit for your home size before you sign a lease.

Are there other vouchers in Las Vegas?

Yes, for certain groups, and most come through a referral rather than a waitlist:

• Family Unification Program. For families who could lose their children, or can't get them back, mainly because they have no safe home. The Clark County Department of Family Services refers families; you can't apply to SNRHA yourself.
• Mainstream vouchers. For people under 62 who have a disability and can live on their own with support. Call SNRHA at (702) 477-3100 and ask about Mainstream vouchers.
• Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers. For veterans who are homeless. The Department of Veterans Affairs refers them to SNRHA and gives them case management.

What are the 2026 income limits in Las Vegas?

For a Section 8 voucher in Las Vegas, most households' yearly income before taxes must be at or under the very low income limit, $52,750 for four people in 2026. An income limit is the most a household can earn and still qualify. Federal rules let a housing office admit some families up to the low limit under its own rules, so ask if your income is in between. HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, sets these limits for Clark County each year, and the 2026 limits took effect May 1, 2026:

SNRHA's own chart can lag a year behind HUD's, so call (702) 477-3100 and ask which limit applies to your household. Lower-rent buildings outside SNRHA, such as tax-credit buildings, which get a federal tax break for keeping rents low, post their own charts.

The extremely low limit is 60% of the very low limit, or the federal poverty guideline if that is higher. For four people, 60% of $52,750 is $31,650, but the poverty guideline is higher, so the limit is $33,000. Each year, at least 75% of the families a housing office newly gives vouchers to must be at or under the extremely low limit. So if your income is above it, expect a longer wait.

How do you join nonprofit and other building lists?

Many lower-rent buildings in Las Vegas aren't run by SNRHA and keep their own lists:

• Nevada HAND. This nonprofit landlord runs lower-rent family and senior apartments in Southern Nevada. On its homes page, pick a property, press its Contact Us button and send your details, with your yearly income or your voucher in the comments. It contacts you to apply when your income fits an apartment that is free. Join as many property lists as you like, and send the form again if no one replies within 30 days.
• Other rentals across Nevada. NVHousingSearch, a free rental search run for the state of Nevada, lists rentals, including ones that take vouchers. For help searching, call 1-877-428-8844, weekdays 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific.
• Homes to buy. Clark County sells homes through its community land trust. You own the house, the trust owns the land under it, and when you sell, the price stays affordable for the next buyer. Start with one of the information sessions listed on that page.

How do you spot a housing scam in Las Vegas?

Never pay anyone to put you on a waitlist. HUD's inspector general says housing offices never ask for money to join a list, and it warns of fake waitlist posts on social media. Check that a list is open only on SNRHA's own website or by calling (702) 477-3100. The Federal Trade Commission warns that fake rental ads rush you and ask for a wire transfer or gift card. Before you pay anything, search the owner's name with words like "scam" or "complaint", and see the home in person if you can.

What should you do next?

Check which lists are taking names on our Nevada waitlists page and see the Nevada listings you can apply for now. Gather your papers before a list opens: get your application documents ready. If SNRHA's lists are closed, find Section 8 waitlists that are open in other areas, and use our qualify check to see which listings fit your household's size and income.