What is public housing? Who qualifies and how to apply

Public housing is a home where your landlord is a housing authority (the local housing office). You apply to that office and join its waitlist, a list of people waiting for a home. Rent is usually about 30% of your income after deductions, such as one for each child. If you move out, you lose the apartment and its lower rent.

What is public housing?

Public housing is rental housing for low-income families, older adults (62 or older) and people with disabilities. Local housing offices own and run it with money from the federal housing department (HUD). HUD's public housing page says it comes in every size, from single-family houses to high-rise buildings for older adults.

Each housing office runs its own buildings and keeps its own waitlist. Once you move in, you sign a lease with the housing office. It handles repairs and checks your income each year, so your rent goes up when you earn more and down when you earn less. Each adult who lives there must also do 8 hours a month of community service or a job-training program. Adults who are 62 or older or who work are among those exempt.

Some states also run their own public housing. Massachusetts is one, and you apply for most of its state-funded apartments through one state website.

How is public housing different from Section 8?

The difference is who owns your home and whether you can take the lower rent with you. A Section 8 voucher, which pays part of the rent on an apartment you choose from a private landlord, can usually go with you when you move. What Section 8 is explains how it works. The same housing office often runs both.

Some housing offices take one application for both. Others keep two separate lists, and you apply to each one.

A Section 8 building is a third option. It is privately owned, and the government pays part of the rent for certain apartments. You apply at the building's own office, not at the housing office.

While you wait for public housing, you can also join the waitlists at Section 8 buildings, senior buildings and tax-credit buildings. In a senior building, at least one person in your household must be 62 or older. In a tax-credit building, the rent is a set amount that doesn't go up or down with your income. Compare public housing with Section 8, senior and tax-credit buildings to see where you qualify and what you would pay.

Who qualifies for public housing?

HUD says three things decide it. The first is your household's yearly income before taxes. The second is whether you count as a family, an older adult or a person with a disability. The third is your citizenship or eligible immigration status.

To qualify, your household's income must be at or under the low-income limit for your area. That limit starts from 80% of the area median income, the middle income in the area. HUD publishes these income limits, the most a household can earn and still qualify, on its income limits page for each area and household size. Its 2026 limits took effect May 1, 2026. Limits differ by area, so you may qualify at one housing office and not at another. See what counts as low income.

Federal rules also help the poorest households. Each year, at least 40% of the families a housing office admits from its waitlist must be extremely low income. Extremely low income means at or under 30% of the area median income or the federal poverty guideline, whichever is higher.

Housing offices also check references. They can turn you away if your past behavior suggests you would hurt other tenants or damage the property. If you're turned down, HUD says the housing office must tell you why, and you can ask for an informal hearing.

How is rent set in public housing?

Your rent starts from your base payment, which HUD calls the total tenant payment. Federal rules make it the highest of four amounts:

• 30% of your monthly income after deductions.
• 10% of your monthly income before deductions.
• A welfare amount, used only in some places for households that get welfare.
• A minimum rent, which HUD's page says is $25 or a higher amount up to $50, set by the housing office.

The deductions are amounts federal rules let the housing office take off your income first, such as for each child or other dependent. Your income-based rent can't be more than your base payment. If you pay your own utilities, the housing office lowers your rent by an amount for them.

Once a year, the housing office must also let you choose a flat rent instead. The flat rent is a set amount based on the home's market value. It is at least 80% of HUD's fair market rent, its estimate of a typical rent in the area. Because it doesn't rise with your pay, a flat rent can cost less once your income goes up.

One household, two programs

Take a household of three with $24,000 a year in income, or $2,000 a month. The housing office takes off $3,000 a year in deductions, which leaves $21,000 a year, or $1,750 a month.

• 30% of $1,750 is $525.
• 10% of $2,000 is $200.
• The higher amount is $525, which is above the $50 top minimum rent. So the base payment is $525, and in public housing the rent is at most $525.

With a voucher, the same household finds a home where the rent plus utilities is $1,400. The voucher limit for the area is $1,300: the most rent and utilities together can cost while the household still pays only its base payment. It is not what the voucher pays.

• The federal rule has the voucher pay the lower of two amounts. One is the voucher limit minus the base payment: $1,300 minus $525 is $775. The other is the rent plus utilities minus the base payment: $1,400 minus $525 is $875. So the voucher pays $775.
• The household pays the other $625: its $525 base payment plus the $100 the rent is above the voucher limit.
• When you first rent a home with a voucher, what you pay can't be more than 40% of your monthly income after deductions. Here that is $700, so $625 is allowed.

How do you apply for public housing?

1. Find your local housing office. Use HUD's list of housing office contacts, and apply to the office that serves the place where you want to live.
2. Ask which lists are open. A housing office can close its list when it has more names than it can serve, so ask about each list you want.
3. Fill out the written application. HUD says it must be in writing. Ask whether the housing office takes it online, by mail or in person.
4. List everyone who would live in the home. Expect questions about each person's birth date, your current and past landlords and your expected income for the next 12 months. The form also asks for employers or banks that can confirm it.
5. Provide documents. The housing office may ask for things like birth certificates and tax returns, and for your signature so it can check facts with employers.
6. Wait for a written answer. If you qualify, you go on the waitlist, unless the housing office can offer you a home right away.

Many housing offices also have a local preference, a group they offer homes to first, such as veterans or people who already live in the area. Federal rules say a housing office must tell every applicant about its preferences. It may put people who live in its area first, but it can't require you to live there to apply.

How long is the wait?

It depends on the housing office, and it is often long. HUD says long waits are common, and the wait depends on how many apartments of your size come free and how many people are ahead of you. Ask each housing office: "How long is the wait for a home my size?"

Where do you find open public housing lists?

Our area-wide waitlists page shows the waitlists housing offices keep for a whole city or county, including public housing lists. Some statewide agencies post every list in one place: Alaska's statewide housing agency posts its waiting list status for each town it serves.

Each housing office also posts its own lists, so check its website before you apply. You can also see our pages for Alaska and Massachusetts, or read how to find open public housing waitlists and an open Section 8 waitlist. To see which listings fit your household, use the qualify check.