Missoula Housing Authority: Long waitlist for affordable housing vouchers

David Erickson

There’s a huge waitlist for Section 8 housing vouchers in Missoula, according to the Missoula Housing Authority.

There were 1,816 families on the waitlist to get the vouchers as of this past December. That means someone at the back of the line would wait about two or three years to get one, according to Jim McGrath of the Missoula Housing Authority.

The vouchers subsidize rent for a voucher-holder in a market rate apartment so that very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled can afford adequate housing in the private market. Also called Housing Choice vouchers, they’re funded by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

McGrath said that once a person or family receives a voucher, they still have to find a place to rent. That means finding a landlord willing to accept the voucher, and that process can also take a long time.

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The vouchers currently provide rental assistance to more than 1,200 families in the Missoula area.

Not everything surrounding Missoula’s affordable housing crisis is bad news, however.

Two huge affordable housing projects in Missoula, Trinity and Villagio, are making a big dent

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