To meet Section 8 eligibility requirements, your household must fall within federal income limits for your area, hold net assets under $100,000, include only U.S. citizens or people with eligible immigration status on the voucher, and clear the program’s criminal-history bars. Income is the main gate: at least 75 percent of new Housing Choice Vouchers must go to families earning no more than 30 percent of the area median income (AMI), and no one earning above 80 percent of AMI qualifies at all.
Income Limits by Area Median Income
Federal rules sort applicants into three tiers pegged to the AMI where you apply. An extremely low-income family earns 30 percent or less of local AMI, a very low-income family earns up to 50 percent, and a low-income family earns up to 80 percent.1eCFR. 24 CFR 5.603 – Definitions HUD publishes fresh dollar figures each year for every metro area and county, so the cutoff in rural Alabama looks nothing like the cutoff in San Francisco.
Congress requires public housing agencies (PHAs) to direct at least 75 percent of newly issued vouchers to extremely low-income households. The remaining slots can go to families earning up to 80 percent of AMI, but demand is heavy enough that most PHAs fill nearly every voucher from the lowest tier. If your household earns above 80 percent of local AMI, you do not qualify, regardless of other circumstances.
What the PHA Counts as Income
PHAs look at “annual income,” which is broader than most applicants expect. It includes wages and salaries, Social Security and pension payments, unemployment and workers’ compensation benefits, child support and alimony, regular cash contributions from anyone outside the household, and net income from a business or rental property. Every household member aged 18 or older has their income counted, plus any unearned income received on behalf of minors.2eCFR. 24 CFR 5.609 – Annual Income
Some payments are excluded. Earnings of children under 18 do not count. Neither do foster care payments, insurance settlements for personal injury or property loss, amounts received specifically to reimburse medical costs, distributions from Coverdell education savings or 529 plans, or most forms of student financial assistance.2eCFR. 24 CFR 5.609 – Annual Income SNAP benefits are excluded. The income of a live-in aide is never counted.
For an applicant close to a cutoff, these exclusions can be the difference between qualifying and not. If your household includes a working teenager or a live-in caregiver, make sure the PHA is handling that income correctly.
The $100,000 Asset Cap
Under the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA), families with net assets above $100,000 are ineligible for the voucher program. Families who own a home they have a legal right to live in are also ineligible, even if their income is otherwise low enough.3Congress.gov. HOTMA Asset Limit Changes HUD adjusts the $100,000 threshold annually for inflation.
Assets below the ceiling still matter for income calculations. When a family’s net assets exceed $50,000 and the actual return on a particular asset cannot be determined, HUD imputes a return based on the current passbook savings rate and adds that amount to annual income.2eCFR. 24 CFR 5.609 – Annual Income Below $50,000 in net assets, no imputed return applies if actual income from the assets cannot be calculated.
Who Counts as a Family
Section 8’s definition of “family” is broader than most people assume. It includes a single individual living alone, a couple with or without children, an elderly household where the head or spouse is at least 62, a household where any member has a disability, and a displaced family that lost housing to a disaster or government action.4eCFR. 24 CFR 5.403 – Definitions Marital status, sexual orientation, and gender identity do not affect whether a group qualifies as a family.
A child temporarily in foster care still counts as a family member. If a household splits up, the remaining member of the original tenant family can keep the voucher. PHAs also have discretion to evaluate whether a group of unrelated individuals has a genuine history of living together as a stable household before approving the application.
Live-In Aides
An elderly, near-elderly, or disabled voucher holder who needs daily help can request approval for a live-in aide. The aide must be someone whose sole reason for living in the unit is providing necessary care. The aide’s income is not counted, and the aide is not treated as a family member for subsidy purposes.4eCFR. 24 CFR 5.403 – Definitions The PHA screens proposed aides and can reject anyone with a history of fraud in a federal housing program or drug-related criminal activity.
Citizenship and Immigration Status
Every person listed on the voucher must be a U.S. citizen or hold an eligible immigration status. HUD recognizes six categories of eligible non-citizens under Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act:5HUD.gov. Appendix F – Model Notice of Section 214 Requirements
- Lawful permanent residents (green card holders), including certain special agricultural workers
- Refugees, asylees, and conditional entrants
- Parolees admitted for emergency or public interest reasons
- Non-citizens whose deportation has been withheld due to a threat to their life or freedom
- Non-citizens granted amnesty and given temporary or permanent residence under the Immigration and Nationality Act
- Registry immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1972, and have lived here continuously since
You will need to document your status with something like a U.S. passport, birth certificate, permanent resident card, or immigration paperwork. The PHA cross-references those documents with federal databases.
Mixed-Status Households
When some members are eligible and others are not, the family can still receive assistance, but the subsidy is prorated. The PHA calculates the full voucher amount, then reduces it in proportion to the share of household members with verified eligible status.6HUD.gov. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Verification of Eligible Status A four-person household with three eligible members would receive roughly 75 percent of the full subsidy. HUD proposed significant changes to mixed-status household rules in early 2026 that could narrow this prorated assistance, so applicants in this situation should ask their local PHA for current policy.
Criminal History and Eviction Record
Federal law imposes two absolute, lifetime bans. A person convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing can never receive a voucher. Neither can anyone subject to a lifetime registration requirement under a state sex offender registry.7HUD Exchange. Are Applicants With Felonies Banned From Public Housing or Any Other Housing Those are the only two categories where the PHA has no discretion.
Beyond the lifetime bans, the PHA must deny admission for three years after any household member was evicted from federally assisted housing for drug-related criminal activity. The three-year clock runs from the eviction date.8eCFR. 24 CFR 982.553 – Denial of Admission and Termination of Assistance for Criminals and Alcohol Abusers
For everything else, PHAs have broad discretion. They can deny applicants based on violent criminal activity, other drug offenses, or a pattern of alcohol abuse that would threaten other tenants. Outcomes vary widely from one agency to the next. HUD has pressed PHAs to weigh mitigating factors such as evidence of rehabilitation, time since the offense, and the circumstances surrounding the conduct. A blanket policy of denying everyone with any felony record raises fair housing concerns, and HUD’s Office of Fair Housing has warned that such policies can have a discriminatory effect on protected groups.
If a PHA denies you based on criminal history, it must give you written notice. You can request an informal hearing to dispute the decision, present evidence of rehabilitation, or challenge inaccurate records.9eCFR. 24 CFR 982.555 – Informal Hearing for Participant The hearing is worth pursuing, especially when police or court records contain errors.
The Unit Has to Qualify Too
Eligibility does not end with the applicant. Before the PHA will approve a lease and start paying, the unit itself must pass a Housing Quality Standards inspection covering sanitary facilities, kitchen equipment, working electricity, structural soundness, lockable entries, smoke detectors in sleeping rooms, and lead-based paint condition in pre-1978 buildings.10HUD.gov. HUD-52580 Inspection Checklist The landlord fixes anything on the checklist before the lease can begin. Landlord participation is voluntary in most of the country, though some states and cities prohibit source-of-income discrimination against voucher holders.
Local Preferences and Waiting Lists
You can apply at any PHA in the country, but eligibility on paper does not mean quick help. Most agencies give priority to applicants who live or work in their jurisdiction, along with veterans, families experiencing homelessness, and households currently in substandard housing. Preferences do not change who qualifies; they decide who gets a voucher first when one opens up.
Waiting lists are the real bottleneck. Nationally, waits range from under a year to more than four years depending on the area, and many PHAs close their lists entirely when the backlog exceeds what they can serve, sometimes for years.11USAGov. Section 8 Housing When a list is closed, check back. Agencies post reopenings on their websites, and missing the window means waiting for the next one.
Each PHA publishes an administrative plan spelling out its preferences, waiting list procedures, and special programs. Reading that plan before you apply saves time and shows whether your situation aligns with the agency’s priorities.
How to Apply and What to Gather
Applications go through your local PHA, which you can find through HUD’s website or a nearby HUD field office.11USAGov. Section 8 Housing When the waiting list is open, you submit your household’s income, family size, citizenship or immigration documentation, and Social Security numbers for all members. The PHA verifies everything through third-party records and federal databases before placing you on the list.
Have your documentation ready before you apply: pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, birth certificates, Social Security cards, immigration papers where applicable, and proof of your current housing situation. Incomplete applications are one of the most common causes of delay. Once your name reaches the top of the list and a voucher is issued, the search for a qualifying unit begins on a clock printed on the voucher itself, so knowing the local rental market before that moment puts you in a stronger position.