14,500 Families Apply for Chance to Get on Waiting List for Affordable Housing

Underscoring the desperate need for affordable housing in Westchester, 14,500 families have applied over the past two weeks for highly coveted spots on a Yonkers Housing Authority list for housing subsidies. For the first time in more than 10 years, The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers has opened its waiting list for Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8) for affordable housing.

BCW Member MHACY is seeking to add 3,000 people to its waiting list for vouchers. The vouchers are provided through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and subsidize rental units in market rate buildings for income-qualifying tenants.

Residents had a little more than two weeks, from June 27 to July 13 to apply for the list.  The application period is now over and a public lottery will be held on August 2 and 3 at the Yonkers Riverfront Library to draw the names of those who will be eligible to receive vouchers as they become available.

“Opening the MHACY waiting list has been 10 years in the making. We only wish we had more vouchers to give,’’ said Wilson Kimball, President and CEO of the Municipal Housing Authority. “Our partnership with Mayor Spano and the City of Yonkers on several affordable housing initiatives helped us reach this day.  And nothing would have been possible without the support of the Board of Commissioners of MHACY.’’

Mayor Mike Spano, who will be on hand for the lottery drawing August 2 said, “Housing is key to the vitality of any city. In addition to the thousands of units of new market rate housing that are going up, we have renovated MHACY housing and are now making more affordable housing available through the use of these vouchers in partnership with building owners.’’

Chairman of the MHACY Board of Commissioners James Landy added, “Opening our waiting list is momentous as it allows people needing rental assistance the chance to find affordable decent housing that has become out of reach for so many. We are very proud to afford Yonkers residents this opportunity.”

The lottery drawing will be public and monitored by auditors to assure fairness in the selection process. It will be livestreamed on the MHACY Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/mhacyonkers.

As a partner in the BCW’s Westchester Innovation Network (WIN) program, MHACY is matched with four innovative companies — ConConnect, Last20, Lessonbee and SilverBills — to enhance residents’ quality of life.