Hammere Gebreyes (Interim Senior Vice President, Housing Choice Voucher and Eligibility and Continued Occupancy Programs)

Interim Senior Vice President, Housing Choice Voucher and Eligibility and Continued Occupancy Programs

The Eligibility and Continued Occupancy division is responsible for application intake, waiting list management, eligibility determination for the Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher Tenant-Based (formerly known as the Section 8 program) and Housing Choice Voucher Moderate Rehabilitation Project-Based (formerly Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation program) programs. Each of these programs gives rental assistance to eligible low-income families.

The Housing Choice Voucher Tenant-Based Program provides rental assistance to eligible families or individuals who find their own housing (single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments) as long it meets the requirements of the program. If participants want to move to another location, they simply take their voucher with them to their new home — anywhere in the country that participates in the voucher program. Participants pay a portion of the rent that is based on a percentage of the family’s income (on average about 30 percent), and DCHA pays the rest of the rent directly to the landlord.

DCHA also administers a separate program, the District of Columbia Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP), which is modeled on the federal program but funded by the District of Columbia government. The program provides 700 tenant-based vouchers, but participants holding these vouchers cannot move out of the District.