Image via Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority

The Fairfax County Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program serves low-income families to assist with their housing needs. A family (a group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together) can apply with the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority for a HCV Voucher to find their own apartment, condominium, townhouse, or single-family homes. 

Participants pay approximately 30-35% of their adjusted income towards rent, which is paid directly to their landlord. Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) collaborates directly with specific landlords enlisted by the county to accept the lesser payments from these families. 

Currently, the county only uses a lottery system to find eligible applicants and families and adds them to an extensive waiting list, but the FCRHA seeks to expand the number of rental properties available to local participants of the HCV program. These renters utilize subsidies from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to cover part of the cost of their rent. As such, they bring reliable rental income to properties despite economic fluctuations.

The people who use vouchers are the people who keep the local economy humming: teachers, first responders, retail workers, landscapers, medical professionals, and others. These are gainfully employed individuals who require support to rent within the area where they work.

The FCRHA seeks to attract new landlords to the Housing Choice Voucher program as soon as possible to give households more opportunities to live near work, schools, houses of worship, and other amenities. Currently, more than 4,000 households in Fairfax County utilize financial assistance to rent homes. An information session was held on January 17th of this year, and the FCRHA plans to induct additional landlords into the program by this spring.