Fresno Housing Authority accepting online pre-applications for Section 8 program

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- One voucher at a time the Fresno Housing Authority is bringing opportunity to thousands of households throughout the county.

"They're just kind of the person next door who needs assistance with their housing so they can be stable," said Preston Prince, Fresno Housing Authority CEO.

Tuesday marked the start of pre-applications for the Housing Choice Voucher-- or section 8. The program offers low income families rental assistance or affordable housing. Over the last decade they've built 30 developments, 20 brand new and 10 rehabbed.

Throughout the two week application period they are expecting anywhere from 65,000 to 70,000 applicants.

"If their name is pulled for the lottery-- we will do a criminal background check on all of the adults in the household but it's up to the landlord to do other suitability evaluations," said Prince.

When funding becomes available pre-applicants are chosen at random through a lottery system. Those chosen receive assistance within Fresno County.

The families selected make roughly $10,000 per year in income-- 80 percent are families with children and 20-percent are seniors or people with disabilities.

"The household will pay 30-percent of their income toward rent and we pay the difference between what their contract enters is and what they can afford," said Prince.

That averages at around $500 per month per household.

Fresno housing authority currently assists 17,000 families, but that number could go down.

"Unfortunately Congress is talking about reducing funding so were looking at a 15-percent decrease in funding for next year," said Prince.

If you had any trouble getting your applications, don't worry-- there is plenty of time. The Fresno Housing Authority ran into server issues because of the high volume of applications coming in right at 10-- you still have two weeks left.