Crystal Caruso, executive director of the Fairmont Morgantown Housing Authority, told Morgantown City Council on Aug. 26 that the agency has closed its waiting list and is unable to serve roughly 1,105 households because it lacks additional Section 8 vouchers.
Caruso said the authority manages public housing and about 1,289 housing choice vouchers across a four-county, two-city area and spends roughly $677,000 per month on rental subsidies.
The announcement matters because the authority said it is fully leasing its voucher allocation and cannot issue new vouchers; Caruso said the waiting list was closed in February 2025 and the authority stopped issuing new vouchers in October 2024, leaving more than 1,100 applicants unserved.
Caruso described several ongoing programs and constraints. The authority operates 136 public-housing apartments in Fairmont, runs special-purpose vouchers including emergency housing and VASH for veterans, and reported 70 families enrolled in its Family Self-Sufficiency program. She said the authority launched a landlord repair reimbursement program, became certified for Home Equity Conversion Mortgage counseling (HECM) and operates a full-cycle homeownership center.
"We have over 1,100 I think there's 1,105 on our waiting list, and there's no way that we can serve those," Caruso said. When a council member asked whether the limiting factor was vouchers or housing stock, she replied: "It's vouchers."
Caruso described a housing navigator position — funded with ARPA money — who maintains a searchable list of rental units and landlords to help people find housing even when vouchers are unavailable. She said that while the authority pursues special-purpose vouchers and grant opportunities, new general-purpose vouchers are rarely issued by HUD and competition is high.
The authority also reported stalled progress on a planned development for property at Upper Falling Run. Caruso said a development plan for that site is needed to move the project forward and estimated the plan would cost about $75,000 to produce; she asked the council to consider city support in a future funding cycle.
Caruso asked the council to help advocate to state legislators if federal funding or voucher allocations are threatened. "We're hearing about cuts," she said, urging elected officials to be vocal about preserving affordable-housing funding.
Council members asked follow-up questions about the authority's programs, including the voucher-to-homeownership option (VHOP). Caruso said VHOP can allow a voucher holder to use subsidy toward a mortgage but that housing costs and affordability remain barriers.
The presentation was informational; no council action was taken on agency programs during the meeting.