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Iowa City housing authority says HUD 'update' cut waiting list; 6-month reactivation window offered
Summary
Housing Authority staff told the council that a HUD-recommended waiting-list update caused a large drop in the agency’s statewide waiting list count; local applicants living in the city were not removed and households dropped from out-of-jurisdiction addresses can be reactivated within six months.
City staff and the Housing Authority answered council questions July 8 after councilors asked why the Housing Authority’s waiting list fell substantially since spring.
Rachel Carter, housing administrator in the department of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services, said the agency followed HUD guidance to update — commonly called a “purge” in staff communications — its waiting list to confirm that applicants remain interested and that their household information is current. “I don’t love the word purge. We use it to update our waiting list to make sure that everybody who’s on the waiting list is still interested in a voucher and is still living,” Carter told the council.
Carter said the update letter was sent to applicants who were not in the authority’s top preference category (elderly, disabled or households with minor children living or working in the jurisdiction). Applicants who did not respond, who notified the authority they were no longer interested, or whose family members reported the applicant had died were removed. The authority will reactivate households that contact the agency within six months of the April 30 response deadline; Carter said the agency is extending reactivation through Nov. 1 to allow additional time for people who missed the notice.
Why it matters: Carter said the agency’s published count dropped because most of the applicants who were removed live outside the city’s jurisdiction and many applied when the wait list was open previously to anyone nationwide. “Without exception, I will say definitively more than 95 percent of the people that dropped live outside of the state of Iowa,” Carter said. The authority reported 1,119 people on its waiting list who live or work in the jurisdiction; the rest of the list includes applicants living outside the jurisdiction.
Carter described HUD’s requirement that waiting lists be “fluid,” meaning an applicant’s current status (residence, disability, presence of minor children) determines placement on the list. She also said the authority had expanded the six-month reactivation window, which is more flexible than many housing authorities typically allow.
No policy action was taken. Councilors asked staff to continue public outreach to communities with English-language and accessibility barriers and to clarify the timeline for reactivations and future waiting-list openings.
Ending: The Housing Authority said it will reactivate applicants who contact the agency within the six-month reactivation window and will accept written reactivation requests; staff will return with any additional information requested by councilors.
