Housing Choice Voucher Program

This page features resources for HCV tenants and applicants. HCV Landlords can find resources on the Landlord Resources page. To access the HCV Online Briefing, click here.

HACP, Allegheny County Housing Authority (ACHA), Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS), and the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh have partnered to help HCV families find homes in areas of opportunity through the HUD Community Choice Demonstration. For more information regarding the program and how it can benefit HCV families, please visit the Community Choice Demonstration page.

What is the Housing Choice Voucher Program?

The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program, the nation’s largest rental assistance program, helps low-income families, the elderly and the disabled rent decent, safe and sanitary housing units in the private market. Each year, HCVs help lift more than one million people nation-wide out of poverty and give families the opportunity to move to safer, less poor neighborhoods. The HCV program offers a number of benefits to participating families, as well as communities as a whole, including:

• Reducing homelessness
• Increasing housing stability
• Reducing poverty
• Helping low-wage workers make ends meet
• Giving families access to safer neighborhoods with better schools and opportunities
• Allowing senior citizens and disabled individuals to live independently
• Reducing costs in health care and other public services

How Does A Housing Choice Voucher Work?

The HCV program was designed to expand housing choices for low-income families by allowing them to search for rental housing in the private market. Once a low-income family is invited to participate in the program, the HACP issues that family a housing voucher. The voucher identifies the size of unit the family qualifies for, as well as the maximum amount of monthly rent the family can afford to pay. Using the voucher information as a guideline, the voucher holder then searches for an affordable rental unit that best matches their family’s housing needs.

The Housing Choice Voucher Online Briefing walks tenants through the HCV program, how it works, and what to expect. You can access the HCV Online Briefing here.

What is the Relationship Between Program Participants, Property Owners and the HACP?  

The HCV program is best viewed as three separate partnerships: one between the HACP and program participants, another partnership between the HACP and property owners, and a third partnership between the property owner and their HCV program tenant family.