This is a Rental Assistance Program
Type: Voucher

Program participants find their own rental housing. The dwelling may be a single-family house, townhouse, condominium, apartment, duplex, triplex, or complex. The dwelling must meet program requirements for health, safety and rent. The Tooele County Housing Authority assists with rent in Tooele County.

Eligibility for a housing voucher is determined by TCHA based on the total annual gross income and family size and is limited to US citizens and specified categories of non-citizens who have eligible immigration status. In general, the family’s income may not exceed 50% of the median income for the county or metropolitan area in which the family chooses to live. By law, TCHA must provide 75 percent of its vouchers to applicants whose incomes do not exceed 30 percent of the area median income. Median income levels are published by HUD and vary by location. You can refer to the income limits posted below for Tooele County by your family size.

During the application process, TCHA will collect information on family income, assets, and family composition. TCHA will verify this information with other local agencies, your employer and bank, and will use the information to determine program eligibility and the amount of the housing assistance payment.

If TCHA determines that your family is eligible, your name will be added to the waiting list. Once your name is reached on the waiting list, TCHA will contact you and issue you a housing voucher.

TCHA will check the criminal record of all adult family members, including a check to see if any member of the household is registered as a sexual offender. Families with members who are required to register as sexual offenders are not eligible for Section 8 assistance.

Since the demand for housing assistance often exceeds the limited resources available to HUD and the local housing agencies, long waiting periods are common. In fact, Public Housing Authorities may close waiting lists when there are more families on the list than can be assisted in the near future. 

**PLEASE NOTE!   AS OF OCTOBER 2024, THE TCHA WAITING LIST IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!  The current anticipated wait time is 3-4 years from time of application.  If you are not currently on the TCHA waitlist, please continue to check back for notifications when the waitlist is reopened. 

TCHA has established local preferences for selecting applicants from our waiting list, to reflect the housing needs and priorities of Tooele County. Families will be selected for participation for the Housing Choice Voucher Program in accordance with the following PREFERENCES:  

• Victims of domestic violence (must verify with letter or court documents). 

• Displaced person(s): Individuals/families displaced by government action or whose dwelling has been extensively damaged or destroyed as a result of a disaster declared or otherwise formally recognized pursuant to Federal disaster relief laws. 

• Tenants in the Tooele County Housing Authority’s Public Housing Program who are required to move and who cannot be placed in another Public Housing unit. 

• Applicants with an adult family member enrolled in AN employment training program or currently working twenty (20) hours a week or attending school on a full-time basis. This preference is also extended equally to all elderly families and all families whose head or spouse is receiving income based on their inability to work. 

• Homeless based on HUD definition. 

The date and time of application will be utilized to determine the sequence within the above prescribed preferences. All preferences are equal. A family qualifying for one preference is given the same preference for participation as families qualifying for two or three preferences. 

All other applicants are prioritized by date and time of application. 

The Tooele County Housing Authority retains the right to skip higher income families on the waiting list to reach extremely low-income families if it is necessary to meet the statutory requirement that 75% of newly admitted families in any fiscal year be families who are extremely low-income. This measure will only be taken if it appears the goal will not otherwise be met. 

At the time the family’s name comes up on the waiting list, eligibility for any preference will be verified. Should the family be unable to verify eligibility for a preference at that time, they will be placed back on the waiting list, according to the date and time of original application without the benefit of a preference. 

TCHA calculates the maximum amount of housing assistance allowable. The maximum housing assistance is generally the lesser of 1) the payment standard minus 30% of the family’s monthly adjusted income or 2) the gross rent for the unit minus 30% of monthly adjusted income.

Maximum Rent for your home minus utility allowance:

The maximum rent of a voucher holder’s home must be within program guidelines. The chart above and the brief summary below may help explain the approximate maximum rent for a voucher holder’s home. When a voucher becomes available to an applicant, the applicant attends a briefing to learn the details of the program. During this briefing, we explain how to calculate the maximum rent. Use the information on this page as a general guide only. 

The tenant’s portion of the rent and utility allowance, after applying the Section 8 rental subsidy, cannot exceed 40% of his or her adjusted monthly income. 

• We consider income from everyone in the household. Income includes all wages and salaries, unemployment benefits, child support, Social Security payments, interest, royalties, financial assistance, etc. Factors including family size, age, disability, medical expenses, and childcare expenses may affect an applicant’s adjusted monthly income. 

• We calculate Section 8 rental subsidies based on voucher payment standards, family size, income, total rent and the utility allowance. Utility allowances are based on an average area. Utility allowances are adjusted for home size and type, gas or electric appliances, and other factors. 

• If the rent for your home is within the guidelines on the chart above, typically the rent is within program guidelines. Under certain circumstances as explained above, the sum of the rent and utility allowance may exceed the amounts in the chart. 

To qualify for Section 8 Voucher rental assistance, a family’s income must be equal to or less than the Annual Income Guidelines established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Refer to table below.) 

FY2024 Income Limits 

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program does not have a minimum household income necessary to qualify for assistance.