CMHA to Open Housing Choice Voucher Program Waiting List August 15th With an Online Lottery | Holiday

CLEVELAND, OH - The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) has announced that an online lottery, for a chance to win a place on the Housing Choice Voucher Program waiting list, will begin Monday, August 15, 2011, at 8 a.m. EDT and will run through Friday, August 19, 2011, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Complete details about the lottery became available at 8 a.m. this morning at www.applycuyahogacounty.tenmast.com.  The information is also being posted at all libraries located throughout Cuyahoga County, as well as a number of Neighborhood Centers.  A Call Center is also available at 800-223-4969 from 8 a.m. through 8 p.m. daily and on weekends.

 “This is a community-wide opportunity, and we are very pleased, once again, to have the cooperation and support of our local library systems and several Neighborhood Center offices,” stated Acting Chief Executive Officer Jeffery K. Patterson.  “These organizations are making computers available to the public to obtain detailed information about the Lottery beginning today and to submit their entries beginning August 15th.”

Entries will only be accepted online.  No paper forms will be used.  Any computer with internet access can be used.  Seniors and persons with disabilities can obtain assistance in submitting a lottery entry by calling the Call Center.  Only one entry can be submitted per person.  No entries will be accepted at CMHA locations or properties.

“The Voucher Program has turned to the internet to make entering the lottery faster, easier, and more accessible,” noted HCVP Director Priscilla Pointer-Hicks. “Entries can be submitted online 24-hours a day, and the Call Center will lend assistance – especially for the elderly and those with disabilities.  There will be no need for anyone to wait in long lines just to pick up an entry form.”

 Submission of a lottery entry and placement on the waiting list do not guarantee entrants a housing voucher.  At the conclusion of the lottery, a random computer draw will take place from among all the entries.  The lottery entries chosen in this random computer draw will be placed on the waiting list in the order in which they are drawn. 

As housing vouchers become available, names will be taken from the top of the waiting list to be qualified as eligible for the Voucher Program.  To qualify, households must not exceed current income limits for the size of the household and must clear a criminal background check of all members 18 years old and older.  Once qualified, households will receive housing vouchers.    

CMHA will notify winning lottery entrants by mail that they have been placed on the waiting list.  In addition, winning entry confirmation numbers will be posted online at www.applycuyahogacounty.tenmast.com and on posters at all libraries in the County. 

The Housing Authority last opened the HCVP Waiting List in fall 2006.  At that time, over 40,000 unduplicated entries were received, and 10,000 names were placed on the waiting list. 

Founded in 1933, the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is the oldest public housing authority in the country.  It is an independent political subdivision of the State of Ohio, created under sections 3735.27 and 3735.50 of the Ohio Revised Code.  It serves Cuyahoga County excluding Chagrin Falls Township, through two federally assisted housing programs:  Low-Income Public Housing, which serves 16,000 residents and the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which provides rental assistance to 14,000 households.