Section 8 Housing in Louisiana

Low Income Housing Information

Low income housing can be a godsend, but if you don't know how to apply, or who to get your information to, how can you ever expect to be approved?

Since laws and procedure vary from state to state, you'll need to learn a few specifics before applying. We can help!

How to Find Section 8 Housing in Louisiana

Low income housing is in high demand in Louisiana and it can be a difficult state to settle in if one required subsidized housing. The regular range of federal programs is available and the state also operates some of its own programs. However, the low income housing developers and managers are well organized and operate a strong lobby in the state, while non-profits dedicated to looking after the interests of low income people lack strong statewide organization, so in general it is the properties owners that hold most of the advantages in Louisiana. While community based organizations may give low income residents a local voice, in general they lack standing in the larger state government and their concerns are frequently ignored.

At the state level, the primary authority that oversees the federal and state programs is the Louisiana Housing Finance Authority (LHFA, www.lhfa.state.la.us) and most basic information about the various programs offered y the state can be found at their website. However, the emphasis is again on developing new properties specifically designed as low income housing, so the resources for people in need of affordable housing are limited. The LHFA website does provide a basic overview of the federal and state programs available and what conditions have to be met in order to qualify for these programs. However, they do not offer a lot of resources that are very helpful for people that need affordable housing.

Instead, people looking for Section 8 housing or other subsidized housing assistance should probably contact the local housing authority (public housing agency, PHA) in the area they intend to live in. The local authorities - based on either a city/municipality or by parish (county) - will have all the basic information about the programs and properties available in that area. Further, due in large part to the natural disasters that have hit the state, there are special programs available in some local areas that are not available in others and the information about these can be found through the local PHAs. Finally, if there are nonprofit organizations offering services in any given locality - as is often the case in many of the larger communities - detailed information about their programs should also be available from the local PHA.

Louisiana has also been much slower than many other states to get all their government resources online, so many local housing authorities do not have their own websites that can be visited in advance. Most of the major cities - New Orleans, Baton Rogue, Shreveport and so on - are online and a lot of information can be obtained before actually approaching the local authority. Further, as mentioned previously, some of the program specific information can be found through the LHFA website. However, in many other places, people looking for Section 8 housing should probably just visit the local housing authority office to get detailed - and up-to-date - information about what is available at that place and at that time.

Finding Section 8 housing in Louisiana can be a challenge if the person looking for it is not already in the community under consideration. On top of this, getting in to an available Section 8 housing unit can be even more difficult and time consuming, especially since to this day many people remain displaced due to Katrina and other hurricanes. If there is an option, Louisiana would probably not be the best place to move to if subsidizing housing in needed.