Public Housing in North Carolina

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!

Resources for Locating Public Housing in North Carolina

There are a number of ways to find affordable housing, subsidized housing, and other low income housing assistance options in North Carolina. The state has been quite effective at providing decent affordable housing options to its residents, though it can still be difficult to actually get into a project-based unit in one of the major urban areas. A lot of where to look depends specifically on what your requirements are, whether or not you are set on a certain locality, and - of course - how much money you make. However, even taking all of the restrictions into account, there are still plenty of options available.

Perhaps the first place to begin looking for your public housing options in North Carolina would be the website of the North Carolina Housing Coalition (NCHC, www.nchousing.org), which is a non-profit coalition of housing advocates, charitable organizations, tenant organizations, and other authorities. This organization provides a host of links to local organizations that can help you find assistance in particular areas as well as a good summary of your rights and obligations under North Carolina law (as well as federal law). This should probably be the first place you should visit if you are newly moving to North Carolina and require housing assistance.

The state-wide North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA, www.nchfa.com) also provides a comprehensive online directory of project-based Section 8 and affordable housing units throughout the state. However, most of their programs emphasize home buyer options (or options from landlords and property developers), so it would be of limited use to the average person seeking low income housing in North Carolina. There is some basic information about other programs offered by the state government, but in general visiting the NCHC website (see above) would probably be of more use to you if you are relocating to North Carolina and need assistance.

If you already have a specific area in mind, you can also learn more about the options in that area by directly contacting the local public housing agency (PHA). The PHAs generally do all of the administrative work for the Section 8 program and others, so they are a great place to look for government subsidized programs, especially Section 8 housing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides a comprehensive list of PHAs in North Carolina on their website, www.hud.gov. In rural areas, you may want to contact the NCHFA (see above), which helps to oversee the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development program, which provides affordable housing in rural areas.

Generally speaking, it is not too difficult to find affordable housing in North Carolina. All of the resources cited above also provide additional sources of information, so anything that is not immediately presented on one of the websites above is probably just a few clicks away. You can also see the most up-to-date information of the determined median incomes as determined by HUD on their website cited above. Many of the programs available, both federal and state, are based on these HUD determined median income levels, so it is something to take into account, especially if you are relocating to North Carolina from an area with a significantly higher median income level.