ATLANTA — On Tuesday, Georgia's Housing Choice Voucher Program opened its application portal for the first time since 2021. More than 125,000 people had already applied by Wednesday afternoon.
"We knew the demand would be high," said Philip Gilman, deputy commissioner for housing assistance and development. "We saw some unprecedented volume, which is not surprising, knowing that we're seeing some COVID-era supports coming offline."
The sheer volume of people trying to apply caused some technical issues on Tuesday, according to Gilman.
"It is up and running right now... it will stay open all the way through the end of the day Friday," he said. "It doesn't matter when you apply — you'll have an equal chance of being selected."
In April 2021, the Department of Community Affairs opened 5,000 spots on the HCV waitlist. It will randomly select 13,000 people to join this round, according to Gilman.
"As families come to the top of the list, we work through their qualifications and give them the ability to go out and find an apartment," Gilman said. "Once we exhaust that list and work through each of the families on there, then it's time to open it up again."
Eligible families can fill out the application until Friday at 11:59 p.m. The qualifications and assistance amount vary by family size and county.
"Affordability for rental is defined as 30% of your income," Gilman said. "The voucher pays the difference between approved rent and 30% of the family's income."
He said it makes a massive difference for the families they're able to help.
"Rent checks are the first and largest payment that pretty much all families make each month.," Gilman said. "When they're able to have an affordable rent, that means more money to pay for healthy food, for school supplies, for clothing, etc., that folks need to support their families."