Section 8 Housing in Chicago, IL

The table shows each agency's own published status as of October 18, 2026. CHA says its Housing Choice Voucher waitlist "is closed at this time" and that it will announce publicly before it reopens. HACC's site says waitlists open periodically based on occupancy and lists none open today.

Each authority keeps its own records, so an application with one creates nothing with another. Use the agency named on your confirmation or voucher when you check status or report a change. A few Cook County suburbs run their own municipal authorities besides HACC; CHA's participant guidebook directory lists Oak Park Housing Authority (708-386-9322) and Park Forest Housing Authority among them, so confirm the administrator for a suburban address before you count on a payment standard.

CHA is a Moving to Work agency and does not publish a dollar chart of payment standards. Its 2026 Administrative Plan, effective October 1, 2025, bases payment standards on the HUD fair market rents for the Chicago metro and states that CHA does not use Small Area Fair Market Rents. One schedule covers the whole city; there are no ZIP tiers.

Two numbers decide your rent. The payment standard is the most subsidy CHA will pay for your voucher size. Your Total Tenant Payment is normally 30 percent of adjusted monthly income, and it can rise to 40 percent at lease-up if the unit's gross rent sits above the standard. In designated Mobility Areas, CHA can apply an exception payment standard of up to 150 percent of the HUD fair market rent, approved case by case.

The HUD rent table on this page is the benchmark those standards are built from, not an approval for any specific unit. CHA tells each household its own numbers through a personalized Rent Burden Worksheet, then makes a rent offer after you submit a unit, and the owner must accept that offer. The Chicago payment article walks through the current benchmark figures and what they mean for a search.

You cannot join CHA's tenant-based HCV waitlist today. It last opened for a lottery registration from October 27 to November 24, 2014, when CHA reported more than 282,000 households registered. CHA says it will make public announcements and run a new waitlist lottery when it reopens; no date has been announced as of October 18, 2026.

What you can do now: CHA's public housing, Project-Based Voucher and Project-Based Rental Assistance waitlists are open year round through its applicant portal, applyonline.thecha.org. Those are building-based programs with their own rules, and joining one does not place you on the HCV list. Save the program name and confirmation number for every list you join.

Housing authorities never charge a fee to join a waitlist; CHA repeats that warning because fake application sites target Chicago applicants. For in-person help, use the CHA Client Center at 60 E. Van Buren Street or call 312-742-8500. If you can move elsewhere, the national waitlist tracker lists metros where a tenant-based list is open right now.

CHA gives you 120 days from your moving papers to find a unit and submit the Request for Tenancy Approval packet. The clock stops, or "tolls," the day you submit an RTA and restarts only if CHA denies it in writing, so submitting a real candidate unit protects your time. After submission, CHA says processing and approval take about 7 weeks.

Extensions exist but are not automatic. The Participant Guidebook lists a 60-day extension for cases such as a household member's disability, a serious illness or death in the family, or a job that prevents a timely search. Ask in writing before the deadline and attach evidence; a pending request is not an approval.

CHA does not pre-approve units or owners, and it does not pay application fees, move-in fees, security deposits or moving costs, so budget for those separately. Browse Chicago apartment search by neighborhood and bedroom count, then send your agency the exact address, asking rent and utility responsibilities from the listing you choose.

CHA publishes a quarterly saturation report showing where its voucher households live. The 2026 Q2 edition counts roughly 40,000 tenant-based vouchers across the city's 77 community areas, concentrated on the South and West Sides.

These areas have the deepest pools of owners who already lease to voucher holders, which usually means faster paperwork. The trade-off runs the other way on the Northwest and Southwest Sides, where voucher households are scarce but CHA can pay more: in a designated Mobility Area the payment standard can reach 150 percent of the HUD fair market rent. Check any address on CHA's map at thecha.org/mobility; qualifying areas show in green.

Families with a child up to age 16, good standing and at least 45 days left on the voucher can join CHA's Mobility Counseling Program, run with Housing Choice Partners (sign-up 312-386-1009). It adds search help, workshops and up to $1,000 toward a security deposit or moving costs for moves into a Mobility Area.

Since January 2023 the Illinois Human Rights Act has barred housing discrimination by source of income statewide, and the Illinois Department of Human Rights names Housing Choice Vouchers among the protected sources. Refusing to rent, quoting different terms, or ending a lease because you pay with a voucher all count. The law also covers an existing tenant who obtains a voucher mid-tenancy: the housing provider must accept the new source of income.

You have three places to file, depending on the address. Anywhere in Illinois, report to IDHR within one year (intake by email to IDHR.FairHousing@illinois.gov) or sue in state court within two years. Inside the city, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations enforces the Chicago Fair Housing Ordinance and publishes an HCV discrimination complaint guide; call 312-744-4111. In suburban Cook County, the Cook County Commission on Human Rights enforces the county Human Rights Ordinance, which names use of a Housing Choice Voucher; call 312-603-1100.

Before filing, save the listing, the refusal message or a note of the call, and the date. An owner can still apply ordinary screening to everyone equally; what the law forbids is treating the voucher itself as the problem. The legal aid and hotline numbers below can review your situation at no cost.

HACC, the suburban Cook County authority, posts its payment standards as a schedule effective January 2026 and explains its math plainly: the rent offer is generally the payment standard minus the utility allowance, if that amount is reasonable for the area, and tenants pay at least 30 but no more than 40 percent of monthly income toward rent and utilities. Ask HACC for the figure for your bedroom size and suburb at (312) 663-5447 rather than reusing a CHA number.

HACC's openings are short and building-specific. Its senior Project-Based Voucher list for Carefree Village accepted applications only from September 30 at 10:00am to October 2, 2026 at 3:00pm, filled 75 lottery slots per list, and took applications solely through its RentCafe portal. If you want a suburban unit, watch thehacc.org and be ready to apply within days, and read the age and income limits in each ad before spending time on it.

Porting into Chicago has its own gates. CHA's October 2026 porting guide requires at least 60 days remaining on your voucher, an eligibility screening, and a briefing before CHA issues its voucher; CHA contacts you within 10 to 14 days of receiving your complete file from your current authority. Plan around re-examinations every two years once you are a CHA participant. Start the transfer with your current housing authority, not with a Chicago landlord, because an owner's interest in renting to you cannot move the voucher.