Section 8 Housing in Riverside, CA

HACR has served Riverside County since 1942 and is a separate administrator from HACSB. An application with one does nothing at the other, and each publishes its own payment standards and notices. Read our HACR guide and HACSB guide for each agency's contacts and programs, and check current waitlist openings across other metros if neither county has an open route for you.

HACR uses one county-wide schedule per bedroom size, not ZIP-tiered amounts, and the schedule above is the one its page displayed on October 18, 2026. The figures cover rent plus utilities together, so the utility allowance for your unit type comes out of that number before the rent cap is set. HACR's utility allowance charts are current as of July 1, 2026 and are reviewed each July. The two-bedroom standard rose from $2,101 (the 10/1/2024 to 6/30/2025 schedule) to $2,306 on July 1, 2025.

These standards do not apply to Project-Based Voucher units, where rent is set under federal rules for the building. A payment standard is also not a promise: HACR must still find your unit's rent reasonable for the area and approve it before the lease and contract are signed. Use the HUD benchmark table on this page only to compare metros; the HACR schedule above is what applies to a Riverside County tenant-based voucher.

HACR's tenant-based list closed to most applicants on July 1, 2023, and the remaining routes for veterans, widows of veterans and people age 70 or older closed effective September 1, 2025. HACR's own notice says the closure exists because applicants already on the list exceed the vouchers expected in the foreseeable future, and that a public announcement will be made in advance of any reopening. Watch the registration page rather than paying anyone who claims to offer a spot.

What you can still do, as of October 18, 2026:

• Apply to a limited number of HACR Project-Based Voucher communities shown in its Rent Cafe portal. Creating a Rent Cafe account does not place you on any list; you must submit an application for a specific available list and keep the confirmation.
• Apply to HACSB's open property lists (named sites and regions across San Bernardino County, plus senior and veteran communities) through its applicant portal. HACSB says online applications can take up to 90 days to review.
• If you registered with HACR before July 1, 2023, you are still on its list. Its October 6, 2025 notice says you cannot update your registration online right now and your application will not be withdrawn for being unable to make updates; HACR will post a notification when updates reopen.

Selection from any list still leads to eligibility verification before a voucher is issued. A submission receipt is not a voucher and not a unit.

Read the table by comparing the right column types. On the Riverside County side, HACR pays up to the same $2,306 gross standard everywhere, so your voucher stretches furthest where HUD's ZIP-level market estimate sits below it: Hemet, San Jacinto, Perris, downtown Riverside. Where the HUD benchmark runs well above it, such as Temecula, Murrieta, Corona and Eastvale, fewer asking rents fit under the standard and approvals are harder. HUD's Small Area FMRs are benchmarks only; neither agency adopts them as payment standards.

On the San Bernardino County side the agency itself sets a different standard for each of nine ZIP-defined submarkets, so the applicable number changes when you cross a ZIP line: $1,769 in the Victor Valley against $3,028 in Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario and Chino. Browse current listings on the Riverside metro apartment search and note each unit's ZIP before you ask either agency about it.

California Government Code section 12955 makes it unlawful for a housing owner to discriminate based on source of income, and section 12955(p)(1) defines source of income to include federal housing assistance vouchers issued under Section 8. That voucher language took effect January 1, 2020 under SB 329. "No Section 8" in an ad, a refusal to show a unit, or a blanket policy against vouchers is illegal in both Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Two screening rules matter most in practice. First, with a government rent subsidy, any income standard must be based on the portion of rent you would pay, not the whole rent (section 12955(o)(1)(A)). Second, since January 1, 2024 under SB 267, a landlord who screens by credit history must offer you the option of providing lawful, verifiable alternative evidence of your ability to pay your portion, such as benefit records, pay records or bank statements, must give you reasonable time to provide it, and must reasonably consider it (section 12955(o)(1)(B)).

If you are refused, write down the date, the property, what was said, and keep the ad. The California Civil Rights Department takes source-of-income complaints at 800-884-1684, and a complaint must be filed within one year of the discriminatory act; CRD's own materials list refusing to rent to a tenant with a Section 8 voucher as an example of discrimination. The local organizations listed on this page can help you document and file. The law does not force any landlord to accept your unit proposal at an unapprovable rent; HACR or HACSB must still approve the rent and inspect the unit.

Moving to Riverside County with a voucher issued elsewhere: HACR is currently billing for incoming ports, so your current agency keeps paying while HACR administers. HACR assigns portability files within 24 hours of receipt, but eligibility must be determined before your voucher is issued here, which HACR describes as a 30 to 45 day process. It will not accept a file with fewer than 30 days left on the voucher, and all extensions must come from your initial housing authority, so ask for time before the packet is sent. Do not sign a lease or move in before the unit passes inspection; HACR warns that rents approved elsewhere may not be approvable here.

On the HACSB side, one Moving to Work rule changes the math: for MTW households the payment standard is also the maximum rent a landlord may charge, and the requested rent cannot exceed the local payment standard. Payment-standard increases are applied at recertification or move, and HACSB recertifies every two to three years, so a mid-lease rent increase above your old standard can raise your share.

Property waiting lists are not voucher lists. An HACSB opening for a named community or region places you in line for a subsidized unit at that site, in the bedroom sizes listed, not for a portable voucher; a regional list can place you anywhere eligible in that region. HACR's Rent Cafe PBV openings work the same way. Apply with that understanding, keep each list's confirmation separately, and treat any request to pay money to apply as fraud.