Section 8 Housing in Philadelphia, PA

Nearly every voucher waitlist in this four-state metro is closed. In Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) last opened its Housing Choice Voucher waitlist for two weeks in early 2023, capping it at 10,000 names chosen by random lottery. The PHA last accepted applications for this waiting list from January 23, 2023, until February 5, 2023. PHA expected it to take between three and five years to get everyone off the list before it reopens its rolls again. That means a reopening is not likely before roughly 2026-2027. PHA has about 40,000 people on its waitlist. Across the river, the Housing Authority of the City of Camden has its voucher, project-based, public housing and RAD lists closed, with only senior-designated housing open. Delaware runs a single centralized list. Delaware's five public housing authorities announced that they will reopen their waitlists for Housing Choice Voucher programs and low-income public housing at Delaware.AffordableHousing.com on February 3, 2025. Apply to every open list you qualify for, and keep your contact information current so you are not purged.

A voucher does not set a flat dollar amount. Voucher holders are required to pay 30% of their adjusted monthly income in rent, and HUD covers the difference between that amount and the full contract rent, with certain limits depending on the location of the apartment. Those limits are the payment standards. PHA sets them by ZIP code. By utilizing zip codes as the basis for fair market rents, PHA hopes to provide tenants with greater ability to move into higher opportunity neighborhoods with jobs, public transportation, and good schools by offering higher rents, and to reduce overpayment in lower-rent areas and high voucher concentration. PHA established five payment standard groups based on HUD's SAFMRs effective November 1, 2025. Practically, higher-rent, higher-opportunity ZIP codes carry higher payment standards, so a voucher stretches further there than the old citywide rent. To qualify at all, income must be under the HUD limit. For a family of four, the Very Low Income limit is $59,700 per year, applicable to the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area. Ask your PHA for the current payment standard for the exact ZIP code where you want to live.

It depends on where in the metro you are looking. Inside the city of Philadelphia, refusing a voucher is illegal. Source of income discrimination is illegal under the city's Fair Practices Ordinance, a law that's been on the books for more than 40 years. The city sharpened the law recently. On December 4, 2024, the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations began enforcing updated Fair Practices Ordinance rules that prohibit discriminating against tenants because a housing voucher covers their rent. But enforcement is thin and refusal is common. A 2018 study from the Urban Institute found 67% of landlords in Philadelphia refuse to accept vouchers, and the rejection rate rises to 83% in low-poverty neighborhoods. Outside the city, protection weakens. There is no uniform statewide ban in Pennsylvania that prevents landlords from refusing to rent to someone because they use a housing voucher. If a landlord in Philadelphia turns you away, or refuses to fill out voucher paperwork, that is a violation you can report and, after 100 days without a resolution, sue over.

Voucher use in this region is heavily concentrated in the poorest urban cores. The central cities of Philadelphia, Wilmington and Camden account for 42% of the region's occupied rental units but are home to 53% of its HCV households, while areas with few or no voucher households tend to be suburban communities. Within Philadelphia the pattern is racial as well. 43 percent of voucher holders live in neighborhoods that are over 80 percent Black, while only 1 percent live in neighborhoods that are 80 percent white. Some large management companies have been documented refusing vouchers in higher-opportunity areas. After touring apartments in East Falls, Manayunk and Roxborough, a voucher holder was told that none of OCF Realty's more than 3,000 rental properties accept vouchers. Do not let that stop you from trying opportunity neighborhoods, since the higher ZIP-code payment standards and the city law are designed to help you get in, but be ready to document any refusal. If a company or landlord tells you upfront they do not take Section 8, that statement itself is now illegal to make in Philadelphia.

Keep these numbers handy before you start searching. For free legal help with Section 8 and subsidized housing problems, Community Legal Services' Housing Unit assists low-income tenants living in public and subsidized housing, including PHA public housing, Section 8 voucher, Section 8 project-based, HUD and Tax Credit housing in Philadelphia. Call 215-981-3700 to get legal help. For counseling and referrals, call the Philly Tenant Hotline at (267) 443-2500, staffed by the Tenant Union Representative Network. If a landlord rejected you specifically because of your voucher, the Public Interest Law Center takes these cases. If you have been denied by a landlord because you have a voucher, you may have experienced source of income discrimination; contact Madison Gray at 267.546.1306. You can also file a complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which enforces the city ordinance. Remedies can include a cease-and-desist order, injunctive or equitable relief, compensatory or punitive damages, and attorneys' fees.