West Orange Public Housing Agency & Section 8

The Township of West Orange Public Housing Agency 

The WOPHA administers the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program that subsidizes low-income families’ rent. Priority is given to bona fide West Orange residents, and eligibility is determined through their income.

What are housing choice vouchers?

The Housing Choice Voucher Program is a federal government program for assisting low-income families and is administered locally by The West Orange Public Housing Agency. Since housing assistance is provided on behalf of the household, participants are required to find their housing.

The Section 8 Rental Voucher Program increases affordable housing choices for very low-income households by allowing families to choose rental housing privately. The public housing authority (PHA) generally pays the landlord the difference between 30 percent of household income and the landlord’s rent. The housing subsidy is paid to the landlord directly by the local housing agency on behalf of the participating family. The family then pays the difference between the landlord’s actual rent and the amount subsidized by the program. The rent must be reasonable and within the Fair Market Rate established by HUD. The goal of this program is to promote self-sufficiency for low-income program participants who do not have the means to rent at the market rate.

Essex County, NJ is part of the Newark, NJ HUD Metro FMR Area, which consists of the following counties: Essex County, NJ; Morris County, NJ; Sussex County, NJ; 
and Union County, NJ. All information here applies to the entirety of the Newark, 
NJ HUD Metro FMR Area.

A family that is issued a housing voucher is responsible for finding a suitable housing unit of the family’s choice. Units must pass an annual Housing Quality Standard Inspections performed by West Orange Property Maintenance Inspectors. The housing unit must conform to HUD requirements to be accepted by the voucher program.

Current Section 8 Applications

All Section 8 applications submitted have been placed on a waiting list file in our office; we do not provide status reports on these applications. We will contact you if any additional funding becomes available to issue subsidies to any applicants on the waiting list. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Waiting List

Due to the length of the current waiting list, the Section 8 Program waiting list is not currently accepting any new applicants. Once the applications process opens again, The West Orange Public Housing Agency will advertise on the Township’s website, local newspaper print, and other media.

Disclaimer

The West Orange Public Housing Agency does not operate any public housing properties within the Township.

The West Orange Public Housing Agency has no emergency funding for housing.