ABOUT

Who Are We:

The Chanute Housing Authority operates under the umbrella of the City of Chanute, providing affordable housing options for income eligible individuals and families wishing to live in Chanute Kansas.

BOARD OF COMMISSIORS

Pat Shields-Chair

Mike Reid-Vice Chair

Mikki Herrera-Secretary-Executive Director

Tim Fairchild- City Representative

Mike DeLaTorre

Jennifer Dietsch

Anna Methvin

PUBLIC HOUSING OR SECTION 8, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

In Public Housing, applicants are housed in properties owned by the housing authority, whereas in HCV (Section 8), participants are housed in units owned by individual landlords, private sector agencies, corporations, and non-profit organizations. Both housing programs are designed to assist participants in finding safe, decent, and affordable housing.

Public Housing is rental property that is owned, managed, and leased by a housing authority. The Housing Authority owns and manages apartments in 3 communities, which are leased to low-income families on an income-based rental rate.

HCV Program (Section 8) rental property is owned and managed by private landlords who list their property with a housing authority, who in turn, refers prospective tenants to their property. The housing authority also subsidizes part of the tenant's rent to the landlord.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I'M ELIGIBLE?

To be eligible for public housing, your income must be less than 80% of the area median income provided to the PHA by HUD. Final determination of income is reviewed once all third-party verifications have been received.

Public housing is limited to low-income families and individuals. The housing authority determines your eligibility based on: 1) annual gross income; 2) whether you qualify as elderly, a person with a disability, or as a family; and 3) U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status.

If you are eligible, the housing authority will check your background through a series of standard screening tests designed to protect the safety of our current residents and property. At minimum, we screen 1) criminal history in the past five years; 2) credit as it relates to your rental history, including evictions; and 3) references from past landlords. Based on this screening, the housing authority will deny admission to any applicant whose habits and practices may be expected to have a detrimental effect on other residents or on the public housing environment.

ARE THERE INCOME REQUIREMENT?

You may be determined ineligible for admission to both public housing and the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) programs if any of the following applies:

Your annual income exceeds the maximum limits.
You have an outstanding balance due under the law to a public housing authority or a private landlord. An owing balance includes unpaid rent, maintenance charges, and legal costs. (Applicants may provide evidence of mitigating circumstances relating to the outstanding balance (for example, loss of income), which will be reviewed before a decision on eligibility is made.)
You have a criminal history of drug possession and/or sales, disorderly conduct, physical violence and/or other criminal activity, which would adversely affect the health, safety, or welfare of other residents.

Note: If your application is rejected or withdrawn for any reason, you will be given notice of an opportunity to dispute this decision at an informal hearing.