City of Tucson Focuses on Housing as Voucher Waitlists Close

The City of Tucson's Housing and Community Development (HCD) Department announced today that it will close waitlists for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) programs on January 1, 2026. The announcement comes as city officials continue to pursue every means of making housing affordable for Tucsonans while federal and state resources become less available.

Public Housing and HCV - more commonly known as Section 8 - provide cost-controlled housing assistance for very low-income area residents. Both programs primarily serve families with children, older adults, and persons with disabilities.

"As Mayor, I know that affordability is the top issue for Tucsonans. My colleagues on the Council and I are working closely with Pima County and local non-profit partners to increase supply, bring down costs and improve economic stability for Tucsonans," said Mayor Regina Romero.

"I see every day how connected housing stability is to other needs like job availability, social services and community safety. My goal will always be to improve Tucsonans' overall quality of life rather than treat these as isolated issues."

More than 40,000 Tucsonans are currently awaiting approval for support from the two programs, which are expected to continue enrolling people for several more years without new applicants. The HCV program has about 6,000 vouchers available for City of Tucson and Pima County residents. With an annual attrition of about 11 percent, approximately 660 vouchers become available each year to residents in need of housing assistance.

Mayor and Council created the nonprofit El Pueblo Housing Development in 2023 to increase affordable housing supply across Tucson by bringing public and private partners together. Following direction from Mayor and Council, HCD has focused on increasing the number of affordable housing units under the Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson. Through El Pueblo, HCD has opened or is in the process of creating or preserving more than 1,200 housing units, providing a total of more than 2,000 bedrooms.

Mayor and Council have acted several times in recent years to expand housing in Tucson, recently adopting new regulations allowing construction of "casitas" on private property and new zoning to allow property owners across most of Tucson to build what is known as "middle housing" on residential lots. Middle housing includes duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, and cottage courts.

The City of Tucson works with more than two dozen nonprofit organizations to offer housing support to residents by providing shelters, affordable housing, and home ownership assistance. A full list of organizations that partner with the City of Tucson to increase housing availability is attached to this press release.

Although the waitlist will close, HCD will continue to provide vouchers, when capacity allows, for specialty programs such as HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing which offers rental assistance to homeless veterans, and the Family Unification Program, which serves individuals and families with low or very low incomes who are homeless, disabled, living with AIDS-related illnesses, or involved in the foster care system.

All current applicants will remain on the waitlist and must continue to report any changes to contact information, household composition, or income through the Applicant Portal. HCD will continue to manage the current waitlist and accept new applications through the end of 2025. No date has been set for the waitlist to reopen.

"Keeping the list open creates false expectations and erodes public trust," said HCD Director Ann Chanecka. "The high number of HCV applications is a real reflection of the tremendous need for affordable housing."

Legal notice of the waitlist closure was posted on HCD's website on Dec. 1.

List of organizations:

Pima County Community Land Trust

Family Housing Resources

Emerge Center

Our Family Services

Interfaith Community Services

Sister Jose Women's Center

Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation

Southwest Fair Housing Council

Youth on Their Own

Community Home Repair Projects of Arizona

TMM Family Services

Groundswell Capital

St. Luke's Home in the Desert

Salvation Army

Habitat for Humanity

Compass Affordable Housing

Old Pueblo Community Foundation

Primavera Foundation

Pima Council on Aging

La Frontera

Community Bridges, Inc.

Southern Arizona Land Trust

COPE Community Services

Mercy Housing Southwest

Southwest Nonprofit Housing Corp.