The Wilmington Housing Authority and New Castle County Housing Authority are coming together to expand the boundaries of their housing vouchers.
Wilmington residents using Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) will no longer be confined to the borders of the city to find housing. A partnership between Wilmington and New Castle County Housing Authorities allows residents to live in either jurisdiction without paperwork and reapplication.
Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki says the partnership grants flexibility.
“If somebody had a certificate in one district and they wanted to move outside, they’d have to go back and go through a bunch of bureaucratic mess in order to do this," Purzycki says. "It’s just cumbersome and it’s not necessary and I think it defeats the purpose of giving someone flexibility of where they go.”
Purzycki says this agreement breaks down additional barriers and burdens for housing clients and streamlines the process for landlords. And Wilmington Housing Authority Director Ray Fitzgerald says the next step is connecting with the Newark Housing Authority, likely in April.
“So these programs, public assistance and public housing, they support the working poor who don’t earn a high enough wage to be able to afford housing or things they need on their own,” Fitzgerald says.
Fitzgerald emphasizes that 70-80% of people receiving housing vouchers are working, or have worked in the last 12 months, and even someone making $60,000 could be considered low income if they have children.
New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer says the ultimate goal is to have one housing authority for the whole state of Delaware.
“There are 1.5 million people living in Philadelphia, there’s one government, one housing authority," Meyer says. "In Delaware, there are one million people, there are 60 governmental units, 3 counties, 57 cities and towns, 61 if you include the state government.”
Meyer says there are also several different housing jurisdictions in New Castle County alone, which makes it much more difficult, particularly for vulnerable populations, to find housing that fits their needs.
The application process for housing vouchers remains the same, but residents of either jurisdiction won’t have to reapply for Section 8 if they move to the other.
