In counties where a PBV program exists, the HA will maintain PBV waiting lists that are site and bedroom size specific and separate from the county waiting list for Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV). Additionally, a separate PBV waiting list will be kept for those persons needing barrier free units.
County PBV waiting lists will remain open at all times. Applications will be accepted for the PBV program on a continual basis from lead agencies certifying applicant eligibility and are interested in receiving a project-based voucher via a first-come, first-serve method.
If a large PBV waiting list exists, (unlikely that all applicants on the list will be served within a reasonable period of time; i.e., 2 years) closure of the PBV waiting list may be discussed with the RS.
Applicants must follow the appropriate steps to be placed on a PBV waiting list. If an applicant wants to be on both the waiting list for HCVs and a specific project-based site, they must complete two applications, and their name will be placed on both lists. If the county’s HCV waiting list is closed, the applicant may only apply to be on the PBV program waiting list.
MSHDA must notify applicants who are listed on the county HCV waiting list about the opportunity for PBV assistance in their county. Applicants will be notified of the MSHDA website listing available PBV sites if they are interested in applying (follow attached link).
If the applicant is on both the HCV and PBV waiting lists, PBV assistance becomes available and the family refuses the offer of PBV assistance, their name would be removed from the PBV waiting list. The refusal does not affect the family’s position on the waiting list for tenant-based (HCV) voucher assistance.
If a HCV applicant on a HCV waiting list for a county that has a PBV project refuses to accept an offer of project based assistance, their name remains on the HCV waiting list in the same position on the tenant-based HCV waiting list.
If an HCV applicant on the HCV waiting list accepts a PBV, their name may remain on the waiting list in the same position for the tenant-based HCV assistance.
When a PBV project begins, in-place tenants who are eligible for the program may receive a PBV. The Development must provide a list of in-place residents to the HA. If the in-place tenant is not already on the PBV development site waiting list, the in-place tenants must submit an application for assistance to the identified lead agency for the PBV development site. After the application by the in-place family located at the PBV site has been certified as eligible by the lead agency using the Lead Agency Certification (MSHDA/PBV-531), the in-place family will then be placed on the appropriate bedroom-size waiting list and then immediately pulled from the waiting list and offered a subsidy for an appropriately sized unit in the project. Applicants who are on the in-place list will be given the in-place preference. See Elite User Guides for instructions. A copy of the in-place list must be placed in the permanent section of the file.
At the time that a PBV program begins, if a vacancy exists in an identified PBV unit at a property that is participating in a PBV program, applicants on the property owners waiting list should be referred to lead agency for certification. Once the proposed family’s eligibility is determined by the HA, the HA will then immediately pull the family’s name from the waiting list and be issued assistance for an appropriately sized unit in the project.
If ineligible tenants are housed in the identified PBV units, no subsidy will be offered to the ineligible tenant in that unit and no subsidy will be paid to the owner until an eligible tenant is in place.
After the initial lease-up of families in the specified PBV units, the appropriate county PBV bedroom-size and site-based waiting list maintained by the HA must be utilized. Applicants who will occupy PBV units must be selected by the HA from the appropriate bedroom-size, MSHDA PBV site-based waiting list. In the event there are not enough names on the appropriate bedroom-sized, the HA should contact the lead agency or development staff for referrals.
Property owners with PBV designated units and/or service agencies may refer applicants to the HA maintaining the appropriate county’s PBV waiting list for inclusion on the open PBV waiting list at any time.
When it is determined that the number of names on an open PBV waiting list is nearly exhausted, the HA will follow the procedures for purging, updating, outreach and/ or marketing the waiting list as identified in the Policy Procedure Manual, Chapter II, Waiting List Management. The HA will follow the process for removing names from the waiting list and ranking applications as appropriate.
A name may only be removed from a PBV waiting list when:
Waiting list preferences have been identified by MSHDA that will be used for specific project-based voucher projects including homeless, elderly, veterans, special need, youth transitioning out of foster care, and domestic violence when it has been identified in the project selection process that specific supportive housing services are being provided at the project-based voucher site. Waiting list preferences cannot exclude a particular group within the population being served.