Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau, and Osage counties

Columbia Housing Authority has jurisdiction in Boone County. Their office is located at 201 Swizler St., Columbia, MO, 65203. Visit their website here for more information. 

The amount of time spent on the waitlist varies between 6 months to 2+ years.

Our Housing Choice Voucher inspections are based on HUD’s Housing Quality Standards/NSPIRE. The inspections are done based on these regulations. **When moving, the new unit must pass an inspection prior to moving in.**

Once it is determined that the applicant qualifies for assistance, a voucher is issued for 60 days. A unit must be found and inspected within
this period before moving in.

Yes. HUD sets fair market rent according to the county and the number of bedrooms. HCV cannot pay more than the maximum limit and can only pay the limit if the rent is reasonable, according to the quality of the unit and the area that the unit is located.

All HCV leases are for an initial term of one year.

Yes. You may move within the service area and with MMPHA approval. HCV vouchers can be portable anywhere within the United States, so if you are wanting to move somewhere outside the MMPHA service area, you would need to initiate the portability process. You are only eligible to start this process once you have been receiving HCV assistance for a whole year (12 months), and have lived in the MMPHA service area during that time.

Yes. It is also highly encouraged to continue working while receiving assistance to graduate from the program. Graduation from HCV provides housing stability for you and your family.

Yes

Recertification is performed every 12 months. If anything changes before the end of the 12 months, tenants are required to contact the MMPHA staff within 15 days of the change to submit the Interim Recertification Request Form. An interim recertification is processed at that time.

The tenant’s share of rent is set according to their income, and in most cases, they will never pay more than 40% of their monthly income toward rent.

Your voucher is for a bedroom size, not dollar amount.

It is possible for your rent to change each year based on calculations that occur during every recertification period (every 12 months).

That is up to your landlord to approve pets per their lease agreement. Service animals are not pets and as long as the animal has all the service animal certifications, the landlord cannot deny you tenacy based on the animal.

Yes. You are responsibe for paying any deposits and application fees required prior to move in.

The landlord can increase rent each year (12-month period) when it is time to  recertify/renew your lease. All rent increases must get approval from the MMPHA before going into effect.

As long as your landlord is willing to accept HCV assistance and approved, the unit passes an inspection and is within the MMPHA service area, yes, you can stay in the unit.

Landlords need to submit proof of ownership and return a completed Request for Tenancy Approval Packet (RFTA).

We highly recommend you submit all maintenance requests to your landlord in writing and provide copies of them our office. Having copies of all requests allows our office to see the length of time between requests and possible noncompliance of the lease. That information helps our office determine if a special inspection is needed.

There needs to be a smoke detector meeting NSPIRE regulations in each bedroom and one on each floor of the unit.